Weather diary of Sir John Wittewronge of Rothamsted, 1684-1689

 

[DE/Lw/F19]

Hertfordshire archive and local studies

Sir John Wittewronge was the squire of Rothamsted Manor. He had been living there for over forty years and was an elderly man when he began a notebook in which he a kept a daily record of the weather conditions. This diary provides a remarkable insight into weather and its impact on crops, natural history and rural life in the late 17th century. It contains a fascinating range of information, from sowing and harvesting dates for the current crops and vegetables, to the arrival dates of migratory birds from year to year.

Sir John Wittewronge was a direct ancestor of Sir John Lawes, a Victorian scientist who also lived at Rothamsted Manor and who founded the Rothamsted Experimental Station (now the Institute of Arable Crops Research) on the estate in the 19th century.