TIMES PAST: The Big Freeze of 1963
Jonathan Smyth's latest Times Past column remembers the Big Freeze of 1963...
The harsh winter weather of December 1962, which crept into January and February of 1963, has gone down in history as one the coldest periods since records began. On Christmas Day some snow flurries began falling in coastal areas. But the snow continued to fall into the new year. During the first week of January, it fell thick and deep with this newspaper reporting on January 5 that the ‘worst blizzard since 1947’ was causing ‘widespread disruption’ and the huge snowdrifts that gathered in the eastern counties, had reached depths of up to 12 feet. Another headline kept it simple with the light-hearted announcement of ‘Snow, Snow, Everywhere.’
The experts said it was the coldest winter since 1740. There was to be two falls of snow that caused concern to the country in early 1963. The first in January did not affect this region so much, but after the snow melted, a second snowfall came in late January, which did impact much more around the county.
On January 5, 1963, the Anglo-Celt informed us of the Arctic conditions pummelling the region and emphasised that Cavan and Monaghan suffered less than elsewhere. However, the blizzards and ice did cause problems. The roads into and from towns and villages were lethal.
At Ballyconnell, locals experienced the season’s first blizzard on Sunday, December 29, and by Tuesday roads were treacherous and the snow that evening added to the angst felt amongst road users. Weary milkmen, and postal workers laden in new year mails found it challenging as they navigated the byways. Farmers moved whole flocks of sheep to the lowlands amidst the fear they were running low in fodder.
Blacklion experienced severe weather and yet the usually whitened Cuilca and Ben Mountain were snow free. While in east Cavan, Bailieborough experienced its worst snowstorm for some years when it fell on the afternoon of December 29. Lost sheep, blocked roads and fodder shortages were of a worry to farmers and snowdrifts four feet deep were reported in the area. Never-the-less, the post, buses and newspaper deliveries kept to schedule. Thankfully, only minor road accidents occurred.
Elsewhere, Ballyjamesduff had a two foot fall of snow from Saturday night of December 28 into Sunday. However, the report added, that the snow ‘was driven by gale force wind’, which ‘swept into roadways and laneways from over-hanger fields, and in many places the drifts were between six and eight feet deep.’ Cars became stuck in the snow, willy-nilly across the district, and tractors remained busy from Sunday evening till Monday morning, pulling them out of the hedges.
In spite of the cold snap, Cootehill got off a shade lighter. Amazingly, the locality managed to avoid snowdrifts, leaving traffic able to move about and the only major upset were the iced roads, layered in ‘hard-packed’ frozen snow. Meanwhile, the work begun before Christmas to clear the site behind the Post Office to make way for the new Garda Station was delayed due to the weather. Upon completion, there would not only be the new station, but additionally two purpose-built houses for married Gardaí.
Emyvale
In Co Monaghan, a farmer named Mr Harvey from Dernashallog, Emyvale, had an anxious moment when one of his horses, which he had been attempting to catch, made off for the ice-topped Drumully lake. The horse galloped across the frozen floor as the farmer helplessly watched in trepidation. Much to his relief, the ice remained intact.
Then on January 5, Ballyconnell suffered an enormous blizzard when snow fell without stopping in the face of gale force winds that gathered into heavy drifts blocking the roads and boreens from there to Bawnboy. The froze over rivers and streams left the livestock short of a drink. Funerals were another difficulty. Ireland’s oldest Civil Bills Officer, James McGovern, (‘Red’), Mully Upper, Glangevlin, had died and his send-off was affected by deep drifts in the Glan Gap where cars became trapped.
To compicate the harsh conditions further, another problem surfaced around Ballyconnell when the rat population exploded. Farmers planted the ‘usual devices’ to combat the invader who infested the potato pits and haggards holding the winter corn supply. Some farmers took to digging out their potato pit and removing it to safer ground.
Again, in late February, snow packed the headlines in Ballyconnell as the arctic spell continued and biting easterly winds travelled inland. On Wednesday, February 20, heavy snow fell and fears grew worse for farmers in need of animal fodder. What hay remained in Cavan sold for what The Anglo-Celt called ‘fancy prices’ and many farmers were seen at the shops purchasing bags of substitute cattle feed, such as calf and cow nuts.
The thaw
On Friday, February 8, 1963, readers of The Northern Standard saw the uplifting news that a thaw was finally on the way. Monaghan, they claimed had witnessed the worst blizzards of the century on the Monday and Tuesday of that week. School was cancelled, travel and electricity were disrupted, and ‘heavy wet snow’ was ‘hurled’ into heaps by a strong wind, ‘blocking roads.’
One of the country's longest cold spells, lasting through from December 27, 1962, to February of the new year was near an end. The thaw meant that slush still caused difficulties, but optimism was in the air with the Northern Standard predicting that a ‘sweltering summer’ was on the way in ‘compensation’ for the winter hardship.
Oil drilling
In February 1963, Cavan felt hopeful of a cosier future for the years ahead when drilling for oil started around Dowra and Glangevlin. The Very Rev. F.J. Brennan P.P., Glangevlin, gave a blessing to the project, in the presence of Paddy Smith, Minister for Agriculture; the Right Rev E.F.B. Moore, Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh; Sean Dolan TD; Cllr J.C. Cole; and Senator J.M. Mooney, Drumshambo.
Drilling equipment weighing 1,650 tonnes was brought over from Houston, Texas by the Ambassador Oil Company who expected drilling to take several weeks to reach a depth of 7,000 to 8,000 feet. Till then, they would drill 24 hours a day. Similar drilling operations took place at Doonbeg, Co Clare and Rathmoylon, Co Meath.
The Spring of 1963 had begun and as the snow melted, drilling in Co Cavan could now begin in earnest.
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