On the night of 7 December 1703, the United Kingdom was visited by an extreme weather event.

Following weeks of wind and rain, a cyclone blew through the country at midnight, from the Welsh coasts to the Midlands and the south of England, hitting the cities of Bristol and London in particular. The storm also wreaked havoc in continental Europe, causing severe damage in the Netherlands, the Danish islands and Germany.

Remembered through history as the "Great Storm of 1703", it is a contender for the worst storm Britain has ever seen. Queen Anne described it as "a Calamity so Dreadful and Astonishing, that the like hath not been Seen or Felt, in the Memory of any Person Living in this Our Kingdom."

Just before the 1703 storm struck, the novelist Daniel Defoe noticed that the Mercury had "sunk lower than ever I had observ'd it" and assumed the instrument had been meddled with by his children. He recorded the "terrible night" in great detail in a 1704 book, The Storm, using accounts sent in from people across the country.

The Great Storm of 1987 is often said to be Britain's worst storm since the Great Storm of 1703. But was the 1703 storm the greatest in British history, prior to 1987?

Read more on bbc.com.