The Great Storm 22 November 1824 - Two Hundred Years ago

 “Twern’t a sea – not a bit of it – twer the great sea hisself rose up level like and come on right over the ridge and all, like nothing in this world”. 

1824-11-22 - SurgeWatchSurgeWatch

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Two hundred years ago the little hamlets of Chiswell (Chesilton) on Portland and Fleet, near Chickerell were obliterated by a huge storm surge. The following first hand accounts and research relate to the terrible events of that night. 

Sketch of Chiselton in 1804 by Weymouth artist W.J Upham

Wyke Regis Church diary 

"November 22nd, 1824

In the Evening of this day, which will ever be memorable for the dreadful Catastrophe which caused such destruction along the whole Western Coast of the Kingdom, the village of Chesil was nearly destroyed, twenty-six of the inhabitants drowned, and upwards of eighty houses damaged or washed down by a tremendous surf which broke over the Chesil bank, and bore everything away with irresistible violence before it. 

This awful visitation was occasioned by a heavy gale, which happening at a Spring Tide, and commencing from the South South East, increased till eight o'clock, when it blew a most dreadful Hurricane, such as never had been known before in the memory of Man. At nine o'clock a most horrid scene presented itself. The Sea ran down the Streets of Chisel with a sufficient depth of water to float a vessel of a hundred tons burden: and the wrecks of the houses, with the furniture of the poor inhabitants, were every where strewed on the shore. The Ferry House leading to Portland was washed away, and the Ferry Man drowned. The Communication between the island and the Mainland was nearly destroyed by the ravages of the Sea, which carried away the Sand bank on the eastern side, and rendered the passage four times wider than it was before. The Chesil bank throughout its whole extent was lowered from twenty to thirty feet; and the Saines and boats of the poor Fishermen of Wyke, as well as those of Portland, almost totally destroyed. The Pier of Weymouth Harbour was materially damaged, and three fourths of the esplanade at Melcombe Regis entirely thrown down and demolished. The Waves of the Sea washed over the high Road at Melcome Regis, and filled all the lower parts of the houses in Gloucester Row, and the crescent with gravel and water. In short, a scene of greater distress and misery can hardly be conceived, than was occasioned by this Storm.

And its dreadful effects will never be effaced from the minds of those who witnessed it. The same Storm destroyed the Church at Fleet, and threw down several houses, but fortunately no lives were lost. The Colville West Indiaman of four hundred tons burden was totally wrecked in the West Bay, and every soul on board perished, besides several minor wrecks too numerous to mention.

George Chamberlaine, Rector of Wyke

16th December 1824".

The remaining Chapel of the Old Church at the Fleet.
In 1827 the chancel was repaired after the storm of 1824 and enclosed by a new wall and the rest of the church was demolished

(There has only be one wedding conducted at this church in the last Century).

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St George's church Portland Parish Records

Across the South coast of England from Ramsgate to Padstow the storm claimed an estimated eighty major shipwrecks in one night. Nearly half of these were in Plymouth Sound and harbour. There were seven recorded in Weymouth and Portland.

In the Chiswell area of Portland,  bodies continued to wash up on the beach from the wrecked boats until after Christmas 1824. The burial registered for St George's church on Portland provides the reader with the scale of the human catastrophe of the storm, with numerous hastily scribbled entries by the Curate.

The Victims of the storm in Chesilton, Portland

• Margery Holland (wife of Phillip) of Chiswell buried 26 November 1824 age 56

She was Mother to John Holland who was 26 when he lost his Mother in the storm. He moved to Gloucestershire working as a bookbinder and raised a family there. 

• William Dunning of Chiswell buried 26 November 1824 aged 60
• Jane Dunning nee Mudford (wife of William) of Chiswell buried 26 November 1824 aged 60

Mr & Mrs Dunning both perished in the flood in November. They had been married for 26 years, Jane was originally from Dorchester. Tragically, on 28 July 1824 they had buried their 19 year old son Joseph. 

• Thomas Winter of Chiswell buried 26 November 1824 aged 80

Thomas was born on Portland in 1743. He married Mary Symes in Portesham in 1764 and they had ten children during their 60 year marriage. Thomas' Mother Mary Schollar was from a German family with ties to the island stretching back into the 17th Century. 

• Grace Way nee Flann (Widow) of Chiswell buried 27 November 1824 aged 70

Grace was married to Willaim Way and they had three children Grace, Sarah and Thomas. Grace was born on Portland in 1754 her father John Flann was from a local Portland family traced back to at least 1640's. 

• Mary Tizzard (dau. of Samuel & Ann) of Chiswell buried 27 November 1824 age 13

• Grace Atwooll kin of John & Edith Stone of Chiswell buried 27 November 1824 aged 5
• Ann (wife of Abel) Attwooll of Chiswell buried 28 November 1824 aged 35
• Mary Lane (dau of Ann & Abel) Attwooll of Chiswell buried 28 November 1824 aged 12
• Robert (son of Ann & Abel) Attwooll of Chiswell buried 28 November 1824 aged 5
• Henry (son of Ann & Abel) Attwooll of Chiswell buried 28 November 1824 aged 1
• Ann Pearce of Chiswell buried 28 November 1824 aged 35

The Attwooll family of Chiswell suffered particularly harshly losing several children and their Mother. The father Abel Attwooll, a fisherman survived the storm with one of his sons Richard. Abel remarried in January 1826 and had two children Richard and Ann.

• Thomas Dixon Gosling buried 28 November 1824 aged 24

Thomas was born in London in 1800. He was a passenger on the The Colville West Indiaman, which was wrecked off Chesil beach.

• John Wilson buried 28 November 1824 aged 50

John was the Captain of The Colville West Indiaman, which was wrecked on Chesil. He stayed on the ship and was later found drowned.

• Robert White of Chiswell buried 28 November 1824 aged 56

Robert was born in Hazelbury Bryan in 1769, his parents were George White and Katherine Hause of Milborne St Andrew. He had a brother George.

• (Grace) Mary (dau of John & Jane Wallis) of Chiswell buried 28 November 1824 aged 6

Mary's parents were John Wallis and Jane Wallis nee Flann, She had four brothers and two sisters and was the only one to perish in the flooding, although other members of the extended Flann family did perish. See Grace Way above. 

• William Hansford of Chiswell  buried 29 November 1824 aged 64

William is buried on the North East side, Section A of St George's churchyard. According to his gravestone inscription, he was killed by the sea overflowing the village of Chissel. His leg was broken in attempting to make his escape, afterwards the house fell on him.

He was married to Elizabeth James for 29 years until his death and they had six children. Following his death his widow Elizabeth remarried William White in 1826.

• Shadrach Stone buried 29 November 1824 aged 49

Shadrach was a Pastor who was born on Portland in 1775. His father was John Stone and his Mother was Esther Toby. (Along Dark Ope there is a stone store owned back in 1979 by Mr White Stone who stored fishing equipment in it. He said the building was what remained of Ranters Chapel, which back in 1839 was a two-storey  stone cottage. It's congregation was a breakaway sect from the Methodists). 

A reconstruction of Ranters cottage by Eric Ricketts

Eric Ricketts explained that there were two Methodist groups in Portland at the time of the great storm

"the other breakaway Methodist group revived or continued old pagan beliefs in witchcraft and in 1816 wen to the upper room shown in the sketch. The services ceased in 1826 but the cynical name of Conjurors Lodge remains". 

• Sixteen men wrecked on the Chesil beach supposed to have belonged to the The Colville West Indiaman buried 29 November 1824

• Mary (wife of John) Byatt of Chiswell buried 30 November 1824 aged 54

John was a Fisherman and survived the storm but his wife Mary did not. Just three years after her death he was imprisoned for 6 months hard labour for assisting smugglers by holding a light at sea. John & Mary had a son George and a son Edward. John died in 1833

• Elizabeth (dau of John & Edith) Russell of Chiswell buried 30 November 1824 aged 12
• Edith (dau of John & Edith) Russell of Chiswell buried 30 November 1824 aged 10

John Russell and his wife Edith Coombes lost two daughters in the storm surge. 

• Grace (dau of William & Mary) White of Chiswell buried 30 November 1824 aged 7 months

William (son of William & Mary) White of Chiswell buried 30 November 1824 aged 5

William White and his wife Mary (nee Diskett) lost their baby daughter and young son. They both survived, and continued living on Portland where William was a fisherman. They had a further five children William, Henry, Mary, Thomas and Maria.

• Hugh Baron Fraser Esq. Late Civil Commissary, wrecked in the COLVILLE West Indiaman on Chesil Beach November 23rd; The above H. B Fraser was one of the 16 men buried November 28th but was taken out of the grave & reburied at the request of a relation, Major Codd. Aged 40

• Six men wrecked on Chiswell beach unknown buried 1 December 1824 

• Three men wrecked on Chiswell beach unknown buried 6 December 1824 

• A man unknown wrecked on Chesil beach buried 12 December 1824 

• A man unknown found on the rocks near Chesil beach supposed to have been wrecked in the Great storm buried 27 December 1824.

The 1841 Census was taken 17 years after the tragic events and show that many of the survivors rebuilt their community and continued living on the island supporting each other.

St George's Portland

The Times Newspaper 1 December 1824

WEYMOUTH, Nov 28th - The Two Sisters, from Malaga, of and bound to Hamburgh, laden with fruit, was wrecked in the West Bay, off Abbotsbury, at eleven o'clock on Monday night. Five hands were on board, oe of whom perished; the master and three men are saved. The Sally, or Portsmouth, is lost in Weymouth Bay, nearly opposite Osmington Mills; the Captain's son saved himself leaping on board the Nancy brig, of Weymouth; the rest of the crw were drowned. The Ebenezer, George Pett, Master, from Plymouth to Portsmouth, with King's stores, was thrown by the sea on the top of Portland beach where she now remains. The Captain drowned; the remainder of the crew are saved. The Agenoria Elliott of Weymouth, from Seville, with fruit, arrived on Saturday morning at Portland roads; all hands safe. Her sails and rigging are shivered to pieces. Seventeen men, belonging to the Colville Wilson, wrecked in the West Bay, have been picked up, and buried at Portland. One of them,  Henry Gosling, a passenger, had the singular presence of mind to cut off a piece of his shirt, and having written upon it his name and address (London) and that the Captain's wife lived at No. 53 Mount-street, Whitechapel the poor fellow tied a piece of linen around his neck. A part of the wreck has been saved - namely 8 casks of rum, 1 cask of wine and 15 bales of cotton. The hull of a Swedish vessel, the Westmorland, E.M> Junker, last from London, bound to Gibraltar, was towed into Weymouth harbour on Friday evening, by three fishing cutters. The bravery and skillful seamanship of the captain and crew during the storm astonished every beholder. at 10 o'clock on Tuesday, the captain put out his anchors, and finding them come home, he cut away the masts, and drove within 40 yards of the rocks in Chiswell Cove, Portland, where she brought up; all hands were saved. At 12 o'clock on Wednesday, some Portland men went off to the assistance of the vessel, and brought ashore two of the crew; but the captain expressed his determination not to leave the ship while she hang together. The number of bodies already picked up in the island of Portland amounts to 25.
a meeting was yesterday held in Portland, his Excellency Governor Penn in the chair, to take into consideration the distressed state of the island; when it appeared that the losses of the different sufferers amounted to 15,000l. The Fishermen have lost all their boats and nets, and they had nothing to eat until provisions were sent them from Weymouth.

We cannot describe the distress which prevails there. The tremendous sea, which towered above the Pebble Beach swept away at Chiswell nearly eighty houses, and between 20 and 30 persons were drowned.

So distressing a narrative cannot fail to excite the most powerful feelings in the hearts of the benevolent. A subscription in aid of the sufferers is open at the Weymouth Post-office, where the smallest assistance will be thankfully received, and the Benevolent Society at Weymouth are using all possible means to alleviate the distress at Portland and at Fleet. at the latter place the church and nearly the whole parish is swept away".

Mallams as it was. Photos from Geoff Kirkby website

See the amazing collection of historic photos of Chiswell Chiswell (geoffkirby.co.uk)

Historic Maps

Before the great storm Chesilton (on Portland) was marked on the map as a thriving fishing community.

Source: Oldmaps online

After the storm

So many of the houses have disappeared from Benson's map dated 1842. The only houses shown are around Victoria square.

Source: Old maps online

The same can be seen from the changing maps for Fleet village.

East Fleet 1806 map

Source: Old Maps online

Memorial

A plaque on the seaward wall of the Tourist Information Centre commemorates the damage to the esplanade.