Some Account of an Earthquake Felt in the Northern Part of England. In a Letter from Samuel More, Esq. to Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. P. R. S.

VI. Some Account of an Earthquake felt in the Northern Part of England. In a Letter from Samuel More, Esq. to Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. P. R. S. Read December 7, 1786. SIR, Castle-Head, Lancashire, August 22, 1786. I TAKE the liberty of addressing this to you, to give you information, and furnish you with all the particulars I have been able to collect, relative to a shock of an earthquake felt in this part of the kingdom on Friday, the 11th instant, about two o'clock in the morning; some say it was a little before that hour, others a little after, owing probably to the difference of the clocks. I was at that time in the house of a miner at Aulstone-Moor in Cumberland, but perceived no shock; nor do I believe it was felt in that neighbourhood, as no mention was made of it by any of the miners I conversed with during the course of the day; but, on my arrival at Penrith in the evening, everyone there spoke of it as having been sensibly felt in that town. The next day, pursuing my journey, I was informed it had been felt along the banks of Ullswater, in Patterdale, at Ambleside, along the side of Winander Meer, and particularly at the house in the island on that lake, the property of Mr. CHRISTIAN. At the place where I am now writing, the Lady of the house, and some of the servants, were awakened by it, and describe it as shaking shaking violently the beds, the chairs in the rooms, and the sashes of the windows. At Cartmeal, a town about five miles from hence, it was also felt very severely; and at the village of Carke, two miles from Cartmeal, a gentleman (Mr. Fletcher Stockdale) tells me, he was awake some time before the shock; that he first heard a rumbling noise, like a carriage at a distance, and was considering what carriage could be moving at that hour, when he felt the shock. The noise continued some time after the shock was over; and he thinks the whole might last about four or five seconds, and it seemed to travel from the east to the westward. Almost every body in the neighbourhood of Carke and Cartmeal were awakened by it, and some persons much alarmed; but I do not find that, at any part where I have been, any damage has been done by it. At Lancaster, about ten miles east of Cartmeal, it was very plainly felt, particularly, as I am told, in the great tower of the Castle. It appears to have extended as far as Manchester, where it was slightly perceived. These are the particulars I have hitherto been able to collect relative to this earthquake, of which I doubt not you will have many accounts sent you; but if these facts furnish anything not mentioned by your other correspondents, it will afford great pleasure to, Sir, &c. SAMUEL MORE.