Earthquake!

I told of a specific earthquake that was particularly destructive 11 years ago (and could happen again, eventually), but there were many recorded in history, of course.

One of the worst in England took place in 1185 in the East Midlands (see illustration), as recorded by the Abbey of St. Werburg in Chester:

Prima quoque die post ramis Palmarum id est, feria secunda hoc est xvij kal. Aprilis, magnus terre motus plerisque locis Anglie et ut aiunt quidam omni particulariter orbis climate hora diei sexta contigit.

On the first day after Palm Sunday, that is on Monday, April 15, there was a great earthquake in very many places in England, and as some say particularly, in every region of the earth; it happened at the sixth hour of the day.

Difficult to know where the epicenter was, but the villages of Raleigh and Danethorpe in Nottinghamshire were completely destroyed. Houses made of masonry were less resilient than wood and fell down. Parts of Lincoln Cathedral fell, creating a question: was the damage because the earthquake was very intense, or because construction was less than stellar.

The British Isles had another major earthquake 90 years later, recorded in the Annals of Oseney and the annals of Waverley Abbey in Surrey. On 11 September 1275 between the first and third hour of the day it was felt in at least in Canterbury, London, Wales, and Winchester. Osney recorded that homes and churches were downed and people were killed.

This earthquake caused the 11th-century timber church dedicated to St. Michael on top of Glastonbury Tor. I think Glastonbury Tor is where we'll go next.