From the Royal Cornwall Gazette, Friday 21st December 1860, page 4.
The storm of Wednesday was probably as awful in its character as ever occurred in Cornwall. Thunderstorms are not frequent in this County, though they have not seldom been attended with fatal results. On the present occasion, the violence of the storm appears to have been concentrated around Truro, and all agree in describing it as the most fearful they ever witnessed. The lurid appearance of the sky, the vividness, the colour, the frequency of the lightning, and the incessant and tremendous rattle and roll of the thunder, which for some time seemed to explode immediately over the houses, making the very windows shake, caused general apprehension. Elsewhere we have given detailed accounts of the destruction it caused to life and property. Most providential was it that it did not occur during Divine Service, for then the destruction of life in Kenwyn Church would have been terrible. The lightning which struck the spindle of the vane ran down the rod to its insertion in the masonry of the tower and then exploded, shattering the pinnacle and battlements, and scattering the large blocks of granite in all directions. Several of them fell on the roof of the church, and broke large holes through it, breaking the rafters, and crushing the seats beneath. The restoration of the roof, which had previously been resolved on from considerations of expediency, now becomes a necessity, and parishioners and friends will feel it an imperative dury to afford more enlarged assistance.
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