31 
m. 
THE EARTHQUAKE OF APRIL, 1884 . 
P>Y lIoiUCK R. WoODWAIU), F.O.S. 
(Of the Geological Survey of England). 
Read 2^th November, 1884. 
My .short communication on Earthquakes and Subsidences in 
Norfolk (whicli appeared in the clo.sing part of last volume) was 
followed, in less than a month after it was read, by a very alarming 
and serious eartluiuakc, probably as severe as any which has taken 
place in this country during the present century. Originating in 
the neighbourhood of Colchester, this subterranean disturbance 
made itself felt over a wide area j and although its effects were 
especially disastrous in E.sse.\, yet its dying efforts or ripples were 
felt over a considerable portion of Norfolk, at Lynn, Fakenham, 
Norwich, Diss, and A'armonth. 
Under such circumstances, a brief account of this earthquake 
comes legitimately within our records ; and, as might have been 
e.xpectcd, details of the damage done, and the e.xperiences of various 
individuals, were not wanting in the newspapers and journals of 
the period. 
The shock was felt at Colchester on the morning of Tuesday, 
April 2 ‘Jnd, at about eighteen minutes past nine o’clock. The air 
was sultry, the wind N.N.E., and the thermometer had riseiii 
There was heard a rumbling under ground, accompanied (so some 
say) by reports or detonating sounds, a wave-like motion was felt, 
and three or four distinct shocks were experienced ; but all was 
over in ten or twenty seconds, according to various accounts. 
The results of this brief disturbance were, however, of a vert 
destructive character in Colchester and the immediate neighbour- 
hood. In the town itself it i.s .stated that all the buildings Were 
shaken, the .spire (150 feet high) of the Lion Walk Congregational 
Church was brought to the ground, as well as many chimney-stacks, 
and the thoroughfares were strewn with bricks and tiles ; while 
