The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-07-10 00:00:00

BOLTON.

On Wednesday afternoon last, this town and neighbour-
hood were visited by one of the most violent thunder storms
witnessed here for some years past. The rain fell in torrents,
accompanied by violent peals of thunder, and what was rather
singular, the rain was interspersed with hailstones, as large
as horse beans. The streets and lanes were immediately
covered with streams of water, and in places where the sewers
had become choked, the cellars and houses were immediately
flooded. At the wharf, owing to the stoppage of the soughs,
the water flowed through the canal warehouse to such an ex-
tent, that a boat load of flour was sunk. The electric fluid
killed a horse, belonging to Mr. Hargreaves, which was
pasturing in a field on Bolton Moor. It also struck the
Wesleyan Methodist school, in Ridgway Gates, and displaced
a number of slates and bricks, and passed through an adjacent
house, occupied by Mr. John Hall, filling the place with a
sulphurious smell, and breaking a few pots, but doing no
personal damage. It also passed through Mr. George
Sharpie's house, in Smith-street, Little Bolton, splitting, the
mantle piece, and breaking the ornaments, and a number of
windows. No sooner had the storm abated, than crowds of
persons flocked towards the river, on which might be seen
floating timber, skips, and different articles. At Turner
Bridge, a lad of about fourteen years of age, named Noble,
whilst endeavouring to catch some timber, accidentally tell
into the river, and was carried away. Search has since been
made for the body, but it had not been found up to yesterday.
noon. At Darcy Lever, two fine horses got into the water,
but they were extricated in safety. A cart filled.with gravel
near Eagley Mills was swept away by the current, and an
ass was seen floating down the stream. Every foot bridge,
with one exception, between Bolton snd Birtenshaw, was
carried away. The throstle-room at Mr. Crompton's mill at
Farnworth was speedily coveted by about a foot of water, and
the electric fluid struck a house at liingley, but no material
damage was done.

The" neighbourhood of Little Bolton, Turton, Longworth,
and Sharpies, adjoining the river Eagley, a branch of the
I rwell, lying north-west of Bolton, was visited by the storm
in a manner the most awful ever witnessed by the oldest in-
habitants. The rain fell in torrents, and in about two hours
the river was swollen to a height much beyond what had ever
been remembered, and did extensive damage in passing the
various works and manufactories—of which the most exagge-
rated accounts have been propagated; but the following may
be relied upon :—At the works of Messrs. H. and E. Ash-
worth, the Egerton Mill, and the New Eagley Mills, the
lowest rooms, which are used as mechanics' shops, were
tilled with water, and the warehouse of the latter mill, con-
taining cotton and yarn, was filled about four feet deep;
none of this property was carried away, but will have sus-
tained more or less injury from wetting. A large heap of
coals, probably 50 or 60 tons, a bundle of empty yarn skips,
and several walls and fences adjoining the river, as well as
two wooden foot bridges, were swept down. The damage
done at the Egerton Mill will not much exceed £35; that at
the Eagley Mills mac probably amount to £BO or £9O. The
latter were stopped working till the following morning ;
other works sustained more or less injury, particularly
Messrs. Chadwick's, especially in the lower rooms, and tile
drying and bleaching premises.