Famous Frosts and Frost Fairs in Great Britain / Chronicled from the Earliest to the Present Time

In January this year the Thames frozen over.—Timbs.

On the evening of the 27th of December, 1813, a great fog commenced in London, and the greatest frost of the century set in. We have taken from a work compiled during the frost, the following reliable account of it:—

“On the night of 27th the darkness was so dense that the Prince Regent, who desired to pay a visit to the Marquis of Salisbury at Hatfield House, was obliged to return back to Carlton House, not, however, until one of his outriders had fallen into a ditch on the side of Kentish Town. The short excursion occupied several hours. Mr. Croker, of the Admiralty, intending to go northward, wandered in the dark for some hours without making more than three or four miles progress.”

On the night of the 28th of December, the Maidenhead coach, on its return from town, missed the road near Harford Bridge, and was overturned. Amongst the injured passengers was Lord Hawarden.

It took, on the 29th of December, the Birmingham mail nearly seven hours in going a couple of miles past Uxbridge, or a distance of about twenty miles.

On this and other evenings in London, a couple of persons with links ran by each horse’s head; yet with this and other precautions some serious and many whimsical accidents occurred. Pedestrians even carried links or lanterns, and a number who were not provided with lights lost themselves in the most frequented and at other times well-known streets. Hackney coachmen mistook the pathway for the road, and vice versa—the greatest possible confusion took place.

The state of the Metropolis on the night of the 31st of December was in consequence truly alarming. It required both great care and knowledge of the public streets to enable anyone to proceed any distance, and those obliged to venture out carried torches. The usual lamps appeared through the haze not larger than small candles. Many of the hackney coachmen led their horses, and others drove only at walking pace. Until the 3rd of January, 1814, lasted this tremendous fog, or “darkness that might be felt.”

Immediately on the cessation of the fogs, a heavy fall of snow commenced. A writer of the time said, “There is nothing in the memory of man to equal these falls.” With the exception of a few short intervals, the snow continued incessantly for forty-eight hours, and this, too, after the ground was covered with a condensation, the result of nearly four weeks’ continued frost. Nearly the whole of the time the wind blew from the north and north-east, and was intensely cold.

The state of the streets was rendered dangerous by a thaw which lasted about a day. The mass of snow and water became so thick, that it was with difficulty that the carriages could progress even with the aid of an additional horse each. Nearly all trades and callings carried on out of doors were stopped, which considerably increased the distress of the lower orders. The frost continued and skating occupied the chief attention of the people. It will be interesting to furnish an account of the state of the river Thames at this period.

Sunday, January 30th: Immense masses of ice that had floated from the upper parts of the river, in consequence of the thaw on the two preceding days, now blocked up the Thames between Blackfriars and London Bridges, and afforded every probability of its being frozen over in a day or two. Some venturous persons even now walked on different parts of the ice.

Monday, January 31st: This expectation was realised. During the whole of the afternoon, hundreds of people were assembled on Blackfriars and London Bridges, to see several adventurous men cross and recross the Thames on the ice; at one time seventy persons were counted walking from Queenhithe to the opposite shore. The frost on Sunday night so united the vast mass as to render it immovable by the tide.

Tuesday, February 1st: The floating masses of ice with which the Thames was covered, having been stopped by London Bridge, now assumed the shape of a solid surface over that part of the river which entered from Blackfriars Bridge to some distance below Three Crane Stairs, at the bottom of Queen-street, Cheapside. The watermen, taking advantage of the circumstance, placed notices at the end of all the streets leading to the city side of the river, announcing safe footway over the river, which, as might be expected, attracted immense crowds to witness so novel a scene. Many were induced to venture on the ice, and the example thus afforded soon led thousands to perambulate the rugged plain, where a variety of amusements were prepared for their entertainment.

Among the more curious of these was the ceremony of roasting a small sheep, which was toasted, or rather burnt over a coal fire, placed in a large iron pan. For a view of this extraordinary spectacle, sixpence was demanded, and willingly paid. The delicate meat when done was sold at a shilling a slice, and termed Lapland mutton.

Of booths there was a great number, which were ornamented with streamers, flags, and signs, and in which there was a plentiful store of those favourite luxuries, gin, beer and gingerbread.

Opposite Three Crane Stairs there was a complete and well-frequented thoroughfare to Bankside, which was strewed with ashes, and apparently afforded a very safe, although a very rough path.

Near Blackfriars Bridge, however, the path did not appear to be equally safe, for one young man, a plumber, named Davis, having imprudently ventured to cross with some lead in his hands, he sank between two masses of ice, to rise no more. Two young women nearly shared a similar fate, but were happily rescued from their perilous situation by the prompt efforts of a waterman. Many a fair nymph, indeed, was embraced in the very arms of old Father Thames; three prim young quakeresses had a sort of semi-bathing near London Bridge, and when landed on terra firma, made the best of their way through the Borough, amid the shouts of an admiring populace, to their residence at Newington. In consequence of the impediments to the current of the river at London Bridge, the tide did not ebb for some days more than one half the usual mark.

Wednesday, February 2nd: The Thames presented a complete Frost Fair. The grand mall or walk was from Blackfriars Bridge; this was named the City-road, and lined on each side with tradesmen of all descriptions. Eight or ten printing presses were erected, and numerous pieces commemorative of the great frost were actually printed on the ice. Some of these frosty typographers displayed considerable taste in the specimens.

At one press an orange-coloured standard was hoisted, with the watch word “Orange Boven” in large characters, and the following papers were issued from it:—

Another:—

Another of these stainers of paper addressed the spectators in the following terms:—

“Friends, now is your time to support the freedom of the press. Can the press have greater liberty? Here you find it working in the middle of the Thames; and if you encourage us by buying our impressions, we will keep it going in the true spirit of liberty during the frost.”

One of the articles printed and sold contained the following lines:—

Besides the above the Lord’s Prayer and several other pieces were issued from these ice bated printing offices, and were bought with the greatest avidity.

Thursday, February 3rd: The adventurers were still more numerous. Swings, book-stalls, dancing in a barge, suttling-booths, playing at skittles, and almost every appendage of a fair on land was now transferred to the Thames. Thousands of people flocked to behold this singular spectacle, and to partake of the various sports and pastimes. The ice now became like a solid rock of adamant, and presented a truly picturesque appearance. The view of St. Paul’s and of the city with its white foreground had a very singular effect; in many parts mountains of ice were upheaved, and these fragments bore a strong resemblance to the rude interior of a stone quarry.

Friday, February, 4th: Every day brought a fresh accession of “pedlars to sell their wares,” and the greatest rubbish of all sorts was raked up and sold at double and treble the original cost. Books and toys labelled “bought on the Thames” were seen in profusion. The waterman profited exceedingly, for each person paid a toll of 2d. or 3d. before he was admitted to the Frost Fair. Some douceur also was expected on your return. These men were said to have taken £6 each in the course of a day.

This afternoon, about five o’clock three persons, an old man and two lads, having ventured on a piece of ice above London Bridge, it suddenly detached itself from the main body, and was carried by the tide through one of the arches. The persons on the ice, who laid themselves down for safety, were observed by the boatmen at Billingsgate, who with laudable activity, put off to their assistance, and rescued them from their danger.

One of them was able to walk, but the other two were carried in a state of insensibility to a public-house in the neighbourhood, where they received every attention their situation required.

Many persons were seen on the ice till late at night, and the effect by moonlight was singularly picturesque and beautiful. With a little stretch of imagination, we might have transported ourselves to the frozen climes of the north—to Lapland, Sweden or Holland.

Saturday, February 5th: The morning of this day augured rather unfavourably for the continuance of Frost Fair. The wind had shifted to the south, and a light fall of snow took place. The visitors of the Thames, however, were not to be deterred by trifles. Thousands again returned, and there was much life and bustle on the frozen element.

The footpath in the centre of the river was hard and secure, and among the pedestrians we observed four donkeys which trotted at a nimble pace and produced considerable merriment. At every glance, the spectator met with some pleasing novelty. Gaming in all its branches threw out different allurements, while honesty was out of the question. Many of the itinerant admirers of the profit gained by E. O. Tables, wheel of fortune, the garter, &c., were industrious in their avocations, leaving their kind customers without a penny to pay their passage over a plank to the shore. Skittles was played by several parties, and the drinking tents filled by females and their companions, dancing reels to the sound of fiddles, while others sat round large fires, drinking rum, grog, and other spirits. Tea, coffee, and eatables were provided in ample order, while passengers were invited to eat by way of recording their visit. Several respectable tradesmen also attended with their wares, selling books, toys, and trinkets of every description.

Towards evening the concourse became thinned; rain fell in some quantity; Maister Ice gave some loud cracks, and floated with the printing presses, booths, &c., to the no small dismay of publicans, typographers, &c. In short, this icy palace of Momus, this fairy frost work, was soon to be dissolved, and doomed to vanish like the baseless fabric of a vision, but leaving some “wrecks behind.”

A short time before the thaw, a gentleman standing by one of the printing presses, and supposed to be a limb of the law, handed the following jeu d’esprit to its conductor, requesting that it might be printed on the Thames. The prophecy which it contains has been most remarkably fulfilled:—

It was evident that a thaw was rapidly taking place, yet such was the indiscretion and heedlessness of some persons that one fatal accident occurred.

Two genteel looking young men fell victims to their temerity in venturing on the ice above Westminster Bridge, notwithstanding the warnings of the waterman. A large mass on which they stood, and which had been loosened by the flood-tide, gave way, and they floated down the stream. As they passed under Westminster Bridge they cried out most piteously for help. They had not gone far before they sat down, but, going too near the edge, they overbalanced the mass, and were precipitated into the stream, sinking not to appear again.

This morning, also, Mr. Lawrence, of the Feathers, in High Timber street, Queenhithe, erected a booth on the Thames opposite Brook’s Wharf, for the accommodation of the curious. At nine at night he left it to the care of two men, taking away all liquors, except some gin, which he gave them for their own use.

Sunday, February 6th: At two o’clock this morning, the tide began to flow with great rapidity at London Bridge; the thaw assisted the efforts of the tide, and the booth just mentioned was hurried along with the quickness of lightning towards Blackfriars Bridge. There were nine men in it, and in their alarm they neglected the fire and candles, which, communicating with the covering, set it in a flame. The men succeeded in getting into a lighter which had broken from its moorings, but it was dashed to pieces against one of the piers of Blackfriars Bridge, on which seven of them got, and were taken off safely; the other two got into a barge while passing Puddle Dock.

On this day, the Thames towards high tide (about 3 p.m.) presented a very tolerable idea of the frozen ocean; grand masses of ice floating along, added to the great height of the water and afforded a striking sight for contemplation.

Thousands of disappointed persons thronged the banks; and many a ’prentice boy and servant maid sighed unutterable things at the sudden and unlooked-for destruction of Frost Fair.

Monday, February, 7th: Large masses of ice are yet floating, and numerous lighters, broken from their moorings, are seen in different parts of the river, many of them complete wrecks. The damage done to the craft and barges is supposed to be very great. From London Bridge to Westminster, twenty thousand pounds will scarcely make good the losses that have been sustained.

An interesting account of an “Ice Festival” is given in the pages of The Champion of February 6th, 1814. It is chronicled that “Saturday se’nnight afforded to the inhabitants of Kelso a scene to which there has been nothing similar for the last 73 years. The late severe weather having frozen the Tweed completely over, a number of the respectable inhabitants were desirous of dining on the ice, and gave orders to Mr. Lander, of the Queen’s Head Inn, to provide what was necessary for the occasion. He accordingly erected an enormous tent in the midst of the river, opposite Ednam House, and served up an excellent and hot dinner to a numerous and respectable company. The tent, which was well heated by stoves, was surmounted by an orange flag, and the union flags of England and Holland were displayed on tables. From forty to fifty sat down to dinner. The following toasts were drunk with glee:—‘General Frost, who so signally fought last winter for the deliverance of Europe, and who now supports the present company.’ ‘Both sides of the Tweed, and God preserve us in the middle.’ The company were much gratified by seeing among them an old inhabitant of the town who was present at the last entertainment given under similar circumstances, in the winter of the year 1740, when part of an ox was roasted on the ice. No accident happened to disturb the pleasures of the scene.”

From a scene of rejoicing let us turn to a record of a painful death occurring at this period. We find in the “Annals of Manchester,” edited by W. E. A. Axon, (pub. 1886) a note as follows, under the year 1814:—“Miss Lavinia Robinson was found drowned in the Irwell, near the Mode Wheel, February 8. This young lady, who possessed superior mental accomplishments, as well as personal beauty, was engaged to Mr. Holroyd, a surgeon, but on the eve of her intended marriage she disappeared from her home in Bridge Street, December 6th, and owing to the long frost, her body remained under the ice for a long period. It appears most probable that the rash act of the ‘Manchester Ophelia’ was due to a quarrel in which her betrothed had repeated some slanderous statements respecting her. There was, however, a strong suspicion that she had met with foul play. The slanders were shown to be baseless, and the feeling against Mr. Holroyd was so strong that he had to leave the town. (Procter’s ‘Bygone Manchester,’ pages 268, 269. ‘City News Notes and Queries,’ vol. I., p. 265.)”

We extract from the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle the following lines by an anonymous author:—

The winter very severe in Ireland.

On the 7th January a very severe frost set in and continued a month. This frost was predicted in “Murphy’s Almanack,” and the fulfilment of the prediction rendered the publication extremely popular. A rhyme of the period was as follows—

It is recorded in January this year, that the thermometer at Walton, near Claremont, fell to 14 deg. below zero; at Beckenham it was 13½ deg. below zero; at Wallingford, 5 deg. below zero; at Greenwich, 4 deg. below zero; and at Glasgow 1 deg. below zero.

The principal rivers of this country were frozen over. This winter is frequently called “Murphy’s winter.”

On January 16th a very strong frost commenced, and prevailed for about six weeks. Rivers were frozen over, and inland navigation was entirely suspended. The working classes were subject to many privations on account of the dearness of food and depression of trade. In London 10,000 dock porters were out of work, and such was their sufferings that bread-riots occurred in the east end of the town. During this frost traffic was established on the Ure in Lincolnshire to the distance of thirty-five miles.

Very severe frost from 20th December to 5th January. Says the Northern Daily Telegraph, in a recent article on “Old Fashioned Winters” “on the 25th of December, 1860, the thermometer in London fell to 15 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 17 degrees below freezing point. In the country the same intensity of cold was felt, and a certain meteorologist wrote to the Times stating that at Boston, in Nottinghamshire, the temperature four feet above the ground was 8 degrees below zero, whilst on the grass it was 13 degrees, or 45 degrees of frost. Fortunately this extreme cold only lasted three days, and the inconveniences attending it—in themselves bad enough—were not to be compared with the miseries which accompanied the great Frost Fair.”

In the middle of January, 1880, it was expected by many that a Frost Fair would once more be held on the Thames. The last two months of 1879 and the opening month of 1880 were extremely cold. The President of the Meteorological Society in his report, 1880, says, “The period through which we have been passing since October, 1878, has been one of great cold, in many respects without precedent during nearly a quarter of a century. The harvest of 1879 is recorded as the worst ever known. Shrubs, even hollies, little short of 100 years old were killed. Birds were destroyed, Robin Redbreasts took shelter in our houses; all the rivers in England were frozen over. It is stated that Major Slack of the 63rd Regiment, at Oakamoor Station, railway lamps were frozen out, and that rabbits pushed for food had attacked the oil and grease on the station crane.” At Chirmside Bridge a temperature of 6° below zero was observed. Peach trees 60 years old were killed to the roots. The evergreens, laurels, rhododendrons, hollies in many instances, Wellingtonias, and many others were all killed, and many people frozen to death. This frost began on the 22nd November, 1879, and on the 2nd February, 1880, a thaw began.

Severe frost from the 7th to the 27th January. Snow fell daily from the 9th to the 27th of the month.

The concluding pages of this work are being written and printed during a hard frost. The closing days of the past year, and the early days of the current year will long be remembered amongst severe winters.

Perhaps we cannot more fitly close our account of “Famous Frosts and Frost Fairs,” than by quoting the following lines from the facile pen of Edith May, culled from the pages of Hale’s “Selections of Female Writers,” published in 1853.

INDEX.

• Ale, Hot, used for mixing mortar, 9.
• Anne, Princess, visits the Frost Fair, 19, 20.
• Armitage, John, High Sheriff of Yorkshire, 12.
• Artichokes, growth of, in London in 1608, 11.
• Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, a Broadside in, 32.
• Axon’s, W. E. A., Annals of Manchester, quoted, 74.
• Bailey, Wm., printer on the Thames, 58.
• Bampton, Devonshire, Icy Epitaph at, 53.
• Barley, Price of, in 1614, 12.
• Bartholomew Fair, 33, 56.
• Bath, Severe Frost at, in 1754, 51.
• Beale, Dr., on the frost of 1672, 17.
• Beans, price of, in 1614, 12.
• Bear-Baiting on the Ice, 55.
• Beckenham, 79.
• Bess of Hardwick, Death of, 9.
• Birch, W., Enamel-painter and Engraver, 58.
• Birmingham Mails delayed through a dense Fog, 61.
• Blanket Fair, A True description of, upon the River Thames, 1683. A broadside, 22-26.
• Bodleian Library, Oxford, Cold Doings in London, a tract in, 11.
• Book of Liberty, read in Churches, 13.
• Boston, Notts., Severe Frost at, 80.
• Bowles, John, Printseller at “The Black Horse,” 44.
• Bowyer, William, Printer, 43.
• Brugis, H., Printer, 26.
• Catherine, Queen, Infanta of Portugal, 19.
• Champion, The, on the Ice Festival of 1814, 73.
• Charles II., Visit to the Frost Fair on the Thames in 1683-84, 19.
• Chatsworth, 9.
• Chirmside Bridge. Temperature at, 81.
• Cold Doings in London, quoted, 11.
• “Cold Yeare, The” quoted, 13.
• Cornwall, slight frost of 1763, 52.
• Corsellis, F., Oxford’s first Printer, 48.
• Croker, J. Wilson, 61.
• Croom, G., Printing done on the Thames by, 19, 20.
• Cross, John, 45.
• Crowle’s Illustrated Pennant, quoted, 58.
• Dalton, C. and R., Bell-founders, York, 54.
• Davis, Mr., Drowning of, 65.
• Derbyshire, Chatsworth, 9;
• Hardwick, 8, 9.
• Dawks’s News-Letter, on the frost of 1715-16, 41, 42.
• D’Este, Mary, 19.
• Doll, the pippin Woman, death of, 49,
• Gay’s verse on, ibid.
• Drake’s Eboracum, quoted, 10, 12.
• “Drunk as Davey’s Sow,” a phrase, 77.
• Ecclesfield Parish Register, extract from, on mixing Mortar with Malt-Liquor, 9.
• Ednam House, Kelso, 73.
• Eggs used for pointing Churches, 9.
• Elizabeth, Queen, 8.
• England, 73,
• Introduction of Printing into, by Henry VI., 48;
• Rivers Frozen, 80;
• Severe frost in 359, 1.
• English Chronicle, The, or Frosty Calendar, a broadside, 1739-40, 46.
• E. O. Tables, gambling by, practised, 69.
• Epitaph, Icy, at Bampton, Devonshire, 53.
• Erra Pater’s Prophesy, or Frost Fair in 1683, quoted, 39.
• Evelyn, John, on the Frost of 1648-49, 14;
• frost of 1683-84, 17, 20.
• Faust, J., Inventor of Printing, 48.
• Foss, River, 12.
• Foster, Geo., Printseller, St. Paul’s Church-yard, 46.
• Frost Fair, An Extract Draught of, on the River Thames, 46.
• Frost Fair on the River Thames, 1715-16, 43-44.
• Frost in the Year 1739-40, quoted, 45.
• Frost Pictures, a Poem, by Edith May, 82-83.
• Frostiana, Curious effect of the cold on birds in the Frost of 1806 mentioned in, 60.
• Gainsborough, 13.
• Gent, Thos., His Printing shop on the river Ouse, at York, in 1719, 49-50.
• Gentleman’s Magazine on the Frost of 1742, 51,
• on the Frost of 1763, ibid.,
• of 1782, 53, 54,
• of 1784, 55,
• and of 1789, 55.
• George, Prince, of Denmark, 20.
• Glasgow, 79.
• Gottenburgh, John, Printer, 48.
• Gough, Richard. 11.
• Gravesend, 7.
• Great Britain’s Wonder: or London’s Admiration, A Broadside, 26.
• Greenwich, 79.
• Grey Friars, Chronicles of the, quoted, 7.
• Hale’s Selections of Female Writers, quoted 81.
• Haly, M., Printer, 32.
• Harford Bridge, 61.
• Harleian Miscellany, quoted, 3.
• Harley Thos., Lord Mayor of London, 52.
• Hatfield House, 61.
• Hawarden, Lord, Accident to, 61.
• Hay, price of, in 1614, 12.
• Heaton, John, Printer, 40.
• Henry II. 5.
• — III. 5.
• — VI. and the Introduction of Printing into England, 48.
• Hodgeson, Mr., 48.
• Holinshed’s “Chronicle,” quoted, 8.
• Holland, 69, 73.
• Holroyd, Mr., 74, 75.
• Horse Shoe, Game of, 77.
• Howe’s “Stow’s English Chronicle,” quoted, 6, 10.
• Hulse, Sir Henry, Knt, 39.
• Ice Fair, quoted, 45.
• Icy Epitaph, 53.
• Ireland, 73;
• slight frost of 1763, 52.
• Irwell River, Drowning of Miss Robinson in, 74.
• Jackson’s Pictorial Press, quoted, 32.
• Kelso, Ice Festival at, 73;
• Ednam House, 73;
• Queen’s Head Inn, 73.
• Kentish Town, 61.
• Lambeth, 6, 7, 8, 18.
• Lander, Mr. Publican, Public dinner served on the river Tweed by, during the frost of 1814, 73.
• Lapland, 69;
• Lapland Mutton, 64.
• Lawrence, Mr., Publican, erected a booth on the Thames, 71.
• Leeds, 13.
• Leybourne, Birds fettered with Ice at, 60.
• Lintott, Bernard, Bookseller, 43.
• London, 22, 32, 38, 44, 79, 80;
• Blackfriars Bridge, 63-66, 72;
• British Museum, Royal Coll. of Prints and Drawings in the, 22;
• Brooks Wharf, 71;
• Carlton House, 35;
• Cheapside, 35, 64;
• Dock Labourers thrown out of work, 79;
• Fire in 1086, 3;
• Fleet Street, Shop signs in, 21, 40;
• Fog, Dense, in 1813-14, 61;
• Green Arbour, 26;
• Guildhall Library, 22;
• High Timber Street, 71;
• Hungerford Stairs, 48;
• Little Old Bailey, 26.
• London Bridge, 21, 40, 43, 63, 65, 68, 73;
• Arches carried away during the frost of 1281-2, 6, 7, 8;
• Houses on, damaged, in the frost of 1739, 40;
• View of, 11.
• Ludgate, 32;
• Moorfields, 35;
• Newington, 65;
• Puddle Dock, 72;
• Royal Exchange, 32;
• Queenhithe, 45, 63, 71;
• Queen Street, 64;
• Rose Chair, 59;
• Rotherhithe, Fall of a house at, 56;
• St. James’s Street, 43;
• St. Paul’s Cathedral, 46, 67;
• Burning of in 1086, 3;
• Smithfield, 48;
• Southwark, 22, 23, 26, 27, 46;
• Strand, 43, 48;
• Temple Bar, 40;
• Temple Stairs, 21, 23, 26, 27.
• Thames Frozen, 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 34, 38, 40, 44, 46, 47, 67, 72, 80;
• from London to Gravesend, in 54, 55, 59.
• Blanket Fair upon, a Broadside, 22-26.
• Bull-Baiting on, 24.
• Coaches plying from Westminster to the Temple, 18, 23, 35, 41.
• Fair in 1564-6, 8;
• in 1608, 10;
• in 1620, 13, 55, 66;
• in reign of Charles II, 15, 17, 55, 56;
• Frost Fair, 46, 66.
• Mapp or Representation of Boothes &c. 1683, 20.
• Men walking over, from Westminster to Lambeth, in 1281-2, 6, 7;
• Navigation on, suspended, 52, 54;
• Printing done upon, 41, 46, 47, 58, 66, 67;
• Subscriptions raised for the sufferers through the frost of 1789, 57.
• Three Crane Stairs, 64, 65;
• Westminster, 18, 40, 41, 73;
• Westminster Bridge, 71;
• Whitehall, 19, 40, 41;
• Whitehall Stairs, 46;
• Whitefriars, 41.
• London Chronicle, on the frost of 1789, 58, 59.
• Loughborough, Leicestershire, waggon load of Coals, drawn on the ice from, to Carlton House, London, 55.
• Maidenhead Coach, overturned, 61.
• Maitland’s Hist. of London, quoted, 13.
• Malling, 60.
• Manchester, Bridge Street, 74;
• City News Notes and Queries, on the Drowning of Miss Robinson, 75.
• Martaine, Thos., 36.
• May’s, Edith, Frost Pictures, a poem, 82-83.
• Milbank, Horse Ferry at, 18.
• Mode Wheel, near River Irwell, 74.
• Modena, Francis, Duke of, 19.
• Moxon’s Map of the River Thames, 1683-4, referred to, 38, 39.
• Murphy’s Almanack, Frost of 1838 predicted in, 78, 79.
• Nelson, Jemmy, 77.
• Neva, River, Ice Palace erected upon, in 1740, 50-51.
• Newcastle, 75, 76;
• Antiquarian Society Transactions, on the Frost of 1795-96, 59;
• Ouse Burn Quay 77;
• Red Heugh, 77;
• The Tyne Fair, at, 75, 76.
• Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, on the Frost Fair of 1814, 75.
• Newman, W., Miller, of Leybourne, 60.
• Norris, Jas., Bookseller, at the King’s Arms, Fleet St., 40.
• Northern Daily Telegraph on “Old Fashioned Winters” 79.
• Nottingham Guardian, quoted, 13.
• Notes and Queries, quoted, 13.
• Oakamoor Station, 81.
• “Odd Showers” referred to, 17.
• “Old Chronicle,” quoted, 4.
• Oxford, Printing first Practised at, 48.
• Ouse Bridges, borne away with the Ice, in 1564, 8.
• Penkethman, quoted, 5.
• Pepys, Samuel, on the frosts of 1663, 1664-65, 14.
• Plymouth, intense frost at, in 1782, 53.
• Printing, Invention of, 47.
• Proctors’ Bygone Manchester, on the Drowning of Miss Robinson, 75.
• Prynne’s Divine Tragedie lately acted, quoted, 13.
• Public Advertiser, quoted 57.
• Putney-Bridge, 56.
• Redriff, 55, 56.
• Regent, Prince, his intended visit to the Marquis of Salisbury, 61
• Robinson, Miss L., Drowning of, in the Irwell, 74, 75.
• Rochester Bridge, destroyed by the frost of 1281-2, 6.
• Russia, Anne, Empress of, causes an ice Palace to be erected on the Neva, 50.
• Salisbury Marquis of, 61.
• Samuel, G., Painter, 58.
• Scotland, Fourteen weeks’ Frost in 359, 1.
• Seller, John, Bookseller, 32.
• Shad, J. 32.
• Short’s quoted 2, 3, 5.
• Signs, Shop, Black Horse, Cornhill, 44;
• Feathers, High Timber St. 71;
• Globe, St. Paul’s Churchyard, 32;
• King’s Arms, Fleet Street 40;
• Mitre Tavern, Fleet Street, 21;
• Queen’s Head Inn, Kelso, 73;
• Talbot, Fleet Street, 21.
• Slack, Major, 80.
• Southampton Beauvois Hill, 37;
• Berry, ib.;
• Bittern Farme, ib.;
• Calshott Castle, 36;
• Extract from Holy-Rood Church Register on the Frost of 1683-4, ib.;
• Ichen Ferry, 37;
• Marchwood, ib.;
• Millbrook point, ib.;
• Redbridge, ib.
• Stows’ Annals, quoted, 8;
• Chronicle, quoted, 4, 6, 7.
• Sweden, 69.
• Swinney, Peg, 78.
• Thamasis’s Advice to a Painter, quoted 20.
• Thames, A View of the, from Rotherhithe Stairs during the frost in 1789, 58.
• Timbs’s Curiosities of London, quoted, 40;
• on the Frost of 1739-40, 48;
• on the Frost of 1811, 60.
• Times, The, on the Frost at Boston, Notts., 80.
• Trent, River, Playing Foot-ball on, in 1634, 13.
• Tweed, River, Dinner given upon, in 1814, 73, 74.
• Tyne, River, 75-77;
• Frost Fair of 1814, 75;
• a Ballad on the Fair, 76-78.
• Ubley, Frost of 1683, Extract from Parochial Register on, 37.
• Ure, River, Frozen in 1855, 79.
• Uxbridge, 61.
• View of the Booths, and all the Variety of Shows &c., 44.
• Wales, slight frost of, 1763, 52.
• Wales, Prince of, Visits the Frost Fair of 1715-16, 42.
• Walford, C., Insurance Cyclopædia, quoted, 3.
• — Edward, M. A., Old and New London, quoted, 13.
• Wallingford, 79.
• Walton, Near Claremont, 79.
• Waltor, Robt., Bookseller at the Globe, 32.
• Warter, Wm. Stationer, at the “Talbott,” 21.
• Wellington, Coach, Lord, from London to Newcastle, 76.
• Weltjie, Mr., Clerk of the Cellars to the Prince of Wales, 55.
• White’s Natural Hist. of Selborne, on the Frost of 1768, 52-53.
• William the Conqueror, 3.
• Winter Wonder, A, or the Thames Frozen over with Remarks on the Resort there, a broadside, 32.
• Wonderfull Fair, A, or a Fair of Wonders, 1684, quoted, 39.
• Wonders of the Deep, a Broadside, 34-36.
• Wrington, 37.
• York, 12;
• Flood of 1614, 12;
• Horse Race run upon the Ouse at, 10;
• Printing done upon the Ouse at, 49;
• Walmgate, 12.
• York, James, Duke of, 19.
• Yorkshire, Ecclesfield Parish Register, Extract from, 9;
• River Ouse Frozen in 1607, 10;
• again 1614, 12;
• Overflow of, 12;
• Ouse Bridge borne away in 1564-65, 8;
• Tadcaster Church Bells moulded during the frost of 1783, 54.