EARTHQUAKES IN ENGLAND.

Hot Lakes Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 215, 16 January 1897, Page 3

EARTHQUAKES IN ENGLAND.

Commenting on the recent earth' quake in England, which amongst other things resulted in damage to Hereford Cathedral the Hawkes Bay Herald says:—We in New Zealand are so accustomed to gentle earthquakes that we think nothing of them and our buildings being specially erected to resist such shocks, damage isexceptionnl. But most people are accustomed to regard Great Britain as quite outside the region of earth ■disturbances. That, however, is a mistake. The first one recorded was in 1(189, and we have no particulars of the damage done, There was a severe onefelt throughout the country iu 127-1, tiie centre seeming to be at Glastonbury, whose famous abbey was destroyed. In 1318 there was the greatest shock recorded, houses being knocked down all over the kingdom. In 1580 an earthquake in London destroyed part of St. Paul's Cathcdr.il and the Temple Ohurolie-. Slight shocks were recorded in London in 1750, in Cornwall in 1800, in Cornwall and Devon in 1883, in London in 1884, in Yorkshire in 1885, in Hdinburg in 1880, in Wales and Ireland in 1800, in Wales and Cornwall in 1893, and in South Wales in 1891. There was a severe shock, which broke much crockery and dani.-iged many buildings, in the north west of England in March, 1871. But the; most destructive earth tremor in modern times was on tiie 22ul of April, 1884. when the Colchester Congregational Church was much •damaged, the Langenhoe Church wrecked and injury doLe to houses estimated at £IO,OOO. One child was killed at Rowhedge, and one woman died from the shock. Singularly enough, tiie latter episode is repeated at Hereford this year. It will be noted that the dates given show the much greater frequency of earthquakes in England in modern times. It must not, however, be hastily assumed that the country is becoming more subject to seismic disturbances, for the explanation will probably lie found iu the more careful and systematic recording of such movements.