26 December 1234: Ireland experienced a bout of extremely cold weather at Christmastime this year as wintry conditions swept over the Country.
Great snow between
the two Christmasses, and frost afterwards, so that men,
and horses under burthens, would pass over the principal
lakes and rivers of Erinn.
Annals of Loch Cé
26 December 1796: Wolfe Tone wrote in his Journal aboard the French Man of War Indomptable the following entry:
December 26th —Last night, at half after six o'clock, in a heavy gale of wind still from the east, we were surprised by the Admiral's frigate running under our quarter, and hailing the Indomptable with orders to cut our cable and put to sea instantly; the frigate then pursued her course, leaving us all in the utmost astonishment. . . . All our hopes are now reduced to get back in safety to Brest, and I believe we will set sail for that port the instant the weather will permit. . . . Notwithstanding all our blunders, it is the dreadful stormy weather and the easterly winds, which have been blowing furiously and without intermission since we made Bantry Bay, that have ruined us.
Portal