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The Frost Fair of London


The recent frosty spell showed what kind of damage it can do and also how it can be a source of fun and enjoyment when done safely. Previous great frosts were also occasions of both fun and damage. We all remember reading about the Great Famine in the 1840s. There was another famine about 100 years earlier but that one was caused by extreme winter weather.

In December 1739 a severe frost gripped most of northern Europe and lasted for almost two months. Potatoes that were stored in pits were destroyed, animals died, much of the tillage sown that autumn was destroyed and food riots were commonplace. It is estimated that up to half a million people died. So many birds died that the following appeared in The Dublin Journal:
No lark is left to wake the morn,
Or rouse the youth with early horn;
The blackbird’s melody is o’er
And pretty robin sings no more.
No thrush to serenade the grove
And soothe the passions into love,
Thou sweetest songster of the throng,
Now only live in poet’s song.
In spite of the hardships there were also occasions of enjoyment. It is reported that the Shannon was frozen to a depth of 19 inches, that an entire sheep was roasted out on the ice at Portumna and that afterwards, a hurling match was played on the ice between two teams of gentlemen.
Sporting events on frozen rivers and lakes were common and some became well known. The Frost Fair of London was probably one of the better known. Before the building of the embankments along the Thames, the river was wide and slow flowing, which made it very liable to freezing. When it became safe to do so, the people of London took to the frozen river and had what amounted to a city festival while the ice lasted. One of the customs was that printing presses were set up, recording the happenings and printing souvenirs.
A major frost set in at the start of January 1814 and by the end of the month the river was frozen solid. An elephant was led across the ice at Blackfriars Bridge to demonstrate the safety of the ice. Once people saw that it was safe to do so thousands ventured on the river.
Nine printing presses set up and one was named Frostiana. They printed daily and when the frost started to thaw put all their reports in book form. Frostiana reported how the stalls were set up. They sold steamers, flags and signs but the favourites were gin, beer and gingerbread. They reported how a sheep was roasted in a large iron pan over a coal fire and people were charged six pence to see it happening. When it was cooked, it was called Lapland Mutton and sold at one shilling a slice. As the thaw set in the ice began to break up Frostiana printed its last page on what it described as Ice Island.
The building of the embankments and the new London Bridge greatly increased the flow of the Thames, with the result that the river never froze again to the same extent. That brought an end to the London Frost Fairs, the last of which was held in 1814.
That great frost ended and published its last page on February 7, 1814 – 196 years ago this week.

 

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