South Cerney Old and New
The Weather and its Results
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Flood Hatches

Mrs Jack Painter said the hatches ceased to be used regularly from 1935 onwards. 

In 1965 two poles were placed one above the other lying across the weir to keep the level of the mill stream up when there were the floods the week before Christmas, 1965.

Floods

In 1927 the river flooded the village in November and December.  The water was across the road at Upper Up, and down the High Street and also Station Road.  It was over gum-boot level in the week before Christmas, and it was across the whole of School Lane.

1965-66 Floods

Water was out across School Lane and Bow Wow during weeks December 13^th to January 3^rd, and also across Kemble Road immediately around the Upper Up corner for 20 yards.  A plank walk was put down past Highnam Cottages, and down Bow Wow we got up onto the mill stream bank.

In Cerney Wick the water was running 6 inches deep all along the road from Cerney into Wick after the S bend to the mill corner.   My family and I bicycled through it and had to keep going hard to get through.

Outside Chapter Manor stable gates the water was all through the cottage garden and standing inside the cottage.  People had cut many channels down the bank between the mill stream and main stream, but not taken out the boards below the hatches; the Thames Conservancy man told me this had spread the floods instead of guiding the water over the weir.  About January 4^th he told me he was opening all the hatches to get the water out past Cerney and it would flood more at Wick.  Soon after this the water subsided.

There was almost no frost at this time.  Frost and snow came January 10^th onwards, when the wind went east.  It was sunny mild weather with the floods, very attractive.

(Mrs A M Hadfield)

Hailstorm, July 13^th 1967

At 7.30 pm the sky was very dark, and slight rain fell.  By 8.30 the rain was very violent and fell ‘in buckets’.  At 8.45 hail fell very densely, rattling down the chimney onto the hearth, and covering the ground outside.  The hail stones were the size of golf balls and they fell for ten minutes.  A large number of cold frame lights and greenhouse panes were broken; by 9.30 pm the storm was over.

(Mrs A M Hadfield)

Hailstorm, 7^th July 1896

On this evening the worst storm took place in living memory.  Hail stones of phenomenal size appeared and in places were several inches deep, and they were still lying at 10 am the next morning.  Mrs White, at The Limes, had 70-80 panes broken in her greenhouse, as did many other people in South Cerney.   Mr Joseph Varney had all his corn crop destroyed, which was not insured.  During the storm he was milking a cow, and his pet gosling came to him for protection.  Unfortunately a flash of lightening struck the milk bucket, overturning it and killing his pet gosling.  Several sheep belonging to Mr Robert Smith of Cerney Wick were blinded during the storm, and after the storm he had to carry bucketsful of water out of his house.

(W & G, 1896)

Water Shortage

Report by the Cirencester RDC:  due to an acute water shortage the water cress beds at Boxwell Springs, South Cerney, are almost dry, and all the levels of the artesian wells in the district are down.

(W & G, 1933)