Please rotate your device

How Not to Deal With Ice

Facebook
Twitter
Google+

28/02/1795

Information

A nationwide extreme cold spell thawed suddenly and unexpectedly on this Sunday. Thick, broken ice was washed down and formed a complete bank across the rive at the bridge. It stopped the current, threatening major flooding in the town. One man attempted to resolve the situation by blowing up the ice with gunpowder wrapped in oilskins. However, he became stuck on an ice floe close to the explosive with his boat adrift. To save himself he plunged into the river and was eventually rescued by four men in a boat. Soon after, the gunpowder exploded, blowing ice everywhere and generating a massive flood which caused a great disaster for hundreds of families living on the banks of the Nene. What they did to 'gunpowder man' is not recorded! (Currie, Ian, Frost, Freezes and Fairs: Chronicles of the Frozen Thames and Harsh Winters in Britain from 1000AD, Frosted Earth, 1996)

Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.

Search and filter

Time periods
Themes
Significant Events
People
Buildings
Objects
Decades
Curriculum Subjects
Places
Locality

Tower Mill, Eye

Facebook
Twitter
Google+

1779

Information

Tower Mill in Eye was an imposing landmark, reaching seven storeys high and possessing an impressive eight sails, one of only a handful of mills to do so in the country. The tower mill was one of five windmills in Eye and was first recorded in a map in 1821, however an inscription suggests the mill might have dated to 1779. Archived images of the windmill reveal the steady decline from eight to six and then four sails. It went from a busy working mill and home, to a derelict tower without sails or cap. It saw its tower reduced over many years until it was finally demolished at the turn of the 21st century.


References:
https://catalogue.millsarchive.org/tower-mill-eye-peterborough

https://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=497638

Image by Peter H from Pixabay

Related stories

  • Death By Windmill Built in the early 1700s on the west side of the C…
  • An Eye for an Eye On the 13th May 1786 Mr Robert Shelston was found…

Links

  • Mills Archive Website
Mill

Discover, understand, and enjoy the rich and diverse stories which make the city of Peterborough what it is today.

ON THIS DAY…

How Not to Deal With Ice
See the story
GET INVOLVED NOW…
Teachers Public


  • Privacy Policy
  • Contributors
  • Copyright
Copyright ©2020 City Culture Peterborough. All rights reserved.
Log In Create account
  • 0 stories
  • 0 stories
  • 0 stories
  • 0 stories
  • 0 stories
  • 0 stories
  • 1 story
  • 0 stories
  • Tower Mill, Eye

    Tower Mill in Eye was an imposing landmark, reaching seven storeys high and…

    Mill
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Google+
  • Return to search
  • 0 stories
  • 0 stories
  • 0 stories
  • 0 stories
  • 0 stories
  • 0 stories
  • 1 story
  • 0 stories
Download acrobat reader