Residents in Cirencester have been left shocked after huge hailstones battered the town during a storm earlier today.

The thunderstorm hit Cirencester at around midday, leaving many amazed at the sheer size of the hailstones falling to the ground.

Posting on Facebook, one resident said: “The last time I saw hailstones this size was in Ashton Keynes in 1963."

Another wrote: “Largest I have seen in my lifetime in the UK. Incredible noise."

One person said: “That was insane I thought my small slant windows were going to break.”

Another said: “I have never seen hail this size before.”

Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard:

Chris Williams encountered the hail during a run, and he captured the above picture of a fallen tree on Leafield Road in Fairford during the storm.

He said: “My wife, Marianne, and I set off for our usual 5k lunchtime run, from Fairford to Quenington and back, with thunder rumbling in the distance and black clouds well out to the west.

“We had only got less than 2k up the road when the storm suddenly hit us, with a very strong wind, continuous thunder and lightning with hailstones which really stung as they hit us. We had turned round by this point, but it was like a scene out of the movie Twister, though with slightly fewer cows flying past!

“As we came back into Fairford there were small tree branches, twigs and leaves all over the road along with a good layer of ice from the hailstones - we had only been there minutes before

"After clearing the small branches, we warned approaching traffic about the huge tree branch that was blocking the road from one side to the other.

Chris said just half an hour later a team of workers were already there dragging the pieces of tree away.