The Storms and Floods of 1250

In his chronicle for October 1250, Matthew Paris, monk of St Albans, wrote the following:

Daily in the first week of the waxing moon the air began to be much disturbed by dense mist and violent winds. The winds began to tear off the branches and the leaves which were then withering on the trees and carry them a great distance through the air. And what was more damaging, the rough sea, rising above its usual level, and the tide flowing twice in succession without any ebb, made such a horrible roaring noise that it resounded in places remote from it, to the amazement of the hearers, even old ones. No one living now could remember seeing this before. In the darkness of the night the sea seemed to burn as if set on fire, and waves joined with waves as if in battle, so that the dexterity of the sailors could not come to the aid of their doomed ships. Even large and strongly-built vessels foundered and sank. And if we remain silent concerning others, at one single port, namely Hartburn [Northumbria], besides small and medium-sized boats, three fine ones were swallowed by rough seas. At an eastern port called Winchelsea [Sussex], apart from sheds for salt-making, fisherman's buildings, bridges and mills, more than three hundred houses and several churches were destroyed in that place by the violent rise of the sea. Holland in England and Holland overseas, with Flanders and other low-lying places, suffered irreparable damage. Rivers flowing into the sea were forced back and overflowed, so that meadows, mills, and the neighbouring houses were destroyed, and the corn not yet stored in the barns was swept away from the flooded fields.

The Illustrated Chronicles of Matthew Paris, ed. and trans. R. Vaughan (1993), p. 187.