Salisbury Flood 1915
In early January 1915 Salisbury – and its Cathedral - was under water.
Due to what one local eyewitness called “unceasing rain”, the rivers of Salisbury overflowed leaving much of the city centre flooded under two feet of water.
Fisherton Street was badly hit, with the ground floors of the Infirmary flooded too causing not only expense, but horrible conditions in the hospital for patients.
(The floods at Salisbury Infirmary/Fisherton Street - photo care of Salisbury Artcare)
Those living along the road were confined to upstairs rooms, while downstairs in the shops stock floated around. Supplies had to be delivered by boat. Reports say the provisions were tied on to ropes and hauled up through bedroom windows.
In Crane Street, the only way of passing was by laying planks of wood above the gurgling stream of two feet of water that covered the road from one side to the other.
Not even Salisbury Cathedral was immune from the rising water levels.
At the time The Wiltshire Times reported that “the Cathedral was surrounded by a crystal lake and inside the whole nave was covered by four inches of the flood. In the Close many of the picturesque and beautiful homes, including the Deanery, were washed by a strong current which flowed over the ground floor at rushing speed.”
For more Salisbury history - including the city's tragic train crash, the beheading of a Duke and Salisbury's Spitfires - head to our Salisbury Blog page.