BOURNE IN PAST TIMES

A series of archive photographs

TEXT BY REX NEEDLE

 

The blizzard of 1916

Photographed in 1916

Winter weather warnings forecasting snow tend to raise public alarm yet heavy falls rarely disrupt our daily lives making those occasions when they do all the more memorable such as the blizzard which occurred 100 years ago when the town was isolated for three days and public services severely disrupted.
The extreme conditions began on Tuesday 28th March 1916, cutting telephone and telegraph services and halting the trains in and out of the town, leaving passengers stranded at the railway station, then situated at the Red Hall in South Street, while the mail cart could not get through because the roads were blocked to all traffic by deep snow drifts.
The blizzard raged for two days with high winds and driving snow which covered the frontage of many buildings such as here in West Street overlooking what was then the market place, now the town centre, where the street scene took on a ghostly appearance. The shop on the left at No 1 was occupied by Mills & Baxter, chemists, and headquarters of the town’s aerated water business, now by Eckfords, the estate agents, while the building on the right at No 3 was occupied by D H Horn, tailor and outfitter, but since demolished to make way for Boots the Chemist.

This feature was also published by The Local newspaper on 27th January 2017.

Return to Main index