A History Of Floods In Windsor
By Paul Homewood
George Clooney is worried that his tennis court is under a couple inches of water at his £12m mansion on the banks of the Thames in Berkshire:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11010338/george-clooney-berkshire-mansion-storm-dennis-floods/
He ought to be grateful he was not living there in Oscar Wilde’s days!
From the Royal Windsor website, we find that Thames floods were regular occurrences back then:
It is not widely known that in Victorian times, Windsor, and also the rest of the country, suffered flooding far more regularly than in the 20th century. Although this can partly be blamed on less effective river management, there must also be an element of extreme weather conditions. For example, a particularly severe flood seems to have occurred in 1852, the Illustrated London News reporting that the floods of December 1872 were some two feet lower than the floods of 1852. It has also been reported that a severe flood, possibly worse than 1894 occurred in 1774.
January 1869
The flood in Windsor in January 1869 pictured in The Illustrated London News.
January 1872
Thursday and Friday 25th and 26th January 1872.
A view from the GWR railway viaduct towards Windsor, with the floodwater reaching the lower areas of the town.
January 1873
The Floods of early January 1873 from The Round Tower
November 1875
A tinted and slightly stylised view of flooding around The Goswells in November 1875
January 1877
The flooding in December 1876 extended into January 1877. This view shows the Home Park inundated and only the raised roadway to Datchet, constructed in 1851, still passable.
1891
Floods in 1891 adjacent to the railway arch over Goswell Road.
1894
In 1894 a major flood inundated Windsor, the highest until the floods of 1947.
And then there was 1947!
A view of the flooded gasworks from the GWR Station
Oxford Road looking west from Alma Road as supplies are brought by boat to upstairs windows.
A view of Alma Road looking north. A DUKW amphibious vehicle emerges from Oxford Road,
The archive finishes:
Floods in other Eras
In the course of researching the above article, we have also found references to floods in 1915, 1912, 1841, 1821, 1819, 1774 when Henley Bridge was swept away, 1768, 1764 and 1742.
http://www.thamesweb.co.uk/windsor/windsorhistory/floods1875.html
Comments are closed.
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
This is an entry in my diary for today:
I am now getting quite worried. Floods, that the Environment Agency is content to blame on Climate Change rather than ‘weather’, which gives them a get-out-of-jail-free card for neglecting all the things they should have been doing to prevent them; the defeat of the Heathrow third runway in the courts based on an ‘agreement’, which is not legal in this country (Paris: COP15) and a dodgy Climate Change Act passed by ignorant MPs; and the growing swell of Green activism from the likes of Attenborough, Thunberg – and the children she has mislead, the BBC, and Extinction Rebellion, to name but a few.
Pretty soon, this country will face a huge dilemma: reliable and reasonably-priced energy; continuing world trade; social cohesion; freedom of movement; ease of travel and association: AGAINST, the coming solar minimum; colder and maybe wetter Winters; and the need for a government with balls – and a huge majority – to repeal the Climate Change Act. If and when that happens the Marxist Greens and their useful idiots will take to the streets to defy the government – and CIVIL WAR will break out.
The police will be no good as they will be busy prosecuting people for hate crimes and upsetting the LGBTXYZ community (I am in favour of protecting minority communities but not in favour of being subjugated by them). The government will be torn between virtue-signalling and doing the right thing for the shivering public. Deben, the BBC and their ilk will be done for and, hopefully, people like Paterson and Lawson (and our host)) will lead the way out of the morass. It has come to this: we die as a leading country in the world, or we get our country back and defeat the enemies within.
It really will take a Churchillian moment to make it work and bring the country back to its senses. We’ve had enough of the Halifaxes, Quislings and Lord Haw Haws of this era.
Paul Homeward, I shall be happy to think of you, your fellow bloggers, Geoff Chambers, Watts, Montford, the GWPF and so many, many others as one of the new FEW.
KBO.
/rant
Many apologies: HOMEWOOD! (oh dear….)
I like the phrase ‘the enemy within’ Perhaps we should all talk about the Global Warming movement as the enemy within when we write, referring to the Green idiots whose growing influence on a weak government seems to be aimed at bringing the country to its knees.
Not to Worry, those Smart Meters will sort it out
🙂
They (smart meters) will give control to tptb – if they ever get to work. But the default – even the built-in design of them – might well be power-cuts.
The need for the alarmists to take drastic action now is because they also know that a solar minimum is coming. This is their last chance – they have perhaps, five years – to get control. The 2024 General Election will be key.
Well said Harry Passfield. We are governed by fawning fools and imbeciles whose sole intent appears to be destruction of the Lion by debilitating commonsense through mis-education, population by dilution through immigration, health by viruses and ‘vaccines’, and economy by legislation. The ‘Green’ movement spells Gangrene to me.
Memories are short. Historical knowledge is even shorter. Historical common sense is almost completely absent. If we know that there were forests in Greenland and thriving wine culture in Britain during Roman times, it’s not hard to deduce that the weather (climate) must have been warmer than today. No temperature measurements needed for that. Just adding two and two together. Nothing we see today in terms of bad weather did not exist even harder 100 years ago.
Some Shropshire (Ironbridge etc.) Google flood history results (inc. old BBC LOL).
https://www.severntales.co.uk/severn-floods-3.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/shropshire/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8370000/8370443.stm
https://www.business-live.co.uk/retail-consumer/how-flooding-changed-face-shropshire-6539642
Potentially interesting reader comment from local Newspaper site.
“No [major???] floods in the seventies or eighties because Clywedog river control dam was completed. 1967. Then came privatisation and the Clywedog dam ended up as reservoir managed by Severn Trent. Then floods started again. It is not a reservoir, it is a river control dam. I’m not sure Severn Trent understand the difference.”
https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/features/2020/02/24/a-dip-into-the-flooding-archives/
Just noticed Shrewsbury also flooded in 1948.
https://britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw012527
So that makes serious UK floods in 1946/7/8 with CO2 at 310ppm!
Probably a repost, but you can find just about everything here:
http://www.cbhe.hydrology.org.uk/search.php
Shrewsbury has always flooded. Records of severe flooding date back to the 1700s when the highest river level was recorded, but plenty of pictures of flooding survive from the 19th and 20th century. Because flooding there is so common, previously it only ever got a mention in the Shropshire Star, but as a result of the Global Warming hysteria it now gets splashed across the front page of The Sun/Daily Mail, etc. Because of the persistent flooding they actually moved the Shrewsbury Town football ground (The Gay Meadow) from the riverside to an out of town location, as matches were always having to be cancelled due to the pitch being underwater. They also had a coracle on hand to collect missed shots which landed in the river Severn.
Yes, the weather hasn’t moved to new extremes, the reporting and propaganda have.
I wonder what the CO2 content of the atmosphere was when this was recorded?
1795 February 14 – Shrewsbury flood level 20 ft. 3.5 in “The Shrewsbury Chronicle’s account of the great flood of 1795 describes a scene – albeit the worst – that Shrewsbury has seen all too often. ‘During the course of the night of the 10th February the swell on the river became tremendous. By dawn the scene was truly distressing: many inhabitants of houses near the river and their dwellings almost overwhelmed, but there was no possibility of contributing to their relief. Four houses were swept away by the flood, and the occupants narrowly escaped with their lives, whilst their furniture, bedding etc., floated down the stream . . . In some instances it was found necessary to break through the roofs of the houses in order to extricate the occupants from their perilous situation.’ “
Flooding has occurred around Tewkesbury on a regular basis with largest floods recorded in 1484, 1587, 1673, 1770, 1814, 1853, 1947 and 2007 as well as this year! Enough said!
The Heathrow debacle is particularly notable.
Ignorant GangGreen loonies take HMG to the Appeals Court and (of course) win. HMG apparently not taking it further, although the Aviation Industry threatens to take it to the Supreme Court. Good Luck with that.
The crux of the case being the obvious conflict between a plan to keep the Aviation Industry going and avoiding International communications becoming even more scelerotic than now on one hand and legislation waved through the House that there is a Climate Crisis and the UK will go to Zero Carbon by 2050 on the other.
Or 2030 if the Labia Party has anything to do with it.
HMG (and the normal hard working taxpayers) thus hoisted by Theresa May’s petard, much to the rejoicing of Deben, Gove and doubtless Boris himself.
In other news, the remaining coal fired furnaces at Drax (which the BBC reminds us, once produced more CO2 than any other Power Station in the Country – of course they mean more despatchable, reliable and affordable electricity than any other Power Station) will be closed in 2021 (“four years early”), and replaced by more munched up American forests. Providing that HMG (or rather taxpayers and electricity users) will pick up the tab. Which I guess we will.
But it is hard to imagine any project that will escape the same legal leg trap. Certainly, fracking, already unconscious, will now receive the Coup de Grace. What next? The Car Industry? The remnants of the Steel Industry? Highways? HS2? Chemicals? Pharmaceuticals?
Extinction Rebellion will be laughing their socks off and rightly so. (As will Putin, Macron etc.)
We are getting a taste of the future with the restrictions on travel, cancelling of large events such as football matches and Glastonbury festival, skiing holidays, trips to the Carribbean and the Maldives etc.
I see Greta’s event in Bristol is going ahead. I hope no-one attending has CoViD19.
(The weather forecast is for rain. Will that affect the turn-out?)
Will Australia and New Zealand have self imposed quarantine?
Parents will love the schools being closed for two months, it’s bad enough during half term.
I don’t think the activists really know what they are asking for. I believe that they think life will carry on much as before but with renewables, and they want it to happen tomorrow.
Just heard a report on the radio claiming 20000 on College Green, Bristol for the Gretmonslter. Trouble is, College Green is really quite small – no way you could get 1/4 that number on it, even with spillage onto Park Street. I dread to think of the state of the grass there, or the cost of putting it back (if they do, otherwis it’s gonna be College Brown for the next few months. . .
Paul, one of my comments – Shropshire flood history – has vanished in moderation for some reason, if it could be retrieved?
Think I’ve got it.
Thanks, that’s it.
martinbrumby: Heathrow can easily maintain its status as the world’s leading hub without expansion – have its cake and eat it. All that is needed is remove most charter and cut price flying elsewhere and concentrate full fare and business travel at Heathrow. Expand regional facilities as necessary. I have written many time that I thought it was ludicrous that my wife and I could take really cheap flights to Milan by Alitalia departing from Heathrow. Nonsense.
I’ve only ever travelled from Heathrow once, and hated every minute of it.
Give me Stansted or Manchester any day of the week
Every one of us needs to visit their MP to campaign for the repeal of the suicidal Climate Change Act. MPs are utterly ignorant of the damage that this ludicrous piece of legislation is doing and will continue to do, until we are completely ruined socially and economically.
Off thread slightly, but have a laugh, listen to this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74nlU7Vt3IA
David Allan: Have done already and often do. Sometimes even get an acknowledgement – not always though.
Harry Passfield’s opening comment chimed with my own views. How did it get this crazy?
Does anyone else feel that our current situation – and outlook – are starting to resemble the early chapters of Atlas Shrugged?