The year 1795 was a memorable one for the city of Worcester, and one that helped inspire some of the events in Stone Ties. In January of that year the River Severn froze over, and a local printer did indeed set up a press on the ice, to print mementos for the local populace. The wording of the memento Mary reads in Stone Ties is a faithful transcription from Valentine Green’s The History and Antiquities of the City and Suburbs of Worcester, published in London in 1796.

The following month, on the 12^th February, following the Great Freeze, a great accumulation of melted ice contributed to the momentous flood. The ice stacked up against the New Bridge, blocking the river’s flow, and at one point threatened its destruction.

Then on the night of Wednesday 18^th November, a few minutes before 11:00 o’clock, a slight earthquake was felt throughout the city and the adjacent country. Providentially it did no damage.

As Valentine Green so beautifully summed up, “Such have been the sufferings of Worcester, which, phoenix-like, hath risen from her ashes with added lustre.”