On This Date: England’s Deadliest Avalanche

In word association, England and Avalanche are an unlikely pairing. Back in late December 1836 they came together in Sussex. The Brighton Patriot of 27 December reported on a Terrific Snow Storm.

“Scarcely have the recollections of the late hurricane died away, when we have been again visited by one of the most severe snow storms remembered by the oldest men in Brighton; and which, we regret to state, has been attended with the loss of human life, together with others of a serious kind.
The snow began to fall on Saturday, but the day at intervals was brightened by the sun, and there was not much wind. The snow continued to fall nearly all Saturday night and the whole of Sunday (Christmas Day); and at night the wind being N. E., blew a complete hurricane, whirling masses of snow about with terrific fury. ‘The policemen and others who were out during the night speak of its violence as indescribable and the cold as intense.”

The article reports on two, possibly three, lives lost in Brighton and others in outlying areas.

The accumulation of snow on the steep Cliffe Hill overlooking the East Sussex community of East Malling gave way at 10.15 am on the morning of 27 December. The avalanche swallowed the Boulder Row cottages, killing eight. Another six people survived being buried. The victims are in an unmarked communal grave at South Malling parish churchyard, where a plaque records the tragedy.