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. o 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 souse timber, accidentally fell
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 line horses got into the water,
but they were extricated in safety. A cart tilled with gravel
near Eagley Mills was swept away by the current, and au
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
Farn worth was speedily coveted by about a foot of water, and
the electric fluid struck a house at Ringley, but no material
damage was done.

The neighbourhood of Little Bolton; Turton, Longworth,
and Sharpies, adjoining the river Eagley, a branch of the
Irwell, lying north-west of • Bolton, was visited by the storm
in a manner thy" !nest awful ever witnessed by the oldest in-
habitants. The rain fell in torrents, and in about two hours
the river was swo!ltil ton height much beyond what had ever
been remembered, and tiifl 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 the
Mills,.
lowest rooms, which are used as mechanics' shops, were
filled 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 may probably amount to £BO or £9O. The
latter were stopped working till the follo*ing morning ;
other works sustained more or less injury, particularly
Messrs. Chadwick's, especially in the lower rooms, and the
drying and bleaching premises.

. .
PRESTON.
This town and neighbourhood was visited on Wednesday
by an awful thunder-storm, which commenced about two
o'clock. The rain fell in torrents. One man was killed by
the lightning ; another, who is in the employ of Messrs.
Horrocks, Jackson, and Co., who bad a crowbar in his
band, received a very severe shock, but suffered no serious
personal irjurv. There is reason to fear that considerable
damage would be sustained by various factories, and other
large establishments in the neighbourhood.

BARNSLEY.
The storm of hail and rain in this neighbourhood was of
extraordinary violence. At the coal-mine of Robert Clarke,
Esq., of Sillistone, near this town, we regret to state, owing
to the rapid rising of the flood, the coal•pit being entered by;
an inclined plane, a number of colliers were suddenly over-
wheltned, and no fewer than twenty-seven individuals, eleven
girls and sixteen boys, are stated to have been' drowned. An
inquest has since been held on the bodies of some of the
unfortunate sufferers, and a verdict of "accidental death"
returned. In Barnsley, it is supposed that no fewer than
ten thousand panes of glass were broken by the hail-stones.

(Front the Leeds Intelligencer.)

The neighbourhood of Stainbro', Dodworth, and Silkstone,
was on Wednesday visited by a tremendous hail storm, which
did considerable damage in the gardens, as well as a great
number of windows. The rain fell in torrents, and the vales
from Dodworth to Worsbrough Dale, were flooded to such
an extent as has not been witnessed for several years, and
several cattle were taken down by the stream. Many walls,
also, were laid waste by the force of the current. Besides
these and other effects, we are sorry to say that a great num-
ber of lives have been lost. In the.valley on the south west
side of Dodworth, the water rose to such a height that it
reached the entrance of a coal pit in the hill side, belonging
to It. Clarke, Esq., called the Moor Side Pit ; the water
rushed in, so that in a short time the pit was filled. A number
of colliers were at work in the pit, and many of them perished
in the water. It is stated that twenty-seven persons have
been taken out dead. Since the above was in type, we have
received a confirmatory account, with the names of the
twenty-seven unfortunate persons who have-fallen victims,
and who are all from ten to eighteen years of age ; eleven of
them are females. The damage done to the windows alone
at Wentworth Castle is estimated at £5OO. We further
learn, that at Wentworth Castle the destruction is truly
lamentable. All the glass of the green anti hot-houses is
wholly destroyed, as well as their valuable contents. The
pineries, frames, flowers, shrubs, &c. are all swept away ;
and 4000 yards of walling laid prostrate. The whole presents
an appearance worse than a mere waste—it is a scene of
perfect destruction-and devastation. Another correspondent
says that the hail stones measured 41 inches,round. The
water swept away timber, trees, walls, bridges, and a quan-
tity of furniture from the houses,. coals, tubs, pigs, and
clothes from the hedges, and ten beasts from Mr. John
Archer, of Saville Hall, near Barnsley. It has-done about
£3OO worth of damage atSilkstone to differentindividuals, and
the roads are all blown up in a dreadful manner. The entire
village presented the appearance of a complete sheet of wa-
ter; from one end of the village to the other it was impassa-
ble for a few hours. A. private letter from Rochdale, dated
in the afternoon of Wednesday, states that the storm raged
there to a fearful extent; mills and houses were washed
down, and property destroyed to the amount of upwards of
£50,000. There were' also rumours of loss of life. No
rain fell at Leeds.