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List of earthquakes in the British Isles

August 24, 2023

The following is a list of notable earthquakes that have affected the British Isles. On average, several hundred earthquakes are detected by the British Geological Survey each year, but almost all are far too faint to be felt by humans. Those that are felt generally cause very little damage. Nonetheless, earthquakes have on occasion resulted in considerable damage, most notably in 1580 and 1884; Musson (2003) reports that there have been ten documented fatalities – six caused by falling masonry and four by building collapse. The causes of earthquakes in the UK are unclear, but may include "regional compression caused by motion of the Earth’s tectonic plates, and uplift resulting from the melting of the ice sheets that covered many parts of Britain thousands of years ago."[1] Medieval reports of "earthquakes" that threw down newly built cathedrals may simply have been catastrophic failure of overloaded masonry, particularly towers, rather than actual tectonic events.

London
Cardiff
Dublin
Belfast
Edinburgh
Inverness
Manchester
1382
1580
1650
1727
1775
1801
1816
1834
1852
1865
1880
1884
1892
1896
1901
1903
1906
1916
1924
1926
1931
1931
1940
1940
1944
1957
1984
2008
class=notpageimage|
Epicentres of notable earthquakes in the British Isles

Earthquakes

Date Location Lat Long Intensity   Comments Source
15 April 1185 Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England ~VIII Lincoln Cathedral badly damaged. See 1185 East Midlands earthquake. [2]
20 February 1247 South Wales to London, England ~>5.5 Felt in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland [3][2]
21 December 1248 South West England VII–VIII Wells Cathedral reported to have been badly damaged [2]
11 September 1275 South Wales to Southern England >VII ~6.0 In Glastonbury, the Abbey was damaged and the Church of St. Michael on the Torr Hill destroyed. "Only contemporary report of earthquake fatalities before 1580". See 1275 British earthquake [2][4]
21 May 1382 Strait of Dover, England 51.34 2.00 VII–VIII >5.5 The bell tower of the cathedral was "severely damaged" and the six bells "shook down". Cloister walls to the Canterbury dormitory were ruined. In Kent, All Saints Church, West Stourmouth, was badly damaged. Felt in London (MMVI) and lent its name to the "Earthquake Synod". See 1382 Dover Straits earthquake [2]
28 December 1480 Norwich, England VIII Severe damage reported affecting a wide area [2][5]
6 April 1580 Strait of Dover, England 51.06 1.60 VII–VIII 5.8~5.8 See Dover Straits earthquake of 1580 [2]
11 April 1650 Cumberland, England 54.98 −2.78 VII 4.9 Epicentre probably near Carlisle, felt at Glasgow [2][5]
18 September 1692 Duchy of Brabant, Belgium 50.8 4.8 6.0~6.0 Felt in most parts of England, France, Germany and the Netherlands [6][7]
19 July 1727 Swansea, Wales 51.57 -3.76 VII 3.3 Rang church bells as far away as Oxford. [2][5]
8 September 1775 Swansea, Wales 51.73 −3.81 VII 5.1 Some buildings said to have collapsed, felt from Devon to Lancashire to Surrey [2][5]
7 September 1801 Comrie, Perth and Kinross, Scotland 56.4 −3.99 VI 4.6 Two farmworkers were killed when part of a barn collapsed [2][5]
17 March 1816 Mansfield, England 53.09 −1.18 VII 4.2 Falling masonry injured several in the church at Mansfield, felt from Blackburn to Hull to Gumley [2][5]
27 August 1834 Chichester, England 50.82 −0.82 VII 3.3 Last in a sequence of damaging earthquakes starting with an event in September 1833 that caused the death of a quarryman [2][5]
23 October 1839 Comrie, Perth and Kinross, Scotland VII 4.8~4.8 Part of a long-lived earthquake swarm. This was the largest of all known Comrie earthquakes, and was felt over most of Scotland. It caused a dam near Stirling to breach. [2][5]
9 November 1852 Caernarfon, Wales 53.02 −4.30 VII 5.3 Similar to the 1984 Llŷn Peninsula earthquake, felt in Dublin, Belfast, Carlisle and Cheltenham [2][5]
15 February 1865 Barrow in Furness, England 54.07 −3.18 VIII 2.2 Small area of high intensity indicating a shallow focus (≤1 km) [2][5]
28 November 1880 Argyll, Argyll and Bute, Scotland 56.19 −5.30 VI 5.2~5.2 Largest recorded earthquake in Scotland. [2][5]
22 April 1884 Colchester, Essex, England 51.82 0.90 VIII 4.6~4.6 The most damaging earthquake since 1580. At least two indirect fatalities reported. Felt in France and Belgium. See 1884 Colchester earthquake. [2]
18 August 1892 Pembroke, Wales 51.70 −5.04 VII 5.1 Felt most strongly in Wales and South West England, but also felt in SE Ireland [2][5]
17 December 1896 Hereford, England 52.02 −2.55 VII Felt widely throughout England and Wales and E Ireland [2][5]
18 September 1901 Inverness, Scotland 57.43 −4.32 VII 5.0 Considerable minor damage, many falling chimney pots. Many foreshocks and aftershocks. [2][5]
24 March 1903 Derby, England 53.05 −1.70 VII 4.6 Felt from Hoylake, to Boston and Richmond to Barnt Green [2][5]
27 June 1906 Swansea, Wales 51.62 −3.81 VII 5.2 One of the most damaging British earthquakes of the 20th century. See 1906 Swansea earthquake. [2][8]
14 January 1916 Stafford, England 52.85 −2.19 VII 4.6 Significant damage at Chebsey [2][5]
4 April 1924 Mansfield, England 53.11 −1.34 VII Most damaging of a sequence that started on 3 March [2][5]
15 August 1926 Ludlow, England 52.31 −2.66 VII 4.8 Felt from Plymouth to Hull [2][5]
3 May 1931 Manchester, England 53.50 −2.35 VII 3.7 Small but damaging earthquake [2][5]
7 June 1931 Dogger Bank, North Sea 54.08 1.50 VII 6.1 Strongest recorded instrumentally. See 1931 Dogger Bank earthquake. [2][5]
16 July 1940 Kilsyth, Scotland 56.00 −4.00 VII–VIII 3.7 House gable collapsed at Carronbridge [2][5]
12 December 1940 Caernarfon, Wales 53.03 −4.18 V 4.7 An elderly woman was killed after she fell down the stairs [2][5]
30 December 1944 Skipton, England 53.86 −2.02 VII 4.8 Generally minor damage [2][5]
11 February 1957 Derby, Derbyshire, England 52.80 −1.33 VII 5.3 Felt across central England. Largest UK post-war earthquake until 1984, and one of the most damaging earthquakes of the twentieth century. [2][5]
26 December 1979 Longtown, Cumbria, England 55.03 −2.82 VI 4.7 Damage to buildings in Canonbie, Carlisle, and Glasgow. [2][5]
19 July 1984 Llŷn Peninsula, Gwynedd, Wales 52.96 −4.38 VII 5.4 Felt across Ireland and western Great Britain. See 1984 Llŷn Peninsula earthquake. [2][5]
2 April 1990 Bishop's Castle, England 52.43 −3.03 VI 5.1 Very widely felt in Wales and England. See 1990 Bishop's Castle earthquake. [2]
22 September 2002 Dudley, West Midlands, England 52.53 −2.16 V 4.7 Widely felt in England and Wales. [9]
21 October 2002 Manchester, England 3.9 Largest in an earthquake swarm of 116 earthquakes, 36 of which were felt [2]
28 April 2007 Folkestone, Kent 51.10 1.17 VI 4.3 Caused significant damage in Folkestone, felt throughout Kent. See 2007 Kent earthquake. [10]
27 February 2008 Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, England 53.400 −0.332 VI 5.2 Felt widely in England and Wales. See 2008 Market Rasen earthquake. [11]
1 April 2011 Blackpool, England 2.3 First of two minor earthquakes that were caused by fracking carried out by Cuadrilla [12]
Note: The inclusion criteria for adding events are based on WikiProject Earthquakes' notability essay that was developed for stand alone articles. The principles described also apply to lists. In summary, only damaging, injurious, or deadly events should be recorded.

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ "Earthquakes in the UK". British Geological Society. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj . British Geological Survey. Archived from the original on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
  3. ^ Noorthouck, John (1773). "Book 1, Ch. 3: King John to Edward I', A New History of London: Including Westminster and Southwark". British History Online. pp. 37–56. Retrieved 12 March 2007.
  4. ^ Musson, Roger (2015). "What was the largest British earthquake?" (PDF). Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z British Geological Survey. "UK Historical Earthquake Database". Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Book 1, Ch. 17: From the Revolution to the death of William III', A New History of London: Including Westminster and Southwark (1773)". pp. 272–88. Retrieved 12 March 2007.
  7. ^ Alexandre P.; Kusman D.; Petermans T.; Camelbeek T. (2008). Fréchet J.; Meghraoui M.; Stucchi M. (eds.). The 18 September 1692 Earthquake in the Belgian Ardenne and Its Aftershocks. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-8222-1_10. ISBN 978-1-4020-8221-4. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  8. ^ "The day an earthquake hit Swansea". BBC News. 27 June 2006.
  9. ^ (PDF). British Geological Survey. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 July 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
  10. ^ (PDF). British Geological Survey. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 September 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
  11. ^ . British Geological Survey. Archived from the original on 9 March 2008. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
  12. ^ "Cuadrilla admits drilling caused Blackpool earthquakes". The Daily Telegraph. 2 November 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2018.

Bibliography

  • BGS Historical earthquakes listing
  • Archives of the British Geological Survey
  • R M W Musson, "Fatalities in British earthquakes". Astronomy & Geophysics. Vol. 44, p1 (2003)

External links

  • Historical UK earthquakes – BGS
  • List of Earthquakes in the British Isles
  • Q&A: UK's small-scale earthquakes

August 24, 2023
list, earthquakes, british, isles, following, list, notable, earthquakes, that, have, affected, british, isles, average, several, hundred, earthquakes, detected, british, geological, survey, each, year, almost, faint, felt, humans, those, that, felt, generally. The following is a list of notable earthquakes that have affected the British Isles On average several hundred earthquakes are detected by the British Geological Survey each year but almost all are far too faint to be felt by humans Those that are felt generally cause very little damage Nonetheless earthquakes have on occasion resulted in considerable damage most notably in 1580 and 1884 Musson 2003 reports that there have been ten documented fatalities six caused by falling masonry and four by building collapse The causes of earthquakes in the UK are unclear but may include regional compression caused by motion of the Earth s tectonic plates and uplift resulting from the melting of the ice sheets that covered many parts of Britain thousands of years ago 1 Medieval reports of earthquakes that threw down newly built cathedrals may simply have been catastrophic failure of overloaded masonry particularly towers rather than actual tectonic events LondonCardiffDublinBelfastEdinburghInvernessManchester1382158016501727177518011816183418521865188018841892189619011903190619161924192619311931194019401944195719842008class notpageimage Epicentres of notable earthquakes in the British IslesEarthquakes EditDate Location Lat Long Intensity M L displaystyle M L Comments Source15 April 1185 Lincoln Lincolnshire England VIII Lincoln Cathedral badly damaged See 1185 East Midlands earthquake 2 20 February 1247 South Wales to London England gt 5 5 Felt in England Wales Scotland and Ireland 3 2 21 December 1248 South West England VII VIII Wells Cathedral reported to have been badly damaged 2 11 September 1275 South Wales to Southern England gt VII 6 0 In Glastonbury the Abbey was damaged and the Church of St Michael on the Torr Hill destroyed Only contemporary report of earthquake fatalities before 1580 See 1275 British earthquake 2 4 21 May 1382 Strait of Dover England 51 34 2 00 VII VIII gt 5 5 The bell tower of the cathedral was severely damaged and the six bells shook down Cloister walls to the Canterbury dormitory were ruined In Kent All Saints Church West Stourmouth was badly damaged Felt in London MMVI and lent its name to the Earthquake Synod See 1382 Dover Straits earthquake 2 28 December 1480 Norwich England VIII Severe damage reported affecting a wide area 2 5 6 April 1580 Strait of Dover England 51 06 1 60 VII VIII 5 8 5 8 See Dover Straits earthquake of 1580 2 11 April 1650 Cumberland England 54 98 2 78 VII 4 9 Epicentre probably near Carlisle felt at Glasgow 2 5 18 September 1692 Duchy of Brabant Belgium 50 8 4 8 6 0 6 0 Felt in most parts of England France Germany and the Netherlands 6 7 19 July 1727 Swansea Wales 51 57 3 76 VII 3 3 Rang church bells as far away as Oxford 2 5 8 September 1775 Swansea Wales 51 73 3 81 VII 5 1 Some buildings said to have collapsed felt from Devon to Lancashire to Surrey 2 5 7 September 1801 Comrie Perth and Kinross Scotland 56 4 3 99 VI 4 6 Two farmworkers were killed when part of a barn collapsed 2 5 17 March 1816 Mansfield England 53 09 1 18 VII 4 2 Falling masonry injured several in the church at Mansfield felt from Blackburn to Hull to Gumley 2 5 27 August 1834 Chichester England 50 82 0 82 VII 3 3 Last in a sequence of damaging earthquakes starting with an event in September 1833 that caused the death of a quarryman 2 5 23 October 1839 Comrie Perth and Kinross Scotland VII 4 8 4 8 Part of a long lived earthquake swarm This was the largest of all known Comrie earthquakes and was felt over most of Scotland It caused a dam near Stirling to breach 2 5 9 November 1852 Caernarfon Wales 53 02 4 30 VII 5 3 Similar to the 1984 Llŷn Peninsula earthquake felt in Dublin Belfast Carlisle and Cheltenham 2 5 15 February 1865 Barrow in Furness England 54 07 3 18 VIII 2 2 Small area of high intensity indicating a shallow focus 1 km 2 5 28 November 1880 Argyll Argyll and Bute Scotland 56 19 5 30 VI 5 2 5 2 Largest recorded earthquake in Scotland 2 5 22 April 1884 Colchester Essex England 51 82 0 90 VIII 4 6 4 6 The most damaging earthquake since 1580 At least two indirect fatalities reported Felt in France and Belgium See 1884 Colchester earthquake 2 18 August 1892 Pembroke Wales 51 70 5 04 VII 5 1 Felt most strongly in Wales and South West England but also felt in SE Ireland 2 5 17 December 1896 Hereford England 52 02 2 55 VII Felt widely throughout England and Wales and E Ireland 2 5 18 September 1901 Inverness Scotland 57 43 4 32 VII 5 0 Considerable minor damage many falling chimney pots Many foreshocks and aftershocks 2 5 24 March 1903 Derby England 53 05 1 70 VII 4 6 Felt from Hoylake to Boston and Richmond to Barnt Green 2 5 27 June 1906 Swansea Wales 51 62 3 81 VII 5 2 One of the most damaging British earthquakes of the 20th century See 1906 Swansea earthquake 2 8 14 January 1916 Stafford England 52 85 2 19 VII 4 6 Significant damage at Chebsey 2 5 4 April 1924 Mansfield England 53 11 1 34 VII Most damaging of a sequence that started on 3 March 2 5 15 August 1926 Ludlow England 52 31 2 66 VII 4 8 Felt from Plymouth to Hull 2 5 3 May 1931 Manchester England 53 50 2 35 VII 3 7 Small but damaging earthquake 2 5 7 June 1931 Dogger Bank North Sea 54 08 1 50 VII 6 1 Strongest recorded instrumentally See 1931 Dogger Bank earthquake 2 5 16 July 1940 Kilsyth Scotland 56 00 4 00 VII VIII 3 7 House gable collapsed at Carronbridge 2 5 12 December 1940 Caernarfon Wales 53 03 4 18 V 4 7 An elderly woman was killed after she fell down the stairs 2 5 30 December 1944 Skipton England 53 86 2 02 VII 4 8 Generally minor damage 2 5 11 February 1957 Derby Derbyshire England 52 80 1 33 VII 5 3 Felt across central England Largest UK post war earthquake until 1984 and one of the most damaging earthquakes of the twentieth century 2 5 26 December 1979 Longtown Cumbria England 55 03 2 82 VI 4 7 Damage to buildings in Canonbie Carlisle and Glasgow 2 5 19 July 1984 Llŷn Peninsula Gwynedd Wales 52 96 4 38 VII 5 4 Felt across Ireland and western Great Britain See 1984 Llŷn Peninsula earthquake 2 5 2 April 1990 Bishop s Castle England 52 43 3 03 VI 5 1 Very widely felt in Wales and England See 1990 Bishop s Castle earthquake 2 22 September 2002 Dudley West Midlands England 52 53 2 16 V 4 7 Widely felt in England and Wales 9 21 October 2002 Manchester England 3 9 Largest in an earthquake swarm of 116 earthquakes 36 of which were felt 2 28 April 2007 Folkestone Kent 51 10 1 17 VI 4 3 Caused significant damage in Folkestone felt throughout Kent See 2007 Kent earthquake 10 27 February 2008 Market Rasen Lincolnshire England 53 400 0 332 VI 5 2 Felt widely in England and Wales See 2008 Market Rasen earthquake 11 1 April 2011 Blackpool England 2 3 First of two minor earthquakes that were caused by fracking carried out by Cuadrilla 12 Note The inclusion criteria for adding events are based on WikiProject Earthquakes notability essay that was developed for stand alone articles The principles described also apply to lists In summary only damaging injurious or deadly events should be recorded See also EditGeology of England Geology of Great Britain List of volcanoes in the United KingdomReferences EditCitations Edit Earthquakes in the UK British Geological Society Retrieved 25 August 2013 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj Notes on individual earthquakes British Geological Survey Archived from the original on 16 May 2011 Retrieved 8 December 2011 Noorthouck John 1773 Book 1 Ch 3 King John to Edward I A New History of London Including Westminster and Southwark British History Online pp 37 56 Retrieved 12 March 2007 Musson Roger 2015 What was the largest British earthquake PDF Retrieved 7 March 2018 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z British Geological Survey UK Historical Earthquake Database Retrieved 15 March 2018 Book 1 Ch 17 From the Revolution to the death of William III A New History of London Including Westminster and Southwark 1773 pp 272 88 Retrieved 12 March 2007 Alexandre P Kusman D Petermans T Camelbeek T 2008 Frechet J Meghraoui M Stucchi M eds The 18 September 1692 Earthquake in the Belgian Ardenne and Its Aftershocks doi 10 1007 978 1 4020 8222 1 10 ISBN 978 1 4020 8221 4 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a work ignored help The day an earthquake hit Swansea BBC News 27 June 2006 Earthquake bulletin 2002 PDF British Geological Survey Archived from the original PDF on 11 July 2007 Retrieved 20 May 2008 2007 Earthquake Bulletin PDF British Geological Survey Archived from the original PDF on 12 September 2008 Retrieved 26 August 2008 Market Rasen Earthquake 27 February 2008 00 56 UTC 5 2 ML British Geological Survey Archived from the original on 9 March 2008 Retrieved 8 December 2011 Cuadrilla admits drilling caused Blackpool earthquakes The Daily Telegraph 2 November 2011 Retrieved 24 January 2018 Bibliography Edit BGS Historical earthquakes listing BGS Interactive UK earthquakes map Archives of the British Geological Survey R M W Musson Fatalities in British earthquakes Astronomy amp Geophysics Vol 44 p1 2003 External links EditHistorical UK earthquakes BGS List of Earthquakes in the British Isles Q amp A UK s small scale earthquakes Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title List of earthquakes in the British Isles amp oldid 1141485799, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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