These notes draw on the
Suffolk Records Office data for earlier times and my
own observations for the later years.
Just over 100 years ago, in fact on February
10th 1895, a gardener at Little Thurlow Hall noted
the lowest temperature ever recorded in Suffolk:
it was -1 °F
(-18.3 °C),
and there were 46 days of continuous frost. The
most snow ever recorded was in 1963, when snow
laid on the ground for 64 days and Temple End
Road was impassable for ten days. The village
baker, a Mr. Cooper who used a bull-nosed Morris
van, had it covered by snow on the sharp bends
for four days. There were no JCBs in those days
so it was eventually cleared by men from the farms
with shovels. Alms House Hill and Broad Road were
also full from top to bottom. It had started snowing
on December 29th 1962 and it snowed on most days
until February 18th 1963, with a depth of 20 inches
on the level.
1946 was a very unsettled year with many days of thunder.
Manor Farm had a chimney hit by lightning, as did Willow
Hall in Wratting Road which suffered much damage. In
fact Willow Hall was hit by lightning three times in
40 years and seems to be located in an area with some
strange magnetic or electrical disturbance. Radio reception,
for example, is very distorted in the immediate vicinity
and for about 200 yards from the house up the hill.
In September 1943 most of Willow Hall Farm buildings
and stacks of straw were destroyed by fire.
On Saturday September 14th 1968 it started raining
and it lasted for three days, giving the worst þoods
for many years. Two men from Little Thurlow, George
Smith (Dorby Wicker, as he was known) and Bill Leatherland,
had been to Gt. Wratting on the Saturday evening and
returning home in the dark ran into floods in Wratting
Road which were more than waist deep and they almost
drowned. By the Sunday morning the brick wall near the
river at Gt. Thurlow had been washed away. Bales of
straw were coming down the river from Bradley and all
roads out of the village were impassable until the Tuesday
morning, but since then there has not been much more
flooding.
On June 2nd 1975 there was heavy snow from about
nine in the morning for two hours; hay was being cut
at Church Farm, Lt. Thurlow at the time and it had
to be stopped because of the depth of snow. Since
the trees were heavy with leaf a lot of branches broke
off with the weight of the snow, though after that
it became very warm for quite a long time.
1976 started with very strong gales on January 2nd,
but by early June it had become very warm and
dry and there then ensued a long drought which
lasted until November 7th. On June 24th a high
of 92 °F was recorded
and on the 26th it had reached 96 °F.
It was my son's wedding day and it was the warmest
anyone can remember it ever being in Church.
By July and August there were huge cracks in
the fields you could put your hands into.
