River Thames frost fairs

Part 2.

The Frost Fairs of the Frozen Thames.

Imagine standing on the banks of the River Thames in London on a January morning.

The air is so cold that it hurts to breathe.

But it was only the beginning.

The Great Frost of 1683 to 1684.

The most famous of all the frost fairs took place during the Great Frost of 1683 to 1684, which was one of the coldest winters ever recorded in England.

The Central England temperature record, the longest instrumental temperature series in the world, which has been reconstructed back to 1659, shows January 1684 as one of the coldest months in its entire history.