Notice of the Occurrence of an Earthquake Shock at Bristol

Abstract

As some particulars relating to the shock of an earthquake which occurred on Saturday the 3rd of April in this district may not be wholly uninteresting to the Fellows of the Geological Society, I do not hesitate to submit to your notice such facts in connexion with the subject as I have been enabled to collect from unquestionable sources of information. The area principally affected comprises that portion of country extending from the Mendip Hills to Bristol, and the village of Henbury in Gloucestershire to the north, and probably on to the Severn; and from the Mendips to the Bristol Channel on the west. The geological features of this district consist of old red sandstone, carboniferous limestone, millstone grit, coal-measures, dolomitic conglomerate, new red sandstone, lias, and oolite, with alluvial patches of some extent. The principal line of disturbance appears to have been nearly north and south, running through the southern edge of the Mendips, the city of Wells, Cheddar, Pensford, and Dundry, in Somersetshire; Bristol, Westbury upon Trym, and Henbury in Gloucestershire. The chief focus of oscillation was at Cheddar, where the hill is said to have waved to and fro during several seconds; and in the alluvial flat or marsh below Cheddar, some houses had the plaster of the ceilings cracked, while in other houses the clocks struck, bells rang, &c.