HERTFORDSHIRE EARTHQUAKES. 145 



John Strype, in his ' Ecclesiastical Memorials ' (1721), adds to 

 Stow's account that this earthquake was especially felt at 

 Dorking, but omits the Hertfordshire and some of the Surrey 

 localities. He says : " May 25, about Bygate, Croyden, and 

 Darking was felt an Earthquake, and especially at Darking. 

 Insomuch that there, and elsewhere, Pots and Pans and Dishes 

 fell down, and moved about." 



It will be noticed that Stow, in his earlier account, states that 

 the earthquake was felt at divers other places in Surrey and 

 Middlesex, but does not name one place in the latter county, and 

 that in his later account he omits Middlesex. Possibly he 

 thought at first that Albury was in Middlesex, and then, finding 

 that it was in Hertfordshire, adds Bennington as the only other 

 place in this county where he had ascertained that it had been 

 felt. But it seemed strange to me that a Surrey earthquake 

 should extend into Hertfordshire without being felt in the 

 intervening county of Middlesex and being recorded in one so 

 populous. It was therefore a satisfaction to find that it was 

 felt in that county. The ' Grey Friars Chronicle ' supplies this 

 information, as follows : — " Item the xxv'^^ day of Mali, wyche 

 was the Monday after Trenyte sonday, was gret ertheqwakes in 

 dyuers places, as a-bowte Crowydyn and in that towne and 

 dyuers other townes there by, as at Rygatte, and many other 

 places a-bowte, and also at Westmyster and dyuers other places 

 in London, and a-bowte there." 



This is the only Hertfordshire earthquake of which I can find 

 any record for the long period of five centuries, 1250 to 1750, the 

 latter year one of great seismic activity ; and of fourteen earth- 

 quake shocks which were felt in England in that year on nine 

 days at varying periods apart, two are recorded as having been 

 felt in our county — one on the 19th of February ; the other on 

 the 19th of March. 



19^7^ February, 1750. 



The first of these was a violent shock felt in Italy, western 

 France, and the Thames Valley, extending southward to 

 Canterbury, westward to Richmond, and northward to Hertford. 

 It was felt in London, where structural damage was done, 

 chiefly to chimneys, about mid-day (12.40). Accoimts are given 

 in the ' G-entleman's Magazine,' the ' London Magazine,' and the 

 ' Scots Magazine,' of the same or following month, all mentioning 

 that the shock was felt at Hertford. 



The following is an extract from the ' GTentleman's Magazine ' : — 

 " Between 12 and 1 o'clock afternoon, an earthquake was felt 

 throughout London and Westminster ; the councillors in the 

 court of king's bench and chancery in Westminster Hall were 

 so alarm'd, that they expected the building to fall ; and in the 

 new buildings about Qrosvenor Square People ran out of their 

 houses, the chairs shaking, and the pewter rattling on the 

 shelves ; a slaughterhouse with a hayloft over it, was thrown 



