January 3
Posted by sydney on Jan 3rd, 2008
- 1790: January 3, 1790 – The spotted Bantam lays a second time.
- 1789: January 3, 1789 – Rime hangs on the trees all day. Turner’s well-diggers have sunk his well about six feet. It is now about on a level with mine, viz. about 63 feet deep. They came to-day to a hard blue rag, & a little water.
- 1788: January 3, 1788 – A flood at Gracious street.
- 1787: January 3, 1787 – On this evening there was a total eclipse of the moon: but the sky was so cloudy, that we saw nothing of the progress of it.
- 1786: January 3, 1786 – Fierce frost. On this day at 8 o’the clock in the evening Captain Lindsey’s hands were frozen, as he & Mr Powlett were returning from Captain Dumeresque’s to Rotherfield. The Gent. suffered great pain all night, & found his nails turned black in the morning. When he got to Rotherfield, he bathed his hands in cold water. Snow on the ground six inches deep at an average.
- 1785: January 3, 1785 – Began the new rick: the hay is very fine. Tho’ my ever-greens are almost destroyed Mr Yalden’s bays, & laurels, & laurustines seem untouched. Berberries, & haws frozen on the trees. No birds eat the former.
- 1784: January 3, 1784 – Snow gone: flood at Gracious street.
- 1782: January 3, 1782 – Mezereon blows. Viola tricolor, red lamium, & grounsel blow. Hazel catkins open.
- 1781: January 3, 1781 – Some snow on the ground. Vast halo round the moon.
- 1779: January 4, 1779 – Water frozen on my chamber-window.
- 1774: January 3, 1774 – Thermomr abroad 22 3/4. At noon 30. In ye wine vault 43 1/4.
- 1771: January 3, 1771 – Wood-lice, onisci aselli, appear all the winter in mild weather: spiders appear all the winter in moist weather; lepismae appear all the winter round hearths & in warm places. Some kinds of gnats appear all the winter in mild weather, as do earth-worms, after it is dark, when there is no frost.
- 1768: January 3, 1768 – Horses are still falling with their general disorder. It freezes under people’s beds.
Notes:
'Lepsimae' in the 1771 entry are silverfish. The 'blue rag' in the 1789 entry refers to a layer of blue limestone; as described in the NHoS: "Though the white stone will not bear wet, yet in every quarry at intervals there are thin strata of blue rag, which resist rain and frost; and are excellent for pitching of stables, paths, and courts, and for building of dry walls against banks, a valuable species of fencing, much in use in this village, and for mending of roads." NHoS, letter IV.
Theme Ported to
January 5th, 2008 at 8:52 am
[…] January 3 […]
January 5th, 2008 at 9:05 am
[…] January 5 Posted by sydney on Jan 5th, 2008 1791: January 5, 1791 – The great oak in Harteley avenue, just as you enter the pasture-field, measures in girth 14 feet. It is a noble tree, & if sound worth many pounds. Why it was left at the general sale does not appear. The girth was taken at four feet above the ground. 1789: January 5, 1789 – Turner’s well-diggers advance slowly through the blue rag. Mr Churton left us, & went to Waverly. 1786: January 5, 1786 – The fierce drifting of wednesday proved very injurious to houses, forcing the snow in to roofs, & flooding the ceilings. The roads also are so blocked with drifting snow that the coaches cannot pass. The Winton coach was overturned yesterday near Alresford. 1785: January 5, 1785 – Brother Thomas left us. 1772: January 5, 1772 – Hedge-sparrow whistles: paths get dry. An extraordinary concussion in the air which shook peoples windows, & doors round the neighbourhood. Note: The concussion felt Jan. 5 was occasioned by the blowing-up of the powder-mills near Hounslow. Incredible damage was done in that neighbourhood. “Blue rag” is a limestone layer; see the general note for January 3. […]