Volcanic winter, 70-foot tsunami and London tornado – shocking list of Britain’s ancient natural disasters revealed

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This illustration depicts the sweating sickness, which remains mysterious to this day[/caption]

Thousands of Brits are believed to have been struck down and ultimately wiped out by this mysterious disease – and we’re still not exactly sure why.

Victims of the sickness would usually become suddenly ill, and then be dead within hours.

You’d go from feeling a bit cold and dizzy, before quickly descending into a sweaty delirium – and then either recovering, or popping your clogs. Sounds miserable, but that’s the 1400s for you.

Wolf Hall fans might recall (spoilers…) that Thomas Cromwell’s wife and two daughters were offed by the disease. Anne Boleyn is also believed to have survived it, although she didn’t exactly have a happy ending.

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Thomas Cromwell’s wife and two daughters are believed to have died due to sweating sickness – an event that was re-enacted in the Wolf Hall TV series[/caption]

And making the event all the more bizarre, a definitive cause for sweating sickness still hasn’t been found.

St Lucia’s Flood

On December 13/14 in 1287, an enormous storm tide led to one of the largest floods known to history.

Hundreds of people were killed during the horrifying event also called the “Great Storm”.

As many as 180 people died in the village of Hickling, Norfolk, with water reported to have risen a foot above the Priory Church’s high altar.

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A ‘great storm’ caused devastating flooding in England, killing hundreds of people[/caption]

Alamy

Norfolk’s Hickling village was especially effected with as many as 180 fatalities[/caption]

But Brits didn’t have it nearly as bad as the Netherlands and Germany, where death tolls are estimated to be between 50,000 and 80,000.

London tornado

When you count the fires, plagues, and a smattering of Viking sackings, London has had a pretty bad lot. That’s before you chuck in a tornado.

It turns out that England‘s earliest reported (and possibly strongest) tornado took place in 1091, in the heart of our capital city.

The aptly named London Tornado of 1091 struck on Friday, October 17 and badly damaged the church of St Mary-le-Bow (which is located on London’s Cheapside).

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The newer St Mary-le-Bow, which was designed by Sir Christopher Wren following the Great Fire of London[/caption]

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Tornadoes are usually associated with central USA – and not Britain’s capital city[/caption]

Several churches were demolished along with over 600 mostly wooden houses. This wasn’t the first or last time London would learn of the perils of using wood as a building material.

The tornado is believed to have rated around F4 on the Fujita scale, which makes it “devastating”. Wind speeds may have reached 213mph.

Chronicling the mad event, William of Malmesbury described it as “a great spectacle for those watching from afar, but a terrifying experience for those standing near”. That’s tornadoes alright.

Thankfully out of a population of 18,000, there are just two known fatalities.

Volcanic winter

If you thought that was bad, consider yourself lucky you weren’t around 1,500 years ago. Summer holidays were cancelled (as was a lot of human life, which is much worse).

A volcanic winter said to have been caused by multiple eruptions cooled the atmosphere for years – causing a big drop in temperatures across Europe, including the UK.

The problem for normal people is that the volcanic winter of 536 wasn’t an isolated catastrophe.

Its devastating crop failures coincided with the Plague of Justinian and general famine.

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The volcanic winter has been linked to a series of suspected eruptions[/caption]

Josse Lieferinxe

Historians reckon that the events collectively caused millions of deaths across Europe during the period.

In fact, historian Michael McCormick famously declared 536 “the beginning of one of the worst periods to be alive, if not the worst year”.

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