Worst summer flood for 40 years

Following almost 24 hours continuous rain the River Torridge, already swollen by rain earlier in the week, rose rapidly during the early hours of Saturday morning overflowing its banks and flooding the low-lying Torridge Valley.

While this was the worst summer flood for forty years, many of the valley farmers, who know from bitter experience the rapidity with which the river can rise, had moved livestock to higher ground and heavy losses were avoided.

From 9am on Friday to 9am on Saturday 3.42 inches of rain was recorded at Jennetts Reservoir, the heaviest day’s rain for many years. On Sunday the river dropped back, leaving only a few fields under water.

At Bideford the Torridge continued a turbulent torrent long after low tide and during Saturday morning hundreds of trees and branches, sheaves of corn and a number of carcases were washed down river. As the tide ebbed, flood debris was left strewn on mud and sandbank. The Quay crane was brought into service to haul out the carcase of a sheep, trees and other debris washed against Bideford Quay.

Capt J R Pile, of Bideford, who was called out by the Police early on Saturday morning to save his salmon boats, which were in danger of being washed away, said he had never before seen such a rush of ‘fresh’ in the river. A number of boats were washed away, some being recovered at Appledore, while others are still missing. A small cabin cruiser, anchored above Bideford Bridge, had its mooring ropes snapped by tree trunks coming down the river but was recovered at Bank End.

On Friday night Bideford firemen were called to pump five feet of water from the pits of the English timber mill at Messrs E W S Bartlett’s yard at Nutaberry. Electric motors were flooded and had to be lifted out by winch, stripped and dried.

At Jennetts reservoir, Mr and Mrs F Heard said 3.42 inches of rain was recorded in 24 hours and the reservoir rose 2ft 6in – the equivalent of some eight million gallons – and overflowed. They added that in the 29 years they have lived at Jennetts they have not known such rain.

Up the Yeo valley, the River Yeo overflowed its banks but thanks to the precautions taken, householders suffered little damage. The water entered some houses and Mr J Taylor, of Edge Mill, lost about 30 pullets in an ark as well as his winter store of logs. “And I saw something I never dreamt of seeing – fat trout swimming among the broad beans in the garden”. The road through Weare Giffard was flooded in a number of places and water entered houses in the lower parts to depths varying from a few inches to six feet. Some people had to spend the whole of Saturday living in their bedrooms while in one house near the school, the householder waded through the water to the gas stove to cook meals. The oven was flooded but food was cooked on the gas rings of the stove.

Mr W Piper, of Yeo Cottage, Monkleigh, had his lower rooms badly flooded and thirty head of poultry was swept away from his garden together with his prize stud of Indian Game bantams. Mr W J Hedden, of the Baron, Weare Giffard, had to travel a roundabout route via Gammaton to deliver milk in Torrington.

Calves belving as the water swirled into their shed, roused Mr P J Moore, of Riversdale, Weare Giffard, at about 5.30am. Visitors staying at the farm turned out in bathing trunks to help rescue livestock. Mrs Moore tried to phone neighbours to give warning of the floods but the line was dead. Mr Moore’s holiday guests had to stay an extra day because their motor cycles were flooded.

For a while, Mr L Grigg, of Downes Farm, Monkleigh, thought he had lost 32 bullocks pastured beside the river, but all were found safe later. Two of them were seen to swim the Torridge before being rounded up at Weare Giffard Barton.

Mr Bill Kent, who lives at Chope’s Bridge Farm, said that two bullocks were lost from the farm of his brother-in-law, Mr L T Hedden, of Blinsham, Beaford. That morning he had rescued one of the bullocks which had come about six miles down the river to end up still alive, right on Mr Kent’s doorstep.

Mr Walter Hart, Huntsman to the Stevenstone Hunt, who lives at the Old Kennels, near Torrington Station, had to wade up to his thighs through water to rescue some horses at midnight, and as the river continued to rise, some hounds had to be moved from their kennels as their bed-boards were under water.

Further upstream, parts of Torrington’s new sewerage works, within a fortnight of completion, were completely submerged. At the Torridge Vale Dairies, a garage-workshop and adjoining store were flooded.

Water flowed in at the back door and out at the front at the Buckingham Arms, Taddiport, but by 11am the water had gone back and the house was open for business as usual.

A twenty-acre field of corn at Dark Ham on Col J E Palmer’s farm at Town Mills, which had recently been cut, was swept clean by the flood water which covered the binder still left in the field. After much hard work the farm men rescued 11 bullocks pastured in the Dark Ham area. Nine ducks belonging to Mrs W Sanders, of Town Mills, were drowned when their wodden shed was overturned and submerged by the flood.

Corn and other crops were badly damaged at farms right up through the Torridge valley and at Home Farm, Huish, Mr H B Sarsons said on Sunday that 13 out of 16 bullocks got into the river but were later reported safe at various farms downstream. While men were working waist-deep in water in a field on Mr W A R Millman’s farm at Gortleigh, Black Torrington, rescuing a flock of 40 sheep, six heifers, which had got into the river upstream were washed into the same field. That evening one of the heifers gave birth to twin calves.

At Beaford Mill, Mr O J Beer said it had been the worst summer flood since 1912 but the water had not reached the level of the flood of October 6th 1935 by eighteen inches.

22 August 1952