History Month Fact 13: Hard Times
Of course, times were at their most difficult during the winter months, and there had been a succession of dreadful winters in the late nineteenth century. On January 19th, 1881, George Hawkins was found frozen to death in Cold Ash; he had died whilst returning from Tile Mill with a wagon and horses. It is not recorded what happened to the horses! The weather must have been really terrible; on 23rd January, the evening service at St. Lukes, now known as St. Mary’s, had had to be altered from 6 pm to 3 pm.
