Instead of searching for dragonglass to fend off a potential invasion from White Walkers in this snowscape, I have been looking at the newspapers and found reports of a severe winter storm that took place at the end of March 1917 and into April. The photographs are from our collection, and are of Langdon Beck. We are not sure of the year but we think they are from sometime during the First World War period.
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| D/Ph 441/4/3 Langdon Beck Hotel, c.1916 |
On 2 April 1917 the Shields Daily News reported on their area saying:
Yesterday morning, a heavy fall of snow occurred in the Tynemouth district. The fall was much greater than any which had taken place during the winter, and the unusual spectacle of a snowstorm in April created much surprise…In some places the snow had drifted to a considerable depth, and the streets were almost impassable…The snowstorm was accompanied by a hard and continuous frost.
The Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail of the same day reported:
There is an old English proverb which says that April borrows three days of March, and they are. Yesterday must have been such a borrowed day.
From all parts of the country come reports of wintry weather. In the North of England, and in the Midlands especially, the snowfall has been very severe.
April weather is proverbially fickle, but the reputation of the month rests on the erratic alternation of sunshine and rain and not on such a combination as the first day of this new April gave us.
Yesterday morning, a heavy fall of snow occurred in the Tynemouth district. The fall was much greater than any which had taken place during the winter, and the unusual spectacle of a snowstorm in April created much surprise…In some places the snow had drifted to a considerable depth, and the streets were almost impassable…The snowstorm was accompanied by a hard and continuous frost.
The Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail of the same day reported:
There is an old English proverb which says that April borrows three days of March, and they are. Yesterday must have been such a borrowed day.
From all parts of the country come reports of wintry weather. In the North of England, and in the Midlands especially, the snowfall has been very severe.
April weather is proverbially fickle, but the reputation of the month rests on the erratic alternation of sunshine and rain and not on such a combination as the first day of this new April gave us.
Snow fell on eight days in March and on the 24th of the month there were nine degrees of frost. March went out with snow and April came in with snow.
The weather of the first three months of this year will long be remembered. The temperature has been continually below the average. There was frost on 23 days in January, 20 in February, and 22 in March. Snow has fallen on 20 days since the new year came in. For 61 days out of 90the wind has been in the north or east.
The weather of the first three months of this year will long be remembered. The temperature has been continually below the average. There was frost on 23 days in January, 20 in February, and 22 in March. Snow has fallen on 20 days since the new year came in. For 61 days out of 90the wind has been in the north or east.
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| D/Ph 441/4/8 Clearing the snow and building with it, c.1916 |
The issue’s editorial read:
The clerk on the weather did his best yesterday to make us all feel like April Fools. When we peeped from our bedroom windows and saw the Artic conditions that prevailed it was difficult to believe we had left March behind. The fall of snow in the Hartlepools was one of the heaviest we have had for many years, and the winter conditions appear to have been general in the country. The snow will do something towards protecting seeds in the ground from the hard frost which prevailed last night, but it will also delay operations on the land which have been sufficiently difficult this spring. There are people who say that cold wintry weather at this time of the year is often followed by much more genial conditions in late spring and early summer than usually prevail. We doubt if there is much truth in the saying, but we can only hope that such conditions will be realised this year.
The clerk on the weather did his best yesterday to make us all feel like April Fools. When we peeped from our bedroom windows and saw the Artic conditions that prevailed it was difficult to believe we had left March behind. The fall of snow in the Hartlepools was one of the heaviest we have had for many years, and the winter conditions appear to have been general in the country. The snow will do something towards protecting seeds in the ground from the hard frost which prevailed last night, but it will also delay operations on the land which have been sufficiently difficult this spring. There are people who say that cold wintry weather at this time of the year is often followed by much more genial conditions in late spring and early summer than usually prevail. We doubt if there is much truth in the saying, but we can only hope that such conditions will be realised this year.
Let's hope indeed.
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