Hopper house fire (1865)

Post date: Mar 25, 2013 5:56:15 PM

Extract from Maidstone Telegraph, 16th September 1865. Fire was a frequent hazard of hopping- see fire kills baby(1855)

WATERINGBURY.—Fire.—

On Sunday night at about 10 o'clock, a fire broke out in some hopper-houses on the farm of Mr. Goodwin, Cannonheath, Wateringbury, and which in a short time was burnt to the ground. Most of the hoppers had gone to rest for the night, and were barely ably to escape with their lives, every thing they possessed being consumed. Something like a hundred of them had to be sheltered in the barn, with nothing to cover them but hop-pokes. On the following morning, however Mr Goodwin kindly sent to Chatham for a supply of clothing for them. The fire is supposed to have been caused by a female dropping a candle upon some straw.