Storm Event

Houses were blown down, bridges washed away, and many ships wrecked

Severity ? 5

Source

No known sources of information.

Pathway

No known sources of information.

Receptor and Consequence

This event was associated with coastal flooding on the coasts of Lincolnshire and Kent (Hickey, 1997). According the Lowe (1870), the flooding between Boston and Grimsby led to the loss of ‘all the saltcotes where the best salt was made’. The gale and flood resulted in the death of 20,000 cattle and sheep, the destruction of buildings and bridges, and the wrecking of many ships. The flood waters reached such a height that residents of flooded homes in Kingston-on-Hull were forced into their upper rooms to avoid the rising water. The village of Sutton was greatly demolished, including its church (Monk, 2001). Brooks and Glasspoole (1928) reported of a great deal of damage done to the Kentish coast.

The inscription on the bell in Chapel St Leonards Village Green, Lincolnshire, reads: ‘In Mumby Chapell the whole towne was lost except three houses. A shippe was driven upon a house; the sailors thinking they had bin upon a rocke, commited themselves to God and three of the mariners lept out of the shippe and chaunced to tek holde on the house-toppe and so saved themselves; the wife of the same lying in childbed did climbe uppe into the toppe of the house and was also saved by the mariners, her husband and child being both drowned’ (Ketteringham, 2009).

Summary Table

Loss of life *
Residential property Sutton village was partially washed away. Homes in Kingston-on-Hull were inundated
Evacuation & Rescue *
 
Cost *
Ports Ships lost anchor and travelling inland, causing further destruction
Transport Bridges washed away
Energy *
Public services *
Water & wastewater *
Livestock 20,000 cattle and sheep perished
Agricultural land *
 
Coastal erosion *
Natural environment *
Cultural heritage An inscription on the bell in Chapel St Leonards Village Green tells of the events. The poem ‘High Tide in Lincolshire 1571’, by Jean Ingelow, also refers to the events
Coastal defences *

*No known sources of information available

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References

  1. Hickey, K. R. (1997). Documentary records of coastal storms in Scotland, 1500-1991 A.D. Coventry University. Available at: https://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open/file/aa6dfd04-d53f-4741-1bb7-bdf99fb153be/1/hick1comb.pdf.
  2. Lowe, E. J. (1870). Natural Phenomena and Chronology of the Seasons. London: Bell and Dalby. Available at: https://archive.org/details/naturalphenomen00lowegoog
  3. Monk, J. (2001). ‘1953 East Coast Floods in Sutton-on-Sea’. Available at: https://www.suttononsea.info/history/floods.htm (Accessed: 3 September 2018).
  4. Brooks, C. E. P. and Glasspoole, J. (1928). British Floods and Droughts. London: Ernest Benn, 199pp.
  5. Ketteringham, J. R. (2009). ‘Three unusual bells in Lincolnshire’. Available at: http://johnketteringham.me.uk/bellarticles/threeunusualbells.html (Accessed: 5 September 2018).