Storms over Hull 1860

The 1st June 1860 broadsheet of the Hull Packet Newspaper recorded the chaos and mayhem exacted on Hull and its surroundings by ferocious gale force winds in the preceding days.

That particular year was infamous for its weather which, for those out on the North Sea, had resulted in multiple fatalities of crew and passengers amongst some 350 lost or stricken vessels as stated in Lloyds Register. 

There had also been a very harsh winter with an unusually prolonged freeze and all of the issues that arose for the population, transport, trade and agriculture. 

The storm that hit Hull and the East Riding over a Sunday and Monday at the end of May 1860 was regarded as being one of the most severe ever experienced leaving a trail of destruction to buildings and land. 

Tragically there was some loss of life and many injuries incurred but at the same time a large number of escapes from stricken structures or where favoured by sheer luck in the circumstances. 

A small girl, taking breakfast to her Father in the Pier area was carried up by the gale force winds and cast into the moat at the Garrison where she sadly drowned. 

In Paragon Street in the town centre a lady sustained head injuries after being blown forcibly from the pavement into the middle of the road. Debris was in the air from damaged premises and a loose flying umbrella, wrestled from its owner, struck an unwitting Prospect Street pedestrian in the eye. Her condition was not thought to be life changing but nevertheless must have been distressing. 

In the industrial corridor along the River Hull considerable damage was incurred. 

At Mr Rowntree's Mill on Dansom Lane the sails of windmills were detached by the force of the winds and fell onto the buildings below. The sheer strength was illustrated by the fact that the windmills and uppermost machinery weighed upwards of 5 tons. 

Mr Alderman Blundell's Oil Mill on Witham just to the east of the town centre had its chimney stack blown down and death or injury were only avoided as the workforce was at the other end of the building that bore the brunt of the fallen masonry. 

A former shipyard building of Messrs Gibson and Samuelson had its gable end blown out as the winds caused a bulb of pressure within. 

Those making their way for work in the town were risking their own lives. A horse and cart in Lower Union Street was forced into the shop front of Mrs Cross's premises causing damage. The central town area was densely populated with town houses of the wealthier classes and the tenements and slums of the working class. These did not escape the gale. 

The house of Dr Munroe on the well-to-do Charlotte Street sustained damage to its gable (end) wall and a large chunk of masonry fell down into the adjoining Bourne Street. Other neighbouring houses were affected to varying degrees, In the tightly packed terraces of Wincolmlee part of a small house on Neptune Street collapsed. On Dock Street the roof of a house was uplifted and removed. On Anlaby Road the large chimney stacks on the house of Solicitor Richard Bell crashed down onto the roof of his children's Nursery but all escaped unscathed. 

The wind also wreaked chaos on the infrastructure of Hull. 

A long stretch of wall on Walker Street fell down. One of the hands on the clock face of Low Church on Lowgate was stripped away and a panoramic view of Peking that formed part of the displays at the Zoological Gardens was impaired. 

Out in the villages and on the large landed Estates there was considerable loss of trees which were unceremoniously uprooted and cast aside as though matchsticks. 

On Burton Constable Estate 100 fine trees suffered this fate. 1000 trees on the Snake Plantation near North Cave were upended and on the nearby Cave Castle grounds a further 300 were felled by the storm. 

In the flatlands of Holderness to the east of Hull the Sunk Island Church Tower incurred damage as well as the loss of spouting and tiling to its roof. There was widespread damage to property and land  in Paull, Hedon, Preston, Ryehill and Keyingham. 

In all it was a momentous couple of days.