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XXXV.— NOTES 02^ THE EARTHQUAKE THAT TOOK PLACE 

 IN ESSEX ON THE MORNING OE APRIL 22, 

 1884. By G. H. KINAHAN, M.R.I.A., &c. 



[Read, June 16, 1884.] 



Descriptions of this earthquake have already appeared in the 

 various daily papers and the scientific journals, but there are cer- 

 tain phenomena connected with it that as yet have not been de- 

 scribed, and the principal object of this communication is to draw 

 attention to such. 



The disturbances in the area of structural damage took place 

 between 9.15 and 9.20 a.m., April 22nd, the damaged structures 

 being nearly all found in a tract southward of Colchester. From 

 this tract, as a centre, the shock seems to have been felt for nearly 

 equal distances in the surrounding country ; northward it is re- 

 corded in the valley of the Humber ; N.-W. at Liverpool, and 

 westward as far as Bristol. To the S. and E. its conspicuous limits 

 were the sea coast, but slight shocks are said to have been felt east 

 of the Straits of Dover, at Ostend and Boulogne. 



The tracts in which the maximum damage was done are five in 

 number and more or less isolated ; they, in the order of intensity, 

 are as follows : — 1, Wivenhoe ; 2, Peldon ; 3, Abberton and 

 Langenhoe ; 4, Colchester ; and 5, West Mersea ; all except 

 the first being north of the estuary of the Blackwater, and west of 

 that of the Colne. Associated with these centres there are mar- 

 ginal tracts in which much damage occurred, but less than in the 

 maximum areas, while in the adjoining county more or less damage 

 was done at isolated places as follows : — South of the Blackwater, 

 in the vicinity of Bradwell, and at Tillingham ; to the westward 

 at Bishop (N.-W. of Maldon), Witham, Braintree, Stisted, 

 Coggeshall, and Oldham ; to the north at Nayland ; to the north- 

 eastward at Bromley Hall, Ardleigh, Dedham, and Manningtree ; 

 while eastward, toward the Naze, although it was felt, no damage 

 seems to have been recorded. 



Before proceeding further with the descriptions of the areas, it 

 is expedient to give brief descriptions of the building materials 

 used in this portion of Essex, and peculiarity of the structures that 



