OF THK ITtH of DECEMBER, 1S96. 



197 



The S.W. window, whifli might have been more tightly fastened, 

 not so much. The height of Fairfield is 276 feet above the sea, 



K. 





V/indov^. 



Plan No. 6.— Fairfield, Hitchin. 



and to the first bedroom floor 287 feet 6 inches. The windows 

 are sash windows. — fVilUam Ransom [F.S.A., F.L.S.], Fairfield, 

 Hitchin. 



* Stevenage. — Time about 5.25 a.m. House felt as though it 

 was about to fall. Only one shock. The bed was raised and shook 

 violently. Everything rattled in the room, and the dogs down- 

 stairs barked. There was a loud rumbling, like a heavy train 

 passing. — W. Brudenell Rooke, The Firs, Stevenage. 



About 5.30 on 17th Dec, I was awoke quite suddenly by the 

 violent shaking of my bed. The shock was so violent that it sent 

 me nearly out of bed. I got up at once and went into the next 

 ward, where there was a patient under treatment. . . . Nothing 

 had been felt by Mrs, Mardell in the room under mine, though she 

 was quite awake, or by Ada Chalkley, the patient, who was sound 

 asleep when I went into the ward to see if anything were wrong, 

 but the shake I felt I shall never forget. — Charles Mardell, Care- 

 taker, Isolation Hospital. Pin Green, Stevenage. 



In a subsequent letter Mr. Mardell states that his bed stood 

 E. and W., and tl)at the movement came from the N. — [H. G. F.j 



Westox. — My eldest daughter, sleeping at the top of this house, 

 felt a strange vibration. — M. R. Pry or, Weston, Stevenage. 



Ardeley. — My daughters were sleeping in separate bedrooms 

 (adjoining), and both were awake at the time and distinctly [feltj 

 the shock. Their beds were raised and went back with a thud. The 

 shock consisted of two distinct parts, if not three, with an interval 

 of a few seconds ; they think the second part the stronger. The 

 time was about 5.35 a.m. They heard no sound, only the moving 

 motion. A grey parrot we have (the cage standing on a table) 



