Helston.—At Helston, every road leading to other towns was blocked up. No newspaper arrived, nor were any mails sent off until Saturday. Telegraph wires and poles, and innumerable trees were blown down, the plantations in the district suffering severely.
Hemerdon.—No less than six engines were snowed up on Monday night in the neighbourhood of Hemerdon, many of them containing parties despatched from Plymouth by the Great Western Railway to the relief of the train that left Millbay Station at 6·50 on Monday night, and was snowed up on a bridge some distance beyond the Ivybridge Viaduct. In two cases timely rescues of drivers were effected by Mr. Harold S. Williams, of Torridge, the story of which will be found related in a subsequent chapter. One very sad fatality occurred to the wife of a miner, named Ann Farley. She left Plympton on Monday afternoon to visit her father at Hemerdon village, and setting out for her home in the evening would appear to have lost her way, as her body was found on Thursday evening in a field at Lobb Farm, in about three feet of snow.
Honiton.—In a path field leading from Offwell to Land Wood, in the Honiton district, on the Sunday morning following the Monday and Tuesday of the blizzard, the body of a man named Bidgood was discovered. It transpired at an inquest subsequently held that the man was a labourer, who had left work at Gittisham Hill on Tuesday evening to proceed to his home at Offwell. After calling at the New Inn, Honiton Hill, he was not again seen alive. The body was found, lying flat upon its face, by Mr. F. J. Harford, who was looking for some sheep. In many places near Honiton the snow drifts reached to a height of twenty feet, and it was almost impossible to find the main road. Sheep were buried in the snow in many parts of the district, and large trees were rooted up and thrown across the road.
Ilfracombe.—At Ilfracombe, during Monday night, a strong gale raged, and the brigantine Ethel, of Salcombe, went ashore at Combemartin early on Tuesday morning, and became a total wreck, but the crew were all saved. The schooner Pride of the West, of Padstow, had her bowsprit carried away, under Hillsborough, and was towed into Ilfracombe harbour. Considerable damage was done to property, and business for a day or two was suspended. Five large trees were blown down in the churchyard. The last train from Barnstaple to Ilfracombe on Monday night was brought to a standstill in the Burrow cutting, where the snow had reached a great height. The passengers were got safely out, and proceeded to the Fortescue Hotel at Morthoe.
Ivybridge.—A full share of destruction of every kind was experienced at Ivybridge during the storm. Trees fell in all directions, a large one breaking in the roof of the newly constructed Navvy Mission Room. The Navvy Missioner, Mr. MacLean, was in the room at the time, and had a very narrow escape. Over a dozen trees fell between the station and the village, most of them being uprooted. For some time provisions in the town showed serious signs of running short, but by a laudable system of mutual accommodation between the residents and tradespeople any actual privation was averted. Several of the passengers by the 6·50 P.M. snowed-up train from Plymouth on Monday night, and the down night train due at Plymouth about 8 P.M. on Monday night, also blocked at Ivybridge Station, were located in the village, but some of the passengers, as late as Thursday evening, were still in search of lodgings. The railway guards and drivers were also in dire straits, and Mr. Bohn (the proprietor of the London Hotel), promptly and generously came to the rescue with free dinners to the railway servants. Many hundreds of people visited the scene of the principal block at Langham Bridge, where the unfortunate train from Plymouth on Monday night became embedded in a deep snow-drift.
Kingsbridge.—This neighbourhood underwent some wretched experiences, not only during the blizzard of Monday and Tuesday, but for fully a fortnight subsequent to the storm. The roads leading to surrounding towns were in a terrible condition through the fall of snow that appears to have exceeded here the fall in any other part of Devon, and the losses of farm-stock were very great. The first episode occurred at seven o'clock on Monday evening, when the mail-cart for Totnes was snowed up after having proceeded a mile out of Kingsbridge, and the driver was compelled to return with his pair of horses, leaving the van in the road. The mail-bags were brought back to the town on the following morning. In another case, Mr. Waymouth, of Woolston, four miles from Kingsbridge, started from the latter place in his carriage for home on the same evening, but was stopped by a fallen tree, and he and his coachman were compelled to take shelter at Coombe Royal, and to remain there until the following Thursday. There were the usual instances of damage to house property, and there was also tremendous destruction to trees, and to the shrubberies of the various residences in the vicinity of the town. All communication was cut off from outside by the destruction of telegraph wires and posts. The telegraph wires have been described as presenting a very singular appearance, the coating of hardened snow in many instances extending to a thickness as great as six inches in diameter. No communication with any other town was received or sent for four whole days, and the post-office was closed for three days, as no mails could be received or despatched. Several commercial travellers who got into the town on Monday were compelled to remain till Friday, when they escaped from confinement by going to Plymouth by steamer. The hardships endured in neighbouring villages for a week were severe, some of the villagers having been without coals, and, the bakers having run out of flour, bread in sufficient quantities could not be obtained. There was considerable injury to some of the crops, and almost every farmer lost sheep in the snow. Mr. Hooppell, of Bigbury, lost between three and four hundred, the greater number of which were probably blown into the sea. Mr. J. Langworthy, of East Allington, lost about seventy sheep and lambs, computed to be worth £300. Mr. S. Square, of Thurlestone, also lost over 100 valuable sheep and lambs. One gentleman had the task imposed upon him of endeavouring to keep alive forty young lambs which had lost their mothers.
Great havoc was wrought in the grounds of Coombe Royal, the American garden being laid almost bare. In the vicarage grounds many of the trees and shrubs were blown down. Improvised sledges were used during the second week by residents as well as the local carriers, these being, indeed, the only vehicles that could be used with any safety.
ST. CLEER ROAD, LISKEARD.