Risky endeavor on the Thames river during the 1683 Frost Fair results in multiple fatalities as a skating party is swept away by the wind and carried out to sea.
Ice Skating in Britain: A Historical Journey
Ice skating, a winter pastime enjoyed by many today, has a rich and fascinating history in Britain. The sport can be traced back to the 17th century, where it was championed by the Royal Family and quickly became fashionable.
Queen Victoria, for instance, was taught to skate by a Mr Talbot of Eton College. However, she preferred to be pushed across the ice on a sleigh-chair by her husband, a more ladylike approach in the 19th century.
The early days of skating in British cities were not as tamed as they are today. By the end of the 19th century, skating had been tamed by science, but before that, it was done alfresco. Skating in the Fens, a region in East Anglia, was even used as a means of transportation, with people traveling great distances in a single day.
The skating we know today, on steel-bladed skates, arrived much later and was brought back to England by the Stuarts from The Netherlands. The first artificial ice skating rink in Britain was established by Sir Stephen Cortauld and Walter Keigwin in the late 1920s. They founded the Westminster Ice Club in London, inspired by visits to ice rinks in Germany and Switzerland.
Before the Westminster Ice Club, the first recorded indoor rink with real ice was opened by John Gamgee in 1876, housed in a tent in London's Chelsea. Henry Kirk had patented artificial ice and opened a rink filled with it near Tottenham Court Road in 1841.
Skating was not just a leisure activity for the British. Samuel Taylor Coleridge delighted in the way a skater on a frozen tarn 'gives an impulse to the icy trees and the woods all around the lake tinkle'. Thomas de Quincey, a friend of Wordsworth, described a skater as resembling a 'dancing cow'.
William Wordsworth, a celebrated poet, also had a passion for ice skating. He wrote about the beauty of skating in 1726, describing it as swift as the wind. James Thomson, another poet, wrote about skating in 1726, praising its speed and elegance.
The arrival of covered rinks reduced the importance of outdoor skating. However, the sport continued to thrive, with figures such as Larman Register, 'Turkey' Smart, and Albert Tebbitt becoming legendary Fenland speed skaters. Register even raced a steam train in 1875 and won by 30 seconds.
Unfortunately, climate change has brought milder winters, making it less likely for ice to form in the Fens. As a result, Fenland speed skating has become a rare activity, with only a tiny minority of people taking part.
The capital now had the New Niagara near St James's Park and Hengler's National Ice Skating Palace in Regent Street. The last great race in the Fens was held in 1997. Despite the challenges, the spirit of ice skating in Britain continues to endure, much like the elegance and speed captured by Wordsworth and Thomson centuries ago.
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