Winter at Marchmont

After the last few days of snow and ice hit the United Kingdom it turned my thoughts to some of the wintry conditions experienced by those individuals who had made the trip across to Canada in the late 19th century. 

Marchmont Home in the snow

Although Britain experienced snow on a regular basis, it was a different experience in the wide-open lands of Canada in comparison to the closed slum areas of Manchester. Letters wrote back from the boys to the Refuge often described Canada in the winter when the snow had fallen. 

In winter the boys take their hand sleighs to ride downhill and their skates to skate on the Bay.

We live on an island surrounded by the Bay of Quinte. We have the boats running all the summer until it freezes up and the Bay is four miles wide and in wintertime we drive over it with horses and sleigh.

– Letter, 18th December 1898

The boys definitely thought the winters were more extreme in their new home:

We had a very cold winter, indeed we have it much colder than you do in the old country, we have it two and four deep and five and eight inch drifts. It was then I had my first sleigh ride.

– Letter, February 1900 

Of course it was the wintry conditions in 1869 that led to the opening of that very first home in Quay Street. Shaw and Taylor wanted to get the boys off the street and into accommodation to protect them from the harsh elements of the winter. We've been providing accommodation ever since.