During our sojourn in Wales we’ve been reminded by several monuments about a storm that took place here in October of 1859 called the Royal Charter Storm or Great Storm of 1859. It was the largest storm that century on the Irish Sea and took over 800 lives and 133 ships. It was named for the passenger steam clipper, Royal Charter, which sank with the loss of over 450 lives. The clipper was almost at the end of a Melbourne to Liverpool run when it was driven onto the rocks on the coast of Wales. The disaster drew the attention of Charles Dickens who reported on it for his journal, The Uncommercial Traveler.
The storm also “sank” a church.
Our trek today took us through a small cove where a church used to stand. All that remains now is one wall—the one that used to be farthest from the sea. Like many old churches here it is surrounded by a graveyard. The tombstones that we saw were all from the 1800s—but none after 1859. The storm washed away the land under most of the church, and undoubtedly many graves. Today it is a stark monument to the power of that storm.
Fortunately, only a little drizzle and high winds affected our hike today. We were rewarded with a lunch stop at a local pizza place.
Click here or on the picture to the right to see Laurie’s Relive video.
Technical Note: We had some issues with the program that emails out each story update and if you subscribe, you received a link with three yesterday. Hopefully we have that sorted out.