The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-19 00:00:00

THE STORM AT CHATSWORTH.

On Tuesday evening last a fearful thunderstorm,
accompanied with hailstones of an unusual size,
passed over North Devonshire, and produced effects
which will he Lung remembered. The day had
been r xcessively her, the thermometer at one time
ranging as high as 85 degs. in the shade, About
hilt-past 4 in the afternoon the sky became sud-
denly overcast, and the incess int roll of distant
thunder gave indications of an approaching storm,
11 the clouds advanced rapidly from nearly every
point of the compass, and s'aortly after 5 o'clock
they had concentrated and produced a very great
darkness. The rain shortly afterwards commenced
and literally fell in torrents, and was succeeded by
hailstones, which for their dimensions and the
damage they have done are unprecedent d. in the
memory of the eldest person here. Many of the
stones, which were more like broken pieces of ice,
were as much as six inches in circumference, and
the general size of all the larger pieces was from an
inch to an inch and a-half in diameter. The per-
petual glare of the lightning and the incessant roll
of the thunder, wi h the breaking of glass in every
direction, rendered the scene a truly awful one.
The vast amount of injury which must have been
done within its course cannot at present be fully
ascertained, but at Chatsworth alone the damage
will amount to many thousands of pounds. At the
commencement of the storm the dr. er and cattle
in the park ran about in the wildest confusion,
but subsequently huddled together in crowd,-
beneath anything which could afford shelter. So
fearful was the devastation at Chatsworth-house and
grounds, that nothing of the kind has probably
ever occurred before since Chatsworth bas existed.
In the holism all the skylights are more or lees de-
..,,oyed. The fine ground plate-glass lanterns over
the Sketch Gallery are all either cracked or broken
through ; the large lights over the staircase, chiefly
composed of sheet glass, are ut erly destroyed, and
where the sashes were doubled the pieces of ice
passed through both. The roof of the Orangery
connected with tLe house is completely riddled.
The Catueli9. House, Conservatory walls, and the
extensive ranges of pits aro all very much injured;
but the Great Conservatory, from ies peculiar con-
struction of ridge and furrow, suffered much less in
proportion than any other gla-s structure about
the place, and the same rule applies to all the ridge
and furrow roofs, both at Chatsworth and at the
gardens, the proportion of the bre tkage being in
these caees about 1-10th, but in the flet roofs at
least 0-10 tbs. At the gardens th.s deva tetion is
complete ; the whole of the forcing-houses, glazed
in the usual way, are an entire wreck, scarcely a
whole square remaining, the ice even cutting
thrargh the canvass shades, which, in many in-
stances, covered the lights. The vines in the houses
were also sadly cut, the leaves and fruit being sepa-
rated as with a sharp knife. The fruit trees in the
open ground have also heavily suffered, and cab-
bages and other vegetables gr owing in the co ttagers'
gardens are perforated through and through as if
by thousands of caterpillars. What is also very
remarkable is that about the same hour on Wed-
nesday night a similar storm appeared, only in a
milder form ; but much of the glass that remained
from the first storm wos broken out, and gave al-
mo,it at its close as desolate an appearance as the
night before.—Derby and Chesterfield Beportcr of
yesterday.