The earthquake known as the Colchester Earthquake occurred on April 22, 1884, and caused considerable damage in Colchester and the surrounding villages in Essex, England. In terms of overall destruction caused it is certainly the most destructive earthquake to have hit the United Kingdom in at least the last 400 years. An earthquake is a phenomenon that results from and is powered by the sudden release of stored energy that radiates seismic waves. ... April 22 is the 112th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (113th in leap years). ... 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Essex is a county in the East of England. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages English Capital London Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population –mid-2004...

At 9:18am the earthquake struck with its epicentre in the vicinity of the village of Wivenhoe causing the surrounding area to rise and fall violently as the waves spread, lasting for around 20 seconds. The effects were felt across England, as well as in northern France and Belgium. The epicenter or epicentre (ancient Greek: επίκεντρον) is the point on the Earths surface that is directly above or below the center of a localized explosive event or point of seismic energy release. ... Wivenhoe is a small town in the Colchester borough of Essex in the East of England. ...

In total the earthquake destroyed around 1200 buildings including almost every building in Wivenhoe and Abberton, and in settlements all the way to Ipswich. The medieval church in Langenhoe was significantly damaged, and those in the villages of De La Haye, Marney, Breton, Peldon also suffered damage. Abberton is a village in the English county of Essex. ... Ipswich is the county town of Suffolk and the main settlement in the local government district of the borough of Ipswich in East Anglia, England on the estuary of the River Orwell. ... Langenhoe is a village in the Colchester district of Essex, England to the south of Colchester. ...

There are some reports that between 3 and 5 people were killed by the earthquake, but this has been disputed by other contemporary accounts. The Times reported damage "in the many villages in the neighbourhood from Colchester to the sea coast", with many poor people made homeless, and estimated the cost of the disaster at 10,000 pounds. It did however mention the death of a child at Rowhedge, attributed to the earthquake. The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom since 1785, and under its current name since 1788. ... Rowhedge is a village in Essex. ...

It is believed that the earthquake resulted from movement along a fault in the ancient Palaeozoic rocks that underpin most of Essex, causing waves to propagate through the overlying Cretaceous and Tertiary layers. The Palaeozoic is a major division of the geologic timescale, one of four geologic eras. ... The Cretaceous period is one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, reaching from the end of the Jurassic period, about 146 million years ago (Ma), to the beginning of the Paleocene epoch of the Tertiary period (65. ... Tertiary period was previously one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, from the end of the Cretaceous period about 65 million years ago to the start of the Quaternary period about 1. ...

As is often the case, it is not always the strongest earthquakes that cause the most damage, and the British Geological Survey estimates that the 1884 earthquake's magnitude was only around 4.7 on the Richter Scale, compared with 6.1 of the 1931 Dogger Bank earthquake. The British Geological Survey is a publicly-funded body which aims to advance geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. ... The Richter magnitude test scale (or more correctly local magnitude ML scale) assigns a single number to quantify the size of an earthquake. ...

External links

• The Great Colchester Earthquake