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Gloucestershire
was more like the Arctic in one of the bitterest winters the county
had ever seen.
The
big chill started with frost on the night of December 21-22, it
started snowing on Boxing Day (Scotland had a white Christmas and
the cold front moved south) and the freeze lasted until early March.
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| Horses
in the snowy Cotswolds. |
Whole
villages in the Cotswolds were cut off by snow drifts, some of which
were more than 30ft high - and Ozleworth was isolated for three
weeks.
At
Waterly Bottom, near North Nibley, 400 sheep were buried, and feed
was dropped to them by helicopter.
At
one point the temperature was recorded at -15C, and a blizzard on
December 29 deposited around six inches of snow which led to huge
drifts, some as big as 30 feet.
The
average temperature that icy winter was -0.3C (31F) and the January
average was -3.1C (26F), and an astonishing five million cubic yards
of snow were moved from Gloucestershire roads.
Click
on the link below for more pictures of 1963 and other snowy winters
Ian
Thomas, one of BBC Radio Gloucestershire’s breakfast show
weather wardens remembers it well.
"I
was only seven at the time and we were late going back to school
because all the pipes had burst in Dursley.
Snow-bound
"We
lived in a council house back then and I remember that we actually
had frost on the walls inside the house.
"And
for two to three weeks in January there was no refuse collection
at all, because of the snow."
I
spent the whole night carrying little piglets - 16 in all -
through the snow from the outbuildings to the house and putting
them into boxes in front of the Aga.  |
| Gwyneth
Jeffries, Hucclecote |
Michael
Hill, of Pamington Court Farm, Ashchurch, remembers snow so
high it covered the hedges on surrounding fields and skating with
friends and family (see picture above) on the 14-inch thick ice
that covered the River Avon at Tewkesbury.
Ken
Tytherleigh was a tug-boat captain at Sharpness and remembers
towing dozens of stranded tankers out of the thick ice that blocked
the docks.
"It
was like that for about three months. It was chaos," he said.
Gwyneth
Jeffries, of Hucclecote, was living in Slad (at the time where
her family kept livestock, one of which was a breeding sow called
Wendy which panicked when she was farrowing.
"I
spent the whole night carrying little piglets - 16 in all - through
the snow from the outbuildings to the house and putting them into
boxes in front of the Aga."
The
deep snow paralysed the county's roads. Peter Hill, who was
19 and living at Nympsfield, remembers a nightmare journey home
from work in Bristol.
"On
the day the snow came I tried my usual route home from work through
Wotton but Wotton Hill was impassable. I went to Dursley and Uley
but then failed to get up Crawley Hill.
"All
the time the snow was geting worse as I went to Frocester but again
Frocester Hill was blocked completely.
"I
then travelled to Dudbridge but failed to make it up Selsely Hill.
My last chance, to Nailsworth and Forest Green.
Blocked
"I
climbed the hill through Forest Green with some difficulty but the
road at the top was becoming increasingly blocked by snow drifts.
"I
managed to get through two major ones simply by going into them
as fast as possible and just managed to get through.
"
When I reached Nympsfield there was one last drift just off the
cross roads in Tinkley Lane. I tried the same tactic of taking a
run at it but this time the car came to rest covered in snow up
to the bonnet.
"I
had difficulty getting out of the car. I walked the short distance
home and it took some time the following day to dig it out.
"Nympsfield
was cut off for more than a week."
Robert
Holdford recalls: "My first vision of Gloucestershire was
aged six, looking out of my father's car windows.
"All
I could see was snow piled up either side of road! No views - the
snow was piled too high.
"Father
was looking for a new job and two months later moved up from London
- and I'm still here!"
Tony
Newman from the Forest of Dean was married in March 1963 at
St Bart's in Churchdown.
He
said: "The road to the church is very steep and narrow. We
had to check the path to the church every few days, to work out
if we would have to cancel the ceremony.
"It
was only about one week before the big day that traffic was actualy
able to get to the church."
There
were life or death dramas too. On January 4, a pregnant woman, Mrs
Elizabeth Woodward, tried to drive out of snow-bound Waterlane in
a Land-Rover.
I remember that we actually had frost on the walls inside the
house. |
| Ian
Thomas, BBC Radio Gloucestershire weather warden |
A raging
blizzard meant no doctors or midwives had been able to reach the
village. Eventually, a 10-ton Royal Army Ordnance Corps vehicle
was sent to the rescue, and she reached hospital.
At
Newnham-on-Severn, three men lashed themselves together and walked
across the river’s icy surface.
Canals
in the county were also frozen and steam boats were brought out
to clear some of the routes.
At
Coaley Junction, near Dursley, the mail train froze and a fire had
to be lit underneath it to unfreeze parts of the engine.
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Do
you remember the great white winter of 1962-63? 
