The Whaley Bridge Flood Of 1872

By Paul Homewood

Whaley Bridge

Flooding is nothing new for Whaley Bridge

One of the worst floods on record took place on 19th June 1872. This account comes from the Flood Chronologies database, set up by a team at Newcastle University, sourced from newspapers reports at the time:

[1] [Widespread thunderstorms with deaths from lightning and flooding occurred in England, notably at Manchester, Oldham, Birmingham and Yorkshire. More thunderstorms occurred on 24th especially Staffordshire. [2] Place Manchester: Thunderstorm lasting from 6 pm to midnight. Lightning damage to a mill at Gaythorn was reported. A child was killed by lightning at Weaste. [3] Goyt valley: On 19th the Goyt was 12 to 14 feet above its normal level. At Whaley Bridge houses near the river were completely flooded and people were taken into the chapel and inns. At New Mills where the Goyt is joined by the Kinder, two blocks of a paper works were washed away. Two stone weirs were washed away and two bridges. At Waterside Disley a cotton mill was badly damaged. At Strines a stone bridge was partly washed away. A gasometer was lifted from its basin and tossed on the river bank. At Marple several houses were flooded. The Pineapple Inn was damaged by lightning. At Romiley a stone bridge was washed away. A bridge near Taxal church was destroyed. At Chapel en le Frith a severe landslide occurred onto the Midland Railway and a train was wrecked when it hit the debris. [4] Place Burnley: Low lying districts were flooded but there is no reference to houses. [5] Place Bury: Rain was accompanied by large hailstones, several streets were flooded and the barn brook overflowed. The Star Inn Freetown was struck and seriously damaged. Other houses and mills were also struck. [6] Oldham and Rochdale: Damage was noe by lightning but no flooding was reported. [7] A child was drowned in mid Cheshire when a house in Winsford was deeply flooded. [8] Place Northwich: A large part of the town was under water. The High Street was flooded to a depth of 3 to 4 feet with some occupants rescued by boat. The Rivers Dane and Weaver overflowed. The court room was flooded within 30 minutes of first observation and trials continued for a time with participants standing on forms and chairs before it was adjourned; the water was 3 to 4 feet deep. [9] Place Macclesfield: a woman and child were drowned when the river Bollin overflowed. Two reservoirs burst in the vicinity

Rainfall: Newton Nurseries (17th) 0.95 in 35 m; Macclesfield Thunderstorm lasting nearly 12 hours; rain for 10 hours, in which the (here) unprecedented fall of 4.27 was registered; serious damage by floods in the town and district.; Casterton, Kirkby Lonsdale. Hot, dark morning, at 9 a.m., temp. 75°, with a gentle S.S.W. wind, which gradually veered to W.; by 11.15 a.m. the clouds in the west portended a storm, which came on at 11.37; it followed the course of the Fells, which have a northerly direction, and so great was the downpour of hail and rain that in 18 min. there fell 1.34 in. being at the rate of 1 yard deep in 8 hours, or 4 ½ in. in an hour; temp, fell from 79° to 65°, and the hailstones were more than half-an-inch in diameter.

Source: Westmoreland Gazette 22 Jun; Manchester times 22 Jun; BR

http://ceg-fepsys.ncl.ac.uk/fc/fc_search/LANCASHIRE.html

British Rainfall shows that the heavy rains were widespread that day (or the day before to be precise!):

Whaley Bridge would have been directly affected by the storm at Macclesfield, as the Goyt drains the hills above Macclesfield. In contrast with that 4.27 in over 12 hours, the worst seen this week in the area was about 2 inches in 24 hours.

A couple of weeks later, there was apparently an even more remarkable rainfall event: