"The barometer on Monday morning at 9 A.M. had risen from 29·60 on Sunday to 29·70. About 12 noon slight snow began and continued, but did not lie much until towards evening; the gale freshened towards sunset, and at 7·30 was furious. One of my chimney-stacks fell at that time, wrecking the roof and three rooms, and it blew a hurricane for some hours, with blinding drifts of fine snow. I dreaded daylight, but was quite unprepared for the horrible desolation around me. I had some fine fir trees, and others, almost everyone was blown down; and oak trees either uprooted or boughs twisted and broken in a remarkable way. I have nineteen good trees all down, and twenty apple trees in an adjacent orchard. Indeed, my garden, of which I was justly proud, is completely wrecked and ruined. The barometer had fallen to 29·20 yesterday (Tuesday) morning, and there was a high wind and fine snow partly falling, partly drifting, till after dark. The average depth is from five to seven inches, but deep drifts all about, five feet at least. This morning (Wednesday) we have a cloudless sky, calm, and barometer 29·60. Great destruction is everywhere. In one orchard over 100 trees are down, in another cherry orchard they are described as lying as if they were mown with a scythe. The roads are mostly impassable with huge drifts, so that we can get no communication at all. No post, no papers. The trains are all blocked beyond Tavistock, and the telegraph won't work. No doubt the accounts of the storm will reveal some curious details. Although the whole of my place suffered so extensively, in a field just outside there are several fine oaks which are untouched. I imagine the storm to have swept down from Dartmoor pretty well north-easterly, over a high hill and down upon us, and we must have been right in its vortex: the trees all show signs of twisting, as if there had been a circular force. I am curious to see how wide an area it grasped."
At Saltram House, a country seat of Lord Morley, four hundred trees were blown down, and damage was done to the farm buildings. The kitchen chimney at the mansion was also blown down, and crashed through the roof into that apartment.
The very fine beech avenue, leading from the entrance lodge to the mansion at Bickham, the residence of Reginald Gill, Esq., banker, of Tavistock, is totally destroyed.
At Warleigh, the residence of Walter Radcliffe, Esq., two thousand trees were blown down, and at Derriford, P. C. C. Radcliffe, Esq., lost sixty.
In the plantations at St. German's, between two and three hundred trees were uprooted or broken off. The park covers four hundred acres, and much of the damage is in the home plantations.
On the Kitley estate, near Yealmpton, over 1,500 trees were blown down, amongst them being some of the small leaf elm for which the property is noted, while on the Blatchford estate four hundred trees fell.
At Woodtown, near Tavistock, the residence of W. F. Collier, Esq., hundreds of large trees were blown down, amongst them being several exceptionally fine American conifers. At Foxhams, in the same district, M. Collier, Esq., lost some magnificent Scotch and silver firs and other trees, many of which had attained a great age. A large number of conifers and rhododendrons, planted by Mr. Collier himself some eighteen years ago, also perished.
Pentillie Castle suffered very severely; the house and the gardens both escaped with but little damage, but trees of all sizes and ages were blown down in all directions, from the majestic oaks of two centuries' growth to the more recently planted Pinus and other rare and ornamental trees and shrubs. So far all the strength of the woodman's establishment has been directed to the clearing of the roads and walks, which of itself is a herculean undertaking. The wreck may be cleared away in time, but restoration to its former state is impossible.
At Efford Manor, Plymouth, the blizzard struck with great force the edge of the lane on the eastern side of the house, and then recoiling, and turning right and left, uprooted about twenty trees on the northern side, and the same number on the southern side, leaving the house and grounds untouched.
At Greenbank, Plymouth, several very fine trees were lost, and others old and withered were left standing.