E r u p t i o n oï
S o l w a y mos s .
reclamed from its original ftate, prettily divided, well planted I
with hedges, and well peopled : the ground originally not worth I
fixpence an, acre,, was improved to the value o f thirty fhillings > I
a trait completely improved in all refpefts, except in houfes, the I
antient clay-dabbed habitations ftill exifting. I faw it in that I
fituation in the year 1769 : at this time a melancholy extent of I
black turbery, the eruption of Solway mofs, having in a few days I
covered graft and corn ; leveled the boundaries o f almoft every I
farm; deftroyed moft o f the houiibs, and driven the poor inhabi- I
tants to the utmoft diftreft, till they found (which was not long) I
from their landlord every relief that a humane mind could fuggeft. I
Happily his fortune favored his inclination to do,good : for the in* I
ftant loft of four hundred pounds a year could prove no check to I
his benevolence.
On viliting the place from whence this difafter had flowed, it was I
apparently a natural phenomenon, without any thing wonderful or I
unprecedented. Petting mofs, near Garfiang, had made the fame fort I
of eruption in the prefent century; and Chat-mofs, between Man- I
cbejler and Warrington, in the time o f Henry V III. as Leland exprefles I
it, S braft up within a mile of Morley-hanl, and deftroied much I
* grounde with mofle thereabout, and deftroid much frefch water I
fiihche thereabout, firft corrupting with ftinking water Glafe* I
‘ bnoke, and fb Glafebrooke carried ftinking water and mofle into* I
* Merfey water, and Merfey corruptid carried the roulling mofle, part I
‘ to the ihores o f Wales, part to the ifle o f Man, and fum into Ire- I
‘ land-, and in the very top o f Chately more, where the mofle was hyeft I
‘ and brake, is now a fair plaine valley as was in tymes pafte, and a I
* rylle runnith hit, and peaces of fmaul trees be found in the bottom.’ I
Solway I
I Solway Mofs conflfts of fixteen hundred acres; lies fome height
*bove the cultivated traft, and feems to have been nothing but a
|olle£tion of thin peaty mud | the furface itfelf was always fo near
t he ftate of a quagmirp, that in moft places it was unfafe for any
thing heavier than a fportfman to venture on, even in the drieft
fummer. . . . . ,
I The ihell or cruft that kept this liquid within bounds, neareft to
the valley, was at firft o f fufficient ftrength to contain i t : but by
the imprudence of the peat-diggers, who were continually working
on that fide, at length became fo weakened, as not longer to be able
to refift the weight prefling on i t : T o this may be added, the fluidity
of the mofs was greatly increafed by three days rain o f unufual violence,
which preceded the eruption •, and extended itfelf in a line as
far as Newcaftle : took in part o f Durham, and a fmall portion of
Xorkfhire, running in a parallel line of about equal breadth ; both
fides of which, N. and South, experienced an uncommon drought.
It is lingular that the fall of Newcaftle bridge and this accident happened
within a night of each other.
I Late in the night o f the 17th of November, o f the laft year, a
farmer, who lived neareft the mofs, was alarmed with an unufual
noife. The cruft had at once given way, and the black deluge was
rolling towards his houfe, when he was gone out with a lantern to
fee the caufe of his fright: he faw the ftream approach him jj and
firft thought that it was his dunghill, that by fome fupernatural
caufe, had been fet in motion ; but foon difcovering the danger, he
gave notice to his neighbors with all expedition: but others received
no other advice but what this Stygian tide gave them : fome by its
noife, many by its entrance into their houfes, and I have been allured •
L 2 that