Old Cumbria Gazetteer - St John's in the Vale: flood 17490822


included in:-	St John's in the Vale
	St John's in the Vale: flood 17490822
county:-	Cumbria
locality type:-	flood
locality type:-	thunderstorm

evidence:-	old text:- Gents Mag item:- flood, 1749; storm, 1749
source data:-	Magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer or Historical Chronicle, published by Edward Cave under the pseudonym Sylvanus Urban, and by other publishers, London, monthly from 1731 to 1922. goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1751 p.200 "... ..." "Account of a surprising Inundation in the Valley of St John's near Keswick in Cumberland. (See Map in this Mag.)" "ON the 22d of August 1749, there was the most terrible thunder, and incessant lightning, ever known in that part in the memory of man, the preceding afternoon having been extreme hot and sultry. The inhabitants of the vale heard a strange buzzing noise, like the working of a maltmill, or wind in the tops of trees, for two hours together, before the breaking of the clouds, which was accompanied by the water-fall. From the havock it made in so short a time (for it was all over in less than two hours) it must have far exceeded any thunder shower ever seen; most probably it was a spout, or large body of water, which by the lightning incessantly rarefying the air, broke at once on the tops of the mountains, and so descended upon the valley below, about three miles long, half a mile broad, and lying nearly E. and W. closed in on the S. and N. side, with prodigious high, steep, rocky mountains. Legburthet Fells on the N. side had almost the whole cataract, and the spout did not extend above a mile in length, and swelling chiefly four small brooks; but to that amazing degreee, that the greatest of them, called Catcheety Gill, swept away a mill and a kiln in five minutes, leaving the place where they stood covered with huge rocks and rubbish, 3 or 4 yards deep; so that one of the mill stones cannot be found. In the violence of the storm, the mountain tumbled so fast down, as to choak up the old course of this brook, the water forcing its way through shivery rock, and now runs there in a chasm 4 yards wide, and betwixt eight and nine deep. These brooks have lodged such quantities of gravel and sand on their bordering meadows, that they can never be recovered. Many vast pieces of rock have been carried a considerable way into the fields, larger than a team of ten horses can move; one of these measured nineteen yards about. The damages alone to the grounds, houses, highways, &c. are by some computed at 1000, by others at 1500 pounds. One of the said brooks, called Mose or Mosedale Beck, which rises near the source of the others, but runs North from the other side of Legburthet Fells, continues still foul and muddy, probably from having worked its channel into some mineral substance, which gives it the colour of water gushed from lead mines, and is so strong as to tinge the river Derwent, even at the sea, near twenty miles form their meeting." "... ..." I have not found a map in this volume of the magazine; ...

evidence:-	old text:- Gents Mag item:- storm, 1749; flood, 1749
source data:-	Print, uncoloured engraving, illustrating the storm, floods, etc in St John's in the Vale, St John's Castlerigg and Wythburn, Westmorland, about 1750, published by the Gentleman's Magazine, 1754. goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1754 opp p.465 Print, uncoloured engraving, illustrating the storm, floods, etc in St John's in the Vale, St John's Castlerigg and Wythburn, Westmorland, 1749, engraved by M Darly, published by the Gentleman's Magazine, 1754. click to enlarge PR0755.jpg Size: wxh = 21x12cm. The view looks towards the East; the two background hills are Clough Head and Great Dodd. item:- Armitt Library : Gents Mag 1754.1 Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-	old text:- Gents Mag item:- storm, 1749; flood, 1749
source data:-	Magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer or Historical Chronicle, published by Edward Cave under the pseudonym Sylvanus Urban, and by other publishers, London, monthly from 1731 to 1922. goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1754 p.464 "Dreadful Storm in Cumberland" "THERE happened about four years ago a most dreadful storm of thunder and ligtening (sic), in these parts, which bursting over the mountains, was attended with such a torrent of rain, as considerably changed the face of the country, and did incredible damage, in the vale below" "The vale is called St John's Vale, and as I lately passed through it, I took a draught of the mountains, as they now appear, which I send you, with a more particular account of the storm, than has been yet published." "The precipices on the left of this vale, as you pass along the road D from Keswic to Ambleside, very much resemble volcano's, and look as if they were half burnt. The ascent is for several miles covered with rude fragments of different sizes and figure, which storms and torrents have torn from the native rock, and is ploughed into many hollows, down which the cataracts have poured, when a water cloud has been broken at the top, which very frequently happens, and produces such rain, as the inhabitants of level countries have never seen." "Above these precipices other mountains, still higher, terminate the view, and the vale below is a narrow, but fertile spot, the inhabitants of which, have, from time to time, removed the loose stones, which were driven down upon them, and formed them, by degrees, into a fence, against the fury of other inundations." "The hollows, or channels which wind down the declivity, and when I saw them were dry, become gradually wider, and more shallow, as they descend to that part of the mountain which is less steep; the waters in proportion as they spread, lose their force, cover a larger tract, and fall with less rapidity." "In the afternoon, which preceded the storm, it was perceived to thunder and lighten incessantly beyond Skiddow, (see v.18 p.291.) is one of our highest mountains, the cloud from which the tempest proceeded, came at length, up to the mountain, but not being high enough to pass over it, divided, one half of it went away north east, and meeting with no opposition, it discharged a great quantity of water, on the plains of Wigton, and Carlisle, over which, it hovered till about nine o'clock at night, and then moved farther in the same direction, but so slowly that its explosions were not out of hearing till two in the morning." "The other half went through a vale called Threlcot, and over the rocks on one side of Keswic, called Lady Rocks, meeting no opposition till it came to the mountains which bound St John's vale, and by these it was stopped. It became every moment more dense, by the accession of vapours, which being still in motion, pressed upon it, and soon after it poured down a torrent of rain, which lasted eight hours. The thunder still continued, and the darkness which might almost be felt, became more dreadful by the flashes which broke it at short intervals with a sulphureous light; to the noise of the thunder, was added that of the cataracts, and of the fragments of the rock, which they drove before them; the fences were overturned in a moment, the fields covered with the ruins of the mountains, under which, the cottages were first crushed, and then swept away by the torrent. The inhabitants, who were scarce less astonished and terrified, than they would have been at the sound of the last trumpet, and the dissolution of nature, ran together from under the roofs that sheltered them, less they should be beaten in upon their heads, and finding the waters rush down all round them in an impetuous deluge, which had already covered the ground, such of them as were able, climbed the neighbouring trees, and others got on the tops of hay stacks, where they sat exposed, at once, to the lightening and the rain, discovering by the light of every flash, some new ruin, and every moment ex-"
source data:-	Magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer or Historical Chronicle, published by Edward Cave under the pseudonym Sylvanus Urban, and by other publishers, London, monthly from 1731 to 1922. goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1754 p.465 "[ex]pecting that the trees to which they had fled for safety, should be torn up by the roots, and the hay overturned by the innundation." "It is perhaps impossible, for the strongest imagination to accumulate circumstances of greater horror, and these were produced by a concurrence of various causes, which perhaps may happen no more. I have therefore been particular in my account, in hopes that you will preserve it to posterity, and the rather as I find in the memorials of your royal society, and of the academies abroad, that such events are never thought below their notice." "Cockermouth, Cumberland, October 3, 1754. Yours &c. G.S." "Description of the PLATE." "A, a farm house that was abandoned that night." "B, a mill that was demolished." "C, stacks and trees where a farmer saved himself and his family." "D, the high road from Keswic to Ambleside." "E cataracts of stone and water over-turning the wall G in many places." "F, high mountains about a mile in acclivity beyond the rugged hill H H, which furnished water to fill the channels and which stopped the tempestuous cloud." "Q Q Q channels formed by the descending conflux of waters from the mountains F F."

evidence:-	descriptive text:- West 1778 (11th edn 1821) placename:- St John's Vale placename:- Vale of St John placename:- Nadale
source data:-	Guide book, A Guide to the Lakes, by Thomas West, published by William Pennington, Kendal, Cumbria once Westmorland, and in London, 1778 to 1821. goto source Page 142, footnote:- "I do not know whether an account of the effects of the storm have been published; but the following description of a similar one which happened in St. John's vale, given as the most authentic that has yet appeared, by a native of the place, may here merit a perusal." "In the evening of 22d of August, 1749, that day having been much hotter that (sic) was ever known in these parts, a strange and frightful noise was heard in the air, which continued for some time, to the great surprise of the inhabitants, sounding over them like a strong wind, though they could not perceive it. This was succeeded by the most terrible claps of thunder, and incessant flashes of lightning breaking over their heads. At the same time the clouds poured down whole torrents of water on the mountains to the east, which in a very little time swelled the channels of their rivulets and brooks, so as to overflow every bank, and overwhelm almost every obstacle in their way. In a moment they deluged the whole valley below, and covered with stones, earth, and sand many acres of fine cultivated ground. Several thousands of huge fragments of broken rocks were driven by the impetuosity of these dreadful cataracts into the fields below, and such was their bulk, that some of them were more than ten horses could move, and one fairly measured nineteen yards in circumference. A corn-mill, dwelling-house, and stable, all under one roof, lay in the tract of one of these currents, and the mill from the one end, and the stable from the other, were both swept away, leaving the little habitation standing in the middle, rent open at both ends, with the miller, who was very old and infirm, in bed, and who was ignorant of the matter till he arose in next morning to behold nothing but ruin and desolation. His mill was no more! and instead of seeing green ground in the vale below, all was covered with large stones and rubbish, four yards deep, and among which one of the mill-stones was irrecoverably lost. The old channel of the stream too was entirely choaked up, and a new one cut open on the other side of the building, through the middle of a large rock, four yards wide, and nine deep. - Something similar to this happened at several other places in the neighbourhood, for the space of two miles, along Legberthwaite, and Fornside, but happily, through the providence of the Almighty, no person's life was lost." "(An account of this inundation is given in the Philosophical Transactions, for the year 1750, No.494.) X."

date:-	22.8.1749
period:-	18th century, early
period:-	1740s
event:-	flood, 1749

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