6 hours Ago By [email protected] (Andy Smart)
The winter of 1814, known as "the Great Frost", brought a prolonged period of icy weather that lasted from Christmas into the New Year. The River Trent froze over, allowing skaters to take to the ice, while deep snowdrifts blocked roads and highways. Amidst the severe weather, the Leeds mail coach, pulled by six horses, set off from the old market place, carrying three passengers inside and two more on top, along with a load of mail and baggage.
The horses struggled through the blizzard, but were forced to stop at the eight-mile post, having taken an hour to cover the last mile. The outside passengers were compelled to move inside the coach, where they discovered a man lying motionless in the road, who they initially thought was dead. However, upon closer inspection, they found a faint pulse and, after bringing him aboard the coach, managed to revive him.
Get the latest news straight to your phone by joining us on WhatsApp The man, a 70-year-old named Allison, had attempted to walk from Mansfield to Nottingham and back again, but was overcome by the cold and snow, crawling to the milepost before collapsing. The passengers and coachmen took shelter in a nearby farmhouse for the night, but were forced to continue their journey on foot the following morning. In Nottingham, a large workforce was deployed by the corporation to clear the ice and snow that had brought the city to a standstill.
In the market square, they amassed such a solid mound of ice and snow that it remained until June. Nottingham has experienced its fair share of white Christmases, but they have always been accompanied by hardship. In 1683, Notts was blanketed in frost from September to January, with regular heavy snowfalls.
The subsequent thaw led to inevitable flooding as the river overflowed its banks, sending a wave of water down the Trent, destroying the wooden bridges at Nottingham and Newark. These bridges were frequently in need of repair and, following a particularly severe flood in 1726, donations from local nobility, including a generous £10 from Sir Thomas Parkyns of Bunny, helped to reinforce the old Trent Bridge . In 1770, an even more catastrophic flood transformed the Trent into a raging torrent.
The old Narrow Marsh was inundated, forcing residents in the already congested and overcrowded streets to live in their upper rooms for days and nights. Surrounding villages, farms and isolated cottages were cut off, hundreds of sheep and cattle drowned, and hay and corn stacks were swept away. Following the great Candlemas flood of 1795, the Trent Valley looked like an inland sea, with large chunks of half-melted snow and ice floes grinding against the supports and pillars of the bridges.
In 1860, Nottingham experienced frozen gas meters and a days-long water supply cut-off. However, considerate employers like William Hill, a Sneinton Hermitage lace manufacturer, provided his workers with dinner "with thoughtful liberality, tea, coffee, pork pie, plum cake etc". Meanwhile, workhouse inhabitants received beef and plum pudding instead of the usual gruel and stew.
The year 1878 brought little joy, despite a scenic snow blanket across the town. The British army, 50,000 strong, was battling for survival in Afghanistan in a war that "even those who warmly defend it as necessary are half ashamed". On Christmas Day, party-goers skated on the Trent, the Grantham Canal, and at Colwick on Pinder's Pond, Trent Pond and Greave's Pond.
The Trent last froze almost 130 years ago, in January and February 1895. For ten days, the river turned into an ice slab, with one famous image showing children skating near Trent Bridge. However, the great floods of 1947 and 2000 remain vividly remembered.
The 1947 floods followed the 20th century's harshest winter, characterised by extended periods of sub-zero temperatures and blizzards. When the thaw finally arrived, the Trent rose swiftly. By March 11, it was 40 inches above normal levels, and it rose another foot the next day.
March 13 saw the heaviest rain in decades, with more than an inch falling in 24 hours. In Wilford, families started evacuating their children, and rescue boats were put on standby. By March 17, the water level was rising at an alarming rate of one inch per hour, and just two days later, the official height of the Trent had reached a staggering 79ft 8ins - a whopping 11ft above the normal winter level.
The situation in the Trent Valley was nothing short of catastrophic, with factories forced to close, transport grinding to a halt, and Clifton Colliery completely cut off. The National Fire Service sprang into action, operating under "blitz conditions" to mitigate the disaster. As the waters surged into West Bridgford , residents scrambled to erect barricades using sandbags, furniture, and anything else they could find to keep the floodwaters at bay.
A staggering 2,500 acres of land to the north of the city were inundated, with 28 miles of streets in the low-lying Meadows area severely affected. By March 19, many residents had abandoned their downstairs rooms and were taking refuge in their bedrooms. Poignant photographs in the Post showed policemen and neighbours distributing food supplies to stranded residents, who were forced to wait upstairs for help.
The army offered to evacuate families, but most opted to stay in their homes. Amidst the chaos, there were acts of remarkable bravery. Thirteen-year-old Pauline Richardson, from Glapton Road in The Meadows , selflessly dived into the treacherous waters to try and rescue a young boy who had fallen in.
Tragically, her efforts were in vain, and the boy - 11-year-old John Pepper from Harley Street, Lenton - lost his life. As the crisis deepened, gas and electricity supplies were cut off, and shops were rapidly emptied of essential items like bread and candles. The great flood of 2000 had been coming for weeks.
According to local weather expert Terry Scholey, rainfall in October 2000 was double the seasonal average. Local weather expert Terry Scholey reported that rainfall in October 2000 was twice the seasonal average, leaving the ground saturated and causing water to overflow into already swollen rivers and streams. When heavy rain began in early November, it led to inevitable flooding.
Almost a month's worth of rain fell in Notts within seven days, causing the Trent to rise four metres above its normal level. This resulted in breached banks, hundreds of homes being flooded with dirty, brown water, submerged fields, swept away vehicles, sunken boats, impassable roads across the county, disrupted rail services, and power outages. The flood forced the closure of Lady Bay Bridge, leading to more than 1,000 additional cars per hour heading for the Trent's other two crossings, Trent Bridge and Clifton Bridge, resulting in gridlock.
A massive emergency operation was launched as villages from Gunthorpe to Barton-in-Fabis and Attenborough to Stoke Bardolph were inundated. Even County Hall had to erect a temporary barrier to prevent the rising torrent from the Trent from sweeping over the steps. Nottingham Forest were forced to cancel a crucial league match as the embankment was submerged, while at Meadow Lane, Notts County officials were left looking out over what had once been a pitch, now transformed into a lake, from offices inundated with water.
However, the Environment Agency has stated that Nottingham's flood defences prevented the city from experiencing a disaster..
