A letter from Cuckfield in Suffolk [sic], dated August 3, says, that last Friday in the afternoon they had a violent storm of thunder and lightening, which threw the inhabitants into great consternation. The spire of the church, which was almost destroyed by a violent storm the beginning of the hard weather last winter, being nearly repaired, the new work was beat down, and the inside set on fire in three or four different places, and it was with great difficulty they extinguished they extinguished the flames.

Reading Mercury, 12 August 1776

Disputed by Cockfield, Suffolk

The location of this incident is disputed by Cockfield, Suffolk. Here is the original article as it appeared in Universal Magazine 1776 v.58-59 (Reading Mercury and other papers also reproduced it) and is reproduced below:

There is a 14th century St Peter's Church in Cockfield in Suffolk. But firstly the article clearly spells the village as 'Cuckfield' and secondly Cockfield church does not have a spire (nor historically to our knowledge) - it has a 72 foot tower. So the error in the 1776 article refers to the correctly spelled village but in the wrong county. See https://www.cockfield.org.uk/our-churches/church/

Photo: photomontage of a drone image and lightening photo from Vecteezy.com, by the author

More on the 1776 lightening strike at https://www.cuckfieldconnections.org.uk/post/did-sir-christopher-wren-design-cuckfield-church-s-spire

Contributed by Malcolm Davison.