Extreme weather events in focus: Aurora borealis
October 10, 2014
Aurora borealis from the UK Following recent sightings of the aurora borealis from the UK, in this week’s blog I thought I would share some of the parallel appearances they have made in some archival materials that I’ve been looking at. In putting the post together I’ve been able to utilise the summary reporting tools that Richard …
Seashells, pirates and Mr William Bulkeley’s Diaries
September 29, 2014
William Bulkeley day On the 19th and 20th of September, we had the privilege of being asked to participate in the events surrounding the launch of the online digital versions of the diaries of Mr William Bulkeley (held at Bangor University Archives). The diaries represent an important source on the social history of Anglesey during …
Getting into the archive – Weather and the Great Estate: the recording of rainfall at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, 1760 to the Present
September 5, 2014
Agricultural societies, farmers clubs and contemporary literature in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, agriculturalists, landowners and farmers in Britain were increasingly literate and open to new ideas, leading to the growth in the number of farming books and the establishment of agricultural periodicals. Literature concerning agriculture and rural life …
Getting into the archive: Lincolnshire and Matthew Flinders’ diaries
Lincolnshire Archives This week I started my work at Lincolnshire Archives. I had a really successful day, completing work on all of the documents I had requested ahead of my visit (a rarity!). The first documents I looked at were the diaries of Matthew Flinders, 2 volumes, dating from 1775-1784 and 1785-1802. These were a …
Getting into the archive: Sherwood Forest and the ‘hurricane’ of 1714
August 22, 2014
Storms and tree damage Damage to trees is one of the more common impacts of storms recorded in the documentary record. The loss of trees is a very visible sign of an extreme weather event that can cause significant changes to the landscape in a short space of time – a number of trees were …
Getting into the archive: John Harrison’s notebook
August 15, 2014
Meteorological phenomena were understood and comprehended differently at different points in time. In the early modern period, for example, detailed descriptions of violent storms, unusual displays of the northern lights, the shape of hailstones, or extremes of cold, heat, flooding or drought, especially in as much as such events disrupted normal everyday life, were …
St Kilda: Extreme Weather on the Edge of the World
August 4, 2014
St Kilda: an island community’s perception of weather St Kilda is an isolated archipelago forty-one miles west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean comprising the islands of Hirta, Soay, Boreray and Dun, as well as several sea stacks, and are the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. It is an interesting …
Extreme weather events in focus: “Hail as hazard”
July 24, 2014
Hailstorms as extreme weather events Although last weekend’s storms didn’t include any hail (at least not in Nottingham), they did get me thinking more about the impacts of extreme storm events in the UK. This post is the first of a series that will focus on different types of extreme weather event, their impacts, and …
Extreme weather at the WCEH, Guimaraes, Portugal
July 14, 2014
World Congress on Environmental History (WCEH) This week Georgina and I were lucky enough to be able to attend the 2nd World Congress on Environmental History (WCEH) in Guimaraes, Portugal. Although this trip wasn’t an official part of the Weather Extremes project, the conference included lots of talks on extreme weather events from a variety …
Getting into the archive – The Buildwas Earthquake of 1773: an earthquake or a landslip?
June 30, 2014
Cartographic and textual sources Early in the morning of the 27th May 1773, a remarkable earthquake or rather landslip occurred at a place called ‘the Birches’ located on the hillside above the River Severn between Buildwas and Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, not far from the site of the present day Ironbridge power station (see featured image above). …
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