The Essex Earthquake of 1884

It happened on April 22nd 1884 at about 9.20 a.m. GMT. It was a fine clear morning with no wind. The epicentre was in the vicinity of Peldon, Abberton and Wivenhoe, but the shock was felt up to 150 miles away and across an area of 53,000 square miles. The duration of the shock varied in people's accounts, but is authoritatively estimated as 3½ seconds. In some places a second, slighter shock was also felt. The earthquake first manifested itself in a low underground rumbling. a rolling sound, This was followed by a vibratory rocking and swaying and the ground heaved beneath people's feet. Walls moved and cracked, doors opened and shut, articles fell off shelves, bells rang of themselves. Tiles and slates slid off roofs, chimney stacks tumbled down. Thousands of buildings were damaged. Workers fled from factories, children were ushered out of schools, people rushed from their homes. Panic and confusion was widespread as few people realised what was happening. All sorts of rumours spread as to the cause of the upheaval. At Colchester for example it was popularly thought that the Gas Works near the Hythe Docks had exploded or been deliberately destroyed. Another story was that the Camp and Barracks had been blown up by the 'Dynamiters' who at the time were causing a major security problem in Britain. Only the previous day a James Francis Egan had been charged at Birmingham with conspiring with a John Daly to cause explosions.

The shock was felt in the Houses of Parliament, and a wave about 3 feet high was observed sweeping across the Thames. Workmen working on the top of Parliament's Victoria Tower fled to the ground on feeling the tower swaying. At the Old Bailey a gas lamp broke with the shock, and set furniture and fittings alight. The fire brigade prevented a serious blaze. Birmingham was extensively shaken, and at Northampton an old Roman wall was demolished. Suffolk experienced the shock, and some places suffered damage. Unfortunately no instrumental records were taken of the shock at the time, but scientists have later calculated that, in the international designation of earthquakes as 1st , 2nd and 3rd class, the Essex earthquake fell somewhere between 2nd and 3rd.

At the time of the earthquake, Lord Alfred Paget was on the deck of his steam yacht, Saint Cecilia, which was moored on the Rowhedge bank of the River Colne, opposite Wivenhoe. He was able to witness the destruction which the shock brought to Wivenhoe. The river was high at the time, high tide having been at 9.00 a.m.

First there was a booming sound, then a huge wave swept along the Colne, swamping vessels. It heaved up the yacht, which began to shake. Members of the crew were falling down. Lord Alfred had to cling to the rigging. Over at Wivenhoe the houses seemed to be moving up and down in a wave, chimney stacks began to topple and crash through the roofs. Showers of slates were being sent flying into the streets and houses, part of the church steeple swayed and toppled down. People were rushing into the street, or searching the wreckage for persons caught in the debris. Those who had been injured were treated on the spot by local doctors.

Dust arose from the buildings in a thick cloud and spread like a fog over the quayside. Cracks appeared in house walls, the outside walls of some buildings collapsed, revealing the interiors of the rooms. The Independent Chapel in West Street was badly damaged, the National School in Wivenhoe High Street had walls cracked and the chimney fell down. Wivenhoe Hall lost its chimneys, several of which had crashed through the roof, the gable at the north end was dismantled; the walls were severely fissured and cracked. It was, in fact, uninhabitable, and had to be vacated. At the gas works, two-thirds of the 50 foot circular brick shaft tottered and fell, smashing across the main buildings and hurling masonry around. The main gasometer was damaged, but not fractured, and the gas was able to be turned off. Wivenhoe church, which had been restored in 1860 at the huge cost of £3000, was severely damaged. From the summit of the battlements to the coping, all was shattered. Many tons of stone were hurled into the graveyard. The tower was rent in many places, and a quantity of masonry fell into the church itself. The Black Boy Inn at the end of East Street was rendered untenable.

The scene at Colchester was similar. In the station the 9.20 am, express to London was standing at the platform, ready for the whistle to signal the departure. The engine and carriages were lifted up by the wave of the earthquake, some windows cracked, and doors were sprung open. The engine driver and some passengers were pitched on to the platform. As the earthquake subsided, passengers rushed from the train in fear. No trains ran at Colchester for the rest of that day. In Lion Walk, half of the spire of the Congregational Church fell down, plunging partly into the church, some pieces of stone penetrating to the basement. The remainder fell into the road. St. Leonard's Church in Hythe lost its spire, which severely damaged the church. The rectory suffered when two huge chimney stacks crashed through the roof and down through the house. At the castle the shock was severely felt, many items on display were knocked over or damaged.
On Mersea Island the ground groaned and moved, and then fissures opened in many places. Some were a few feet long, some extended over a hundred yards. Most only opened a few inches, but one or two gaped wide. The worst fissure was about 150 yards long and about a foot wide, on the slope near Mersea Lane, running down St Peter's Well on the West Mersea foreshore. A jet of water, white in colour and warm, sprayed out of the fissure. Other similar sprays were observed on other parts of the island. West Mersea was more badly hit than the other side of the island. The church was damaged, and the chimneys of the Rectory fell in, completely unroofing it.

Langenhoe also suffered badly. Langenhoe Church was already noted for its leaning tower, and as a result of the earthquake the battlements had fallen, almost completely destroying the nave. The chancel roof was stripped of its tiling, and cracks were visible in the walls of the chancel, nave and porch. Strangely enough, the tower had not fallen, but its lean was even more pronounced. The Lion public house, the school, Langenhoe Hall - all suffered considerable damage. In Fingringhoe a large percentage of the buildings were severely damaged. In Abberton, every building was damaged. Virtually every one had lost its chimneys and few walls had escaped being cracked and damaged. At Peldon, the village presented a devastated appearance. The Peldon Rose Inn had its roof stripped, the
walls cracked and bulged, and the chimney stack crashed right through the building to the cellar. Only the iron stays fixed round the building had saved it from complete collapse. Peldon church was much damaged, and the roof which had recently been restored after raising funds for 5 years was badly damaged by debris from the tower. Strood House, which stood beside the causeway leading from Peldon to Mersea and belonged to a local surgeon, was so badly wrecked that only the kitchen remained usable.

Other places in Essex which were hard hit were: Aldham., Alresford, Ardleigh, Bradwell-on-Sea, Brightlingsea, Coggeshall, Dedham, Great Bromley, Great Wigborough, Layer-de-la-Haye, Layer Marney, Layer Breton, Little Wigborough, Messing, Salcott, Stisted, Thorrington, Tillingham, Tollesbury, Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Tolleshunt Major, and Virley. In Little Wigborough church is a memorial in the form of a brass plaque on the wall which says that the church was rebuilt Shocks were also felt at Ipswich, Chelmsford, Maldon, Southend and Shoeburyness.

Many people were injured in the earthquake, and others had narrow escapes from falling masonry, but only two deaths have been authenticated. One was that of a child who had been lying in front of the fireplace in the Old Parsonage at Rowhedge. Two groups of chimneys fell through the roof, bringing masonry and soot down the chimney shaft. The child was buried in the debris and suffocated. The second death was at Wivenhoe, where a bedridden invalid died from a stroke brought on by the shock of the earthquake. A third death, of a man reported to have been struck by falling masonry at Wivenhoe has not been verified, although a man from Ardleigh did die the following day from an unspecified 'sad accident'.