Just after 5pm on Sunday, June 10 1883, the spire of Painswick Church was struck by lightning.
A sizeable portion of the top of the spire fell through the nave roof.
If it had happened just one hour later when the church would have been full for the Sunday evening service, many would have been killed.
In fact, no-one was hurt, though stones were hurled as far as the Falcon Hotel.
This is an event familiar to many long-time Painswick residents, but to few people outside the town.
The picture was taken by Edmund Gibbs who worked as a photographer in Stroud from approximately 1863 to 1885.
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