The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-03-24 00:00:00

EARTHQUAKES

As the earthquake which has so recently been experienced
in this town and neighbourhood forms at present a subject of
very general conversation, it may, perhaps not be uninterest-
ing to give some brief particulars of former similar visitations,
which we gather from various sources.
In Zorulin's Recreations in Physical Geography, it is
stated that " beyond the limits of these volcanic regions, all
countries are subject to slight tremors at distant intervals of
time. Slight shocks have frequently been felt in the British
isles, in France, Germany, and other parts of northern Eu-
rope; but these countries cannot be considered as constitut-
ing parts of either the southern European or of the Icelandic
volcanic regions. I►► many instances these tremors appear to
be mere vibrations, produced mechanically, through the ex-
ternal crust of the globe, and originating in some great con-
volsion in an adjoining volcanic region. In other instances,
however, these agitations appear to be independent of any
such great convulsion."

EARTHQUAKES IN ENGLAND.
It is exactly 800 years since the first earthquake is recorded
to have taken place in this country, it having happened at
Worcester and Derby in 1043. Four similar visitations are
stated to have fallen on England during the following half
century. An earthquake that was generally felt throughout
the country occurred in 1090, and was followed by a scarcity
of food. In 1199, the county of Somerset suffered from a
similar cause; and St. Michael's-on-the-Hill, without Glas-
tonbury, was thrown down by shocks that were also felt
throughout the country in 1247. Earthquakes were experi-
enced in England during each of the three succeeding years—
a remarkable succession of such evils ! The greatest earth-
quake ever known in this country occurred in 1318; and in
April, 1580, another caused great damage in various direc-
tions. It lasted only one minute ; but the shock was so severe
that many churches and houses were much shattered and
many lives were lost. According to the quaint phraseology
of Stowe—" The great clocke bell in the palace at Westmins-
ter stroke of itself against the hammer with shaking, as di-
vers clockes and belles in the city and elsewhere did the like."
This earthquake extended into many parts of England; and
in Kent there were three distinct shocks that caused much
_ _
damage

. In 1583 one occurred in the county of Dorset, that
" removed a considerable piece of ground." Earthquakes
were felt at London and several other places in March, 1749,
and in 1750, and gave rise to the publication by Dr. Stukely,
in which he attributed the phenomena, not to vapours or fer-
mentations generated in the bowels of the earth, but to elec-
tricity. On one of these occasions it is stated that " a sound
was observed to roll from the Thames to Temple-bar, just as
the electrical snap precedes the shock." In 1750, the same
counties now visited suffered from an earthquake that caused
much damage in Liverpool, Chester, Manchester, &c. ; and
in the course of this same year a severe shock was felt at Mu-
nich and in the surrounding country ; numerous shocks were
also experienced in France, particularly at Bordeaux, Tou-
lose, Narbonne, Montpelier, &c. though the shocks were
most violent near the Pyrennees, where several houses were
thrown down, and many persons killed."
In 1753, on the 12th June, several parts of the town of
Manchester (particularly the upper end of Market-street
Lane) were visited with an earthquake, which lasted about
the space of a minute, whereby a great many people were
awakened by the shaking of their beds. It was preceded,
or rather accompanied, by a rustling noise like the wind, and
was felt in a great many villages adjacent. At Ratcliffe and

Oldham, the tremulous motion of the earth Was moresensi-

bly perceived ; their beds were lifted up by it, and the houses
violently agitated. The shock was felt in Cheshire much
about the same time ; and also at Halifax, in Yorkshire. As

such an extraordinary event could not 'be remembered to

have happened there before, those to whom the earthquake
was most perceptible were thrown into a great consternation

In the beginning of )761 great alarm was excited through-

out the metropolis and its neighbourhood by two shocks,-on

February 8 and March 8. -
On Sunday, Sept. 14th, 1777, the greatest shock on record

of a similar visitation was experienced in this county (Lan-
caster). The pillars and walls of the buildings in several
places evidently tottered, and the motion was so great as to
toll the bells in the Collegiate and St. Mary's Churches, at
Manchester. In the churches, it being in the time of divine
service, the greatest confusion and terror were occasioned.

The congregations, suspecting that either the galleries or the
roofs were falling in, endeavoured to escape with the utmost

precipitation. Several people were thrown down and tram-
pled upon, and some few had their limbs broken. Many
persons complained, for several days after, of nervous pains
and hysteric affections, and of sensations similar to those
persons who have been strongly electrified. Perhaps the
fright might have contributed to have produced some of
these effects. The motion was felt at York, Lancaster, Li-
verpool, Chester, Birmingham, Derby, and Gainsborough ;
and within this circuit, the diameter of which must be 130
or 140 miles, with greatest violence in Manchester, which
appears to have been the centre of it. The morning on
which the earthquake happened was clear and serene. The
air was so far from being sultry, that some persons who rode
out early in the morning, complained of the cold. The wind
was easterly. At the instant of the shock it is said to have
veered to the west, and to have immediately returned to its
former station. On the 20th, 21st, and 22d of September,
much rain fell, attended with thunder and lightning. The
storm was particularly violent on the 21st in the neighbour-
hood of Rochdale ; and early on the morning of the 22d,
(according to the report of a philosophical gentleman from
which we take this account,) the whole hemisphere appeared,
from this place, to be involved in one general blaze.
In 1786, earthquakes occurred in different parts of the
north of England. In Westmoreland in 1790 ; in the coun-
ties of Bedford, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, &c., in
March, 1792; at Shaftesbury and Salisbury in September,

1793.
Another shock was felt in this country on the 18th No-
vember, 1795 ; and we copy the following notice of it from
the Manchester Mercury, published a few days afterwards:—
" Several of the inhabitants of this town were greatly alarmed
on Wednesday night, between eleven and twelve, by the shock
of an earthquake. The sensation it occasioned seemed to
those retired to rest as though a person in getting from under
the bed had gently heaved it up. We do not hear of the
smallest damage occasioned by it. The weather here has,
for some days, been uncommonly variable. On Thursday,
in the afternoon, there was a very severe fall of snow, and
Friday we had a sharp dry frost. At Nottingham, so severe
was the shock, that the bells in the churches were awfully
heard to sound in the steeples; several chimneys thrown
down, &c. ; but we have not yet heard of any material da-
mage. It was so severely felt at Childwell, in that neigh-
bourhood, as to throw down a stack of chimneys belonging
to Thomas Charlton, Esq., of that place. Its direction
seemed to be from N.E. to S.W. The same was also felt at
Doncaster, Stamford, Leicester, Derby, Sheffield, and seve-
ral other places."
On the 20th August, 1835, two shocks were experienced
in this country, the principal one of which was preceded, as
in the case of the earthquake of Friday last, by a slight shock,
about three hours and a half previous. The first shock was
about midnight, on the 19th ; the second about half-past
three o'clock in the morning of the 20th August, when a
rumble like distant thunder was immediately followed by a
violent shaking of doors, windows, furniture, &c. At Lan-
caster it threw down a chimney ; and it was also felt with
considerable violence at Whitehaven, Ulverstone, Kendal,
Garstang, Preston, Manchester, and Blackpool. It appears
to have extended from Carlisle on the north, to the borders
of Cheshire on the south, and from the seacoast on the west,
to the Yorkshire hills on the east ; and to have been most
violent at Lancaster, which is nearly half-way between the
two extremes. The air was calm and serene, but, as on Fri-
day morning last, quite warm, indeed sultry. It is remark-
able, that this earthquake was preceded by an occurrence of
the same kind, a few days previous in Gloucestershire and
Wiltshire.
In June, 1839, an earthquake was experienced as far north
as Clitheroe, and as far south as Manchester, but does not
seem to have been felt westward of a line drawn from Man-
chester to Blackburn, nor does it appear to have extended
eastward beyond the range of hills which separate Yorkshire
from Lancashire. It was felt at Burnley, Bacup, Rawten-
stall, Blackburn, Haslingden, Edenfield, Bury, Rochdale,
and Manchester ; but it was not felt, or but slightly, at Old-
ham or Ashton-under-Lyne. It was more violent at Bury,
Rochdale, and Heywood, than in any other quarter. Al
Heywood some shafting was thrown out of gear by the vibra.
tion, and a quantity of china was broken in a closet; a

)chdale a wall was
_slightly damaged ; and at Bury ma

articles were thrown down from shelves and chimney-pieces.
Cotton factories, and other lofty buildings, were so violently
shaken, that the hands rushed out in some instances, sup-
posing that the building was falling. Throughout the whole
range of its operation, it was attended by a hollow rumbling
sound, like distant thunder. In October in this year, 1839,
also several shocks of earthquakes were felt in various parts
of Scotland. Although not severe, they were sufficiently so
to cause some alarm ; they occurred on the 7th, 10th, 13th,
14th, 16th, and 23d days of October. The bells were set
ringing ; persons seated in chairs could with difficulty retain
their seats, and stone dikes or walls were thrown down. But
the most serious injury cause by this agitation of the earth
was the bursting of the Eastburn reservoir, on the banks of
the River Carron, the waters of which swept over the adja-
cent lands, bearing every transportable article before them,
and even rooting up young trees.
Of course it is needless to give in this place any details of
the earthquakes which have visited this country during the
present month, and it is almost unnecessary to say that the
above are but a few of the earthquakes that have visited
England.