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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Dorset => Topic started by: toby webb on Sunday 07 October 07 10:27 BST (UK)
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On 26 / 27 November 1703, two weeks of unusually intense stormy weather culminated in the most devastating storm ever recorded in England. Thousands were killed and very many boats simply disappeared without trace. Daniel Defoe, in his book The Storm, records many first hand reports from various parts and often these were from clergymen. The Rev.Jacob Cole, rector of Swyre, contributed. Clergymen sometimes added notes of their own concerning natural disasters etc. to their parish records and researchers will have noticed them whilst working on their family histories. I feel that they might like to record these here for our interest helping also to paint a picture of what our ancestors in Dorset might have experienced.
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The BBC did a programme about this, in its "Coast" series earlier this year - but they concentrated on the effects in the Bristol Channel. The programme referred to the storm as a tsunami. There are certain places on the Somerset coast where there are definite signs of a massive flood - but sorry, that's all I remember! And they never mentioned Dorset ...
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Thanks VivP.
I don't believe the two are related. I think the tsunami you are referring to occurred about a hundred years earlier.
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Yes, you're right! Severe memory probs here! The Somerset one was on 20th January 1607, according to the internet. Sorry!
Defoe didn't have a great deal to say about Dorset, but here's a link to what he did write about it: http://www.buildinghistory.org/Primary/Defoe/Dorset.htm
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Just reading the Daniel Defoe narrative, thanks very much for posting the link. Coming from Poole myself (grew up in Lilliput and Sandbanks) it's nice reading how the area was way back then.
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Tony,
I expect you already know this, but the 1841 and 1891 Warwickshire censuses are online at
http://www.hunimex.com/warwick/census/index.html
for your Hurst/Payne families :)
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Tony,
I expect you already know this, but the 1841 and 1891 Warwickshire censuses are online at
http://www.hunimex.com/warwick/census/index.html
for your Hurst/Payne families :)
Great, thanks Viv.
Sorry - been busy the last week.