Abstract
This paper reviews the history of the study of historical British earthquakes. The publication of compendia of British earthquakes goes back as early as the late 16th Century. A boost to the study of earthquakes in Britain was given in the mid 18th Century as a result of two events occurring in London in 1750 (analogous to the general increase in earthquakes in Europe five years later after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake). The 19th Century saw a number of significant studies, culminating in the work of Davison, whose book-length catalogue was published finally in 1924. After that appears a gap, until interest in the subject was renewed in the mid 1970s. The expansion of the U.K. nuclear programme in the 1980s led to a series of large-scale investigations of historical British earthquakes, all based almost completely on primary historical data and conducted to high standards. The catalogue published by BGS in 1994 is a synthesis of these studies, and presents a parametric catalogue in which historical earthquakes are assessed from intensity data points based on primary source material. Since 1994, revisions to parameters have been minor and new events discovered have been restricted to a few small events.
Highlights
This paper is not a study of the history of British earthquakes, which can be found in Musson (1994, 1996a, 2002)
In discussions on earthquake intensity the opinion is sometimes expressed that intensity 2 is a useless measure because it is never record
Members of the Royal Society took an active interest in British earthquakes in the late 17th century and 18th century, but the work produced in this context, while providing useful data on earthquakes of that period (e.g., Boyle 1666, Wallis 1666), did not involve studies of historical earthquakes
Summary
This paper is not a study of the history of British earthquakes, which can be found in Musson (1994, 1996a, 2002). On 6 April 1580 a large (about 5 3/4 ML) earthquake occurred with epicentre in the Dover Straits, which caused considerable damage in England, France and the Low Countries, and a few deaths (Neilson et al, 1984a; Melville et al, 1996) It was strongly felt in London, where two children were killed by falling stones. Such was the impact of the event in the English capital, that a number of pamphlets were rushed to the press, describing the earthquake, and generally exhorting people to reform their ways, given this warning of God’s displeasure (Ockenden, 1936). Fleming’s failure to mention a large English earthquake in 1575, only five years previously, is surprising His principal source would seem to be the general historical work of. Members of the Royal Society took an active interest in British earthquakes in the late 17th century and 18th century, but the work produced in this context, while providing useful data on earthquakes of that period (e.g., Boyle 1666, Wallis 1666), did not involve studies of historical earthquakes
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