List of earthquakes in the British Isles

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.

List of earthquakes in the British Isles is located in the United Kingdom
London
London
Cardiff
Cardiff
Dublin
Dublin
Belfast
Belfast
Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Inverness
Inverness
Manchester
Manchester
1382
1382
1580
1580
1650
1650
1727
1727
1775
1775
1801
1801
1816
1816
1834
1834
1852
1852
1865
1865
1880
1880
1884
1884
1892
1892
1896
1896
1901
1901
1903
1903
1906
1906
1916
1916
1924
1924
1926
1926
1931
1931
1931
1931
1940
1940
1940
1940
1944
1944
1957
1957
1984
1984
2008
2008
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. "Notes on individual earthquakes". 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. 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). "The 18 September 1692 Earthquake in the Belgian Ardenne and Its Aftershocks". In Fréchet J.; Meghraoui M.; Stucchi M. (eds.). Historical Seismology. pp. 209–230. 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. "Earthquake bulletin 2002" (PDF). British Geological Survey. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 July 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
  10. "2007 Earthquake Bulletin" (PDF). British Geological Survey. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 September 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
  11. "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.
  12. "Cuadrilla admits drilling caused Blackpool earthquakes". The Daily Telegraph. 2 November 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2018.

Bibliography
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