River Torridge freezes
Parts of the river Torridge down to the estuary froze in the bitter wind of last weekend and these sheets of ice coming up-stream on the tide and meeting ice that had been brought down-stream on the ebb, presented a remarkable sight around the arches of Bideford’s 600-year-old Long Bridge. Nothing on this scale has been seen this century.
A leading fisherman said he had never before seen so much ice there or down river frozen to such an extent. Large sections of ice, some several feet thick, piled up against the arches of the bridge and up-stream the frozen river at one time presented an almost continuous stretch of ice. Below the bridge huge chunks of ice were scattered on the sands at low tide.
Gazette article 25 January 1963