snowing for 48 hours, the wind
increased to a hurricane, and in the night the fall of snow was from
four to six feet, while the drifts were from 20 to 30 feet in depth,
and the condition of all exposed to it was appalling! The storm spread
all over Europe, and in this island all communication was cut off for
nearly a week. No coach got through from Cambridge till the following
Thursday. Many a Christmas party that Christmas were minus their
guests, for coaches were "snowed up" all over the land, and, but for
the timely shelter of inns and private houses, many of the passengers
must have perished. There were three coaches almost within sight of
each other placed _hors de combat_ in and near Royston. One coach was
actually stuck fast in the snow at the Cross, in the centre of the
town; another just below the present railway bridge, and another at the
bottom of the Kneesworth Hill. These coaches were the Edinburgh Mail,
the Boston Mail, and the Stamford Coach, and were all on their way to
London at the time. The unfortunate passengers were obliged to spend
the Christmas holidays in Royston as best they could, and the mails
were sent forward on horseback as soon as practicable. For a whole
week no mail coach went into, or came from, London through Buntingford
and Royston. Between Royston and Wadesmill, on the portion of the
North Road known as the {186} Wadesmill Turnpike Trust, the
difficulties of opening up communication were of the most formidable
character.

Near the gates at the entrance to Coles Park, Westmill (now the
residence of R. P. Greg, Esq.), there were drifts 20 feet deep, and the
labour of cutting through the snow between Royston and Wadesmill, was
believed to have cost no less than L400, and so great was the loss to
the toll-keepers that the Turnpike Trust found it necessary to
compensate Mr. Flay, the lessee, to the extent of L200 for the loss of
toll through this unexampled interruption of traffic. It may be of
interest just now to mention that the above remarkable storm was
followed by a serious epidemic of influenza.

1837. Following the important undertaking of cutting through Burloes
Hill on the Newmarket Road, came the great work of cutting through the
hill on the London Road, south of Royston. The undertaking was begun
in 1836, the contract price for the work in this case being L1,723.
This work proved more difficult in one sense than that of the Newmarket
Road, from the fact that the