This article was taken from the Tewkesbury Yearly Register and Magazine 1833.
It would appear, from the concurrent testimony of many living witnesses, that the flood of 1770 was several feet higher, at Tewkesbury, than any inundation that has occurred since; and the following account of it, wriiten at the time by a most respectable eye-witness, will tend to prove that the flood was indeed of a more extraordinary height than is generally believed. This statement was drawn up by the late Neast Havard, esq. Solicitor and town-clerk; and the original is indorsed, in the author’s hand-writing, |
“Mr. Havard’s Voyage round Tewkesbury in the time of the High Flood.”
| On Saturday , the 17th of November, 1770, the waters being very high, I went on board the King’s excise boat, between two and three o’clock in the afternoon at the mile-stone near the turnpike1 in the High-Street, leading towards Worcester, in company with Mr. William Weale Darke, surgeon, Thoms Kemmett and Francis Mann, fishermen, all of Tewkesbury, and sailed into the bottom of the Lilly-Croft, the Oldbury Field, and near to Mr. Darke’s stable. Mr. Darke’s ground2 was under water, and on sailing there a second time we took up his gates. We then sailed over the road leading to Ashchurch, into the Grove Ground, the greatest part of which was under water; from thence we sailed to the Plough back door, where we took into our boat Mr. William Clarke, mercer, and Mr. Richaed Terrett, surgeon, both of Tewkesbury. Mr. Terrett had accidentally sunk a boat in his garden, and he was obliged to sit astride his garden wall, although it was covered with old broken glass bottles, until we relieved him. Mr. Terrett did not proceed with us, but Mr. Clarke did. We then sailed up the Gander-Lane into the Church-Street, to Mr. Richard Bayzand’s,3 and returned back into Swilgate; from thence we sailed by the Abbey Orchard, and crossed the road leading to Cheltenham, there being five feet of water on this road, and so to the Ring of Bells.4 From thence we sailed into St. Mary’s-Lane, opposite to Mrs. Fisher’s 5 and thence to the Church-Street, where the boat was even with some of the houses on either side of the street. We then returned back into the Avon, and sailed round Owner Thomas Smith’s house6 at the Quay; we then proceeded to the Long Bridge, over which we sailed, between the withy trees, to near the foot bridge leading into the Upper Avon Ham. There was then more than two feet of water clear of the bridge walls.7 We then sailed again to the Lily Croft, and pursued our former track to the Plough back door, where we disembarked about five o’clock. The flood rose so fast, during the evening, that before ten o’clock at night the waters from the Avon and the Swilgate united in the Church-Street, and ran through the town from the Gander-Lane to St. Mary’s –Lane. On Sunday, the 18th of November, I went on board the same boat, at the back door of the White Hart,8 accompanied by Mrs. Buckle of the Mythe, Mr. Edmund Turberville her brother, and the two fishermen who conducted the boat on the previous day; we sailed into St. Mary’s-Lane, as far as the Quakers’ meeting house, and from thence into the church-Street, to the Butchers’ Arms public house,9 kept by widow Price; we then sailed down the Gander-Lane, into the Swilgate, and immediately returned into the Church-Street; having sailed to the New Inn,10 we returned into St. Mary’s-Lane; from thence we went into the Avon, and to the White Hart back door. Many boats were employed, both in Church-Street and St. Mary’s-Lane, in conveying persons to and from their houses. The waters sunk several inches this afternoon. At twelve o’clock, the next day, I saw the major part of the south aisle of the chancel of the Abbey Church under water; and in the cross-aisle, particularly near the wedding-door,11several of the grave-stones had fallen in. It was however observable, that the nave was remarkably dry, and there was no appearance of even the least damp on any of the stones in that portion of the church. The bowling-green, and parts of the adjoining garden, were under water; and two tenements, belonging to the Earl of Essex, were swept down by the flood |
1 The turnpike gate, at that period, ran from the north-east corner of the Bear inn to near where the elm tree now stands, on the opposite side of the road, about fifty yards from the river Avon 2 One of the meadows at the bottom of the Oldbury Field, near the road leading to Ashchurch. 3 This house is now the property of Mr. Petley, and occupied by Mr. Richards, surgeon. 4 Now called the Bell Inn and Bowling Green. 5 Mrs. Fisher resided in the house at present belonging to Joseph Cooper Straford, esq. And in the occupation of Mrs. Ashmore. 6 Now a public house called the Severn Trow. 7 A late respectable barge owner often asserted, that, during this flood, he had himself, in one of his own boats, rowed over the parapet walls of the bridge across Old Avon: many persons did not credit this story, well knowing that, to enable him to perform it, the waters must have been nearly five feet higher than they are now ever known to rise; but if, as is here stated, there was “ two feet of water clear of the bridge walls,” a light flat-bottomed boat might certainly have passed over them with safety. 8 The old White Hart now forms a part of the Swan Hotel. 9 Now the Masons’ Arms. 10 The Hop-Pole Hotel was at that period called the New Inn. 11 The small door in the south transept still retains this name, which it acquired from its being frequently used by wedding parties, who wished to gain admission to the church with less observation than might attend an entrance at the front door. |