THE GREAT ENGLISH EARTHQUAKE
	On a perfect Spring day 120 years ago - 22nd April 1884 - the workers were out in the fields or in their workshops, shopkeepers had opened up, children were at school, and housewives were busy in house and cottage.  Suddenly at 9.18 am there was a loud rumbling noise, the ground shook, buildings swayed, slates and masonry fell and bells rang! Could this really have been happening in this country?  Yes, it was.  The area from Colchester to the coast had been struck by the Great English Earthquake.  Shockwaves travelled to Belgium and France, and were reported in this country as far away as Somerset and Cheshire.  Wivenhoe was the worst hit - nearly every house and pub was badly damaged, as well as the church.  On the river, the fishing boats were tossed around, and some men were thrown overboard. Many other churches in the area were badly damaged including two in Colchester itself, which lost a spire and battlements, at Peldon, where the battlements fell through the nave roof, Abberton, and Langenhoe, this last being so badly damaged that it was never rebuilt.  In these villages, many houses also lost roofs, chimneys and plaster.  On Mersea Island cracks and fissures opened up in many places. It was a difficult time in the rural areas because Victorian England was suffering from a major agricultural Depression.  The earthquake must have made life even harder.

The ‘East Essex Gazette’ recorded “At Chelmsford the shock was severely felt.  Great alarm was caused to the inhabitants, many of whom were under the impression that some terrible explosion of dynamite had taken place.”

Further south, Southend was already a popular destination for trippers, with trains bringing them from Fenchurch Street.  The ‘Essex Weekly News’ reported “The inhabitants of Southend were greatly alarmed by a severe shock.  The walls of many houses quivered and threatened to fall.  At the Royal Hotel people ran into the streets very frightened at the rumbling and cracking. “At the Hope Hotel on Marine Parade, the landlord, Mr H Middleton, said the building sustained a shock and he saw the house rock quite six inches from side to side.  He said that the floors creaked and the bells rang, much to the alarm of those within.” On Clifftown Parade people were bowled over and Southend Pier, the longest in the world, rocked and swayed.  One fisherman was supposed to have fallen in the sea and been lost.

In Rochford, both the clocks in the Square were stopped and at the shoemakers, a man sitting waiting for a boot to be repaired was so alarmed when the building started swaying that he dashed out into the street with one boot on and never came back for the other!

Even though the earthquake was devastating, there were few deaths, and little reporting of injuries.  There is only one memorial of the earthquake, a plaque in Little Wigborough Church recording the rebuilding of the tower as a result of the damage caused. Rosemary Roberts ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Further reading: The Great English Earthquake, by Peter Haining.  Robert Hale 1976 The Essex Weather book by Currie, Davison & Ogley.  Froglets Publications 1992 (From The Rochford Historian - Feb 2004.) Postscript Despite a great deal of research, St Osyth does not seem to have been mentioned in any newspaper or account.  It is thought that the buttresses around the church tower may have been built there after the earthquake, and the north wall repaired in brick.  The Chancel had been restored in 1882, but more work to the nave, both inside and out, was carried out before the end of the century.  Several houses have S’s on their walls to strengthen them.