The Sun.
London, England, 1845-09-02 00:00:00

FIRE NEAR WINCHESTER.

On Saturday last a fire, which has c( nsumed several dwell-
ings, and deprived seven respectable families of both house and
home, occurred at a village called MitcheWeyer, seven miles
from Winchester, on the Basingstoke road, and within two
miles of the mansion of Sir Thomas Baring, Bart., situa' e
at Stratton Park. From inquiries made upon the spot, it
appea, s that the fire originated through the falling of sparks
from the flue of an oven belonging to the bakehouse of Mr.
Groom, baker and general dealer, who at tke time was raking
the wood embers. Pieces of those fell upon the thatch of an
adjoining cart-house, which, in consequence of the inflammable
nature of' the roofing, instantly ignited, and the fire communi-
cating itself to the line of continuous thatch, the whole was
speedi•y in a blaze. At this moment the consternation of the
villagers was very great; the awful appearance of the flames,
and the terror of the inmates, who had barely time, in several
instances, to escape the violence of the flames and the masses of
burning thatch which fell as it was on fire, producing a fearful effect
upon them. Rumours were also shortly prevalent, that an
aged cripple was in one of the houses burning to death, but
this happily proved without foundation, the poor creature
having been most miraculously preserved by the interposition
of a kind neighbour. eery soon after the outbreak, informa-
tion of the occurrence was sent to the seat of Sir Thonsas
Baring, and the Hon. Francis Baring immediately repaired to
the scene, having given orders that the engines belonging to
the mansion should be promptly conveyed to the spot, with
twenty-two men employed :upon the domain, who were dis-
patched with them to work them. Aleantime, while these
arrangements were effected. the flames progressed most fear-
fully, extending from house to house and floor to floor with
such rapidity that it was impossible to stay their fury, and one
of the inmates (Groom), with his wife and family, with very
great difficulty escaped. At attempt was made to save some
portion of the property, but this was found to be next to
impossible, from the falling of the bodies of fire and the rasters
of the house, which was full of timber. It was a considerable
time before the engines could be got into full play, in conse-
quence of the well being but badly supplied with water, and the
nearest pond being at a considerable distance from the spot.
Police constable 2.5, of the Hampshire constabulary, was imme-
diately after the outbreak dispatched to Winchester, and Capt.
Harris, the chief constable, and Mr. Tart, the superintendent,
shortly afterwards went, with three constables, to render any
requisite assistance. When they arrived, the whole of the long
line of roofing of the six cottages had fallen in, and the lower
part of the buildings, as well as the outhouses, were in
flames. Several of the inmates who were out glean-
ing in the fields at the time of the outbreak, had by this time
been apprised of the alarming fact, and so great was their con-
sternation at finding their little all consumed, that they became
almost frantic. The police, however, acted admirably in
preventing the poor creatures from imperilling themselves
by attempting to save anything, and 'so greatly were some
of the persons affected that they swooned away. Mrs. Pink,
the wife of the Winchester and Basingstoke carrier, hear-
ing of the circumstance at the market at Winchester, fell
with great violence to the floor in Mr. Watson'a shop,
and since she has been very ill. The firo continued to burn
until every particle of furniture and stock was destroyed.
the houses gutted, and several valuable pigs, poultry, and
domestic animals sacrificed. The loss will be most severely
felt, as the occupiers are none of them insured. The owner
of the houses, Sir Francis Baring, is insured in one of the
County-offices. This (Monday) morning an attempt has been
made, now that the ruins aro sufficiently cooled, to explore
them ; and under the direction of the police this was done
with success, so far that a quantity of money in different kinds
of coin was found, as well as the remains of two watches in a
fused state. These were taken charge of by the police, and
this was all that was saved of any value. After the fire, the
Hon. Francis Baring and the other resident gentlemen publicly
thanked the police under Captain Harris and Superintendent
Tart, for their efficient exertions during the many hours the
fire continued burning. We hear that a subscription, liberally
headed and strenuously promoted, is being got up throughout
the neighbourhood for the benefit of the sufferers.

YORK AND LANCASTER ITAILW:1;
some importance is now before the itiLubKlier.
'arlenshorough, 11-:,To-
York and Lancaster, by passing, noc„,e'r
populous and o,rivifi4
.7,Andendet'ov cloinnneeoc,
gate,
valleys, and ',tie whole
places. The line is to pass
Long Preston, Settle, and
,
as at 7,reee-,',,i,
All
the of about twelve hours, . .•_ y coach. 1
distance is expected to be performed in two hour', and a half,
along the
the great manufacturing, mining,b,,, ?wet flgrieultura.l districts of
hof England will, ~:s means, have facilities of ac-
tclelsesntoort Ireland, Scotland, s'a'es, Ilainburgh, ,Fte. The line
will be 7') miles in lengii:., will have favourable gradients, it is
said, and receives,. fair support from those locally interested, as
well as from the Scotch capitalists, the Chairman of the Edin-
burgh and Glasgow Railway having joined the direction.
IsTEGLEcT ,:_,l' ;DUTY ON T 111: NORTH UNION
RAILWAY. —.;:illn Round and Peter Eastham, two servants in
the empl,..y of Mr. Hargreaves, carrier, at the luggage station,
Wigan, were summoned before the county magistrates, on
Friday last, charged with a neglect of duty in leaving the
switches at the junction leading to the warehouse turned the
wrong way, thus endangering the safety of the passenger
trains moving on the line. An objection was taken by the
defendants that the charge could not be heard before the
county magistrates, as the alleged offence had been committed
in the borough. On examination of the map this proved to be
the ease, and the men were dismissed. On Monday they were
summoned before the borough magistrates, when, through an
informality in the wording of the summons, the charge was
again dismissed. A third suunnons has been taken out.