2-913-665 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Remains of the National School at Capel, near Ipswich, struck by lightning, 1854. '...Capel St. Mary...was visited with a terrific storm, by which three children were killed...the storm burst over-head with awful severity, the rain falling in heavy torrents. In a few minutes the lightning struck the top of the western gable, which was composed of lath and plaster, and descending in a slanting direction to the earth, split the wall open from top to bottom, dashing in the windows...the children lay upon the floor, some apparently lifeless, and others screaming piteously for assistance. To add to the horrors of the scene, the lightning, which had run along the ceiling had ignited the thatch roof...the bodies of the dead were conveyed into an adjacent hovel...[all that remained were] blackened rafters and charred ruins; the only portion of brickwork remaining consisting of a stack of tall chimneys...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.