On October 17, 1091, an extremely unusual natural disaster occurred in London—the city was hit by a tornado. Based on the accounts from William of Malmesbury and Florentius of Worcester, monastic chroniclers from the early 12th century, modern scientists estimate this tornado reached an 8 out of 11 on the TORRO scale. With winds reaching up to 200 miles per hour, the tornado caused extensive damage to buildings, but fortunately, there was minimal loss of human life.
Here is William’s account from his Gesta Regum Anglorum (324), completed in 1125. William of Malmesbury, one of the most learned men of his time, provides a vivid description in his Ciceronian Latin:
Latin Text: “Quid illud omnibus incognitum seculis? discordia ventorum inter se dissidentium, ab euro-austro veniens, decimo sexto kalendas Novembris, Londoniae plusquam secentas domos effregit. Cumulabantur ecclesiae cum domibus, maceriae cum parietibus. Majus quoque scelus furor ventorum ausus, tectum ecclesiae sanctae Mariae quae « ad Arcus » dicitur pariter sublevavit, et duos homines ibi obruit. Ferebanturque tigna cum trabibus per inane, spectaculo a longe visentibus, timori prope stantibus ne obruerentur. Quatuor tigna, sex et viginti pedes longa, tanta vi in humum impacta sunt ut vix quatuor pedes extarent. Notabili visu quomodo duritiem stratae publicae perruperint, eo ibi ordine posita quo in tecto manu artificis fuerant locata, quoad ob impedimenta transeuntium ad planitiem terrae sunt desecta, quod aliter erui nequirent.”
The Aftermath of the 1091 Tornado
Translation: “But what was this thing unknown to all (previous) ages? A variance (or ‘strife’) of winds against each other, coming from the southeast, on October 17th, smashed up more than six hundred houses in London. Churches were being heaped on houses, and walls on partitions. The fury of the winds also dared a greater crime and lifted off the roof of the church called St Mary at the arches (St Mary le Bow) and killed two men there. Rafters and beams were borne through the air, a cause of great surprise to those who watched from a distance, and of fear to those who stood close by, lest they should be crushed. Four rafters, each twenty-six feet long, were driven with such great force into the ground that scarcely four feet of them remained visible. It was notable to see how they broke up the solidity of the public street, set there by the winds in the same position in which they had been placed in the roof by the workman’s hand, until they were cut down to street level, since they were a hindrance to those passing by, and could not be removed in any other way.”
The Legacy of St Mary le Bow
St Mary le Bow—the church whose roof was famously lifted off during the tornado—was one of the oldest churches in London, dating back to the Saxon period. Its name comes from its stone arches (“arcus”, also “bows,” as in “bow-and-arrow”). While the crypt from that era still survives, the church was rebuilt after the tornado.
Later, it became the seat of the ecclesiastical court of the province of Canterbury, which is still known as the “Arches Court” today. This rebuilt version of the church was destroyed again in the Great London Fire of 1666, and after St Paul’s Cathedral, it was among the first churches rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren. The church was once again severely damaged during the London Blitz of 1941, but it was carefully restored to its previous appearance between 1956 and 1964.
(St Mary le Bow and the surrounding neighborhood, from an engraving of 1750, reproduced in a book called Old and New London in 1887.)