Storms

History of early storms in Brighton (before 1987)

Reproduced with permission from the Encyclopaedia of Brighton by Tim Carder (1990)

The worst storm in recorded history was probably the 'Great Channel Storm' of 26 November 1703 which is estimated to have killed 8,000 people in England. Over a period of eight hours at Brighton a number of houses were demolished or lost their roofs, the town windmills were flattened, several boats and crews were lost, and the lead was ripped from the roof of the parish church.

Less than two years later a storm of only slightly less intensity, on 11 August 1705, again stripped the church roof and buried the remaining tenements of the Lower Town beneath a bank of shingle.  Other destructive storms have included:

15 December 1806 when much of the Marine Parade cliff top was washed away from Lower Rock Gardens to Royal Crescent.

23 November 1824 when Pool Valley was inundated

29 November 1836 when the Chain Pier was wrecked

5 August 1848 when a whirlwind and water-spout passed over the town, scattering bathing machines and uprooting everything in its path

17 July 1850 when a thunderstorm inundated the Valley Gardens and Pool Valley was flooded to a depth of nearly six feet

18 January 1881 when a snowstorm produced drifts of up to eight feet in the town

4 December 1896 when the Chain Pier and Rottingdean Railway were wrecked

June 1910 when an eight-hour thunderstorm produced a state of shock in many people

8 December 1967 when continuous heavy snow in the morning brought the whole town to a standstill with drifts several feet deep.'