The Great Colchester Earthquake of 1884
Much has been written on the Great Colchester Earthquake which happened at 9.18 on the morning of 22nd April 1884 centred on the
villages of Abberton, Peldon and Wivenhoe but felt much further afield. We continue to be fascinated by those early photographs
of ruined buildings and the newspaper line drawings of homes and architectural details showing the damage.
Earthquakes are not that unusual in the British Isles but it is estimated that since authentic records have been kept there have been
only about six earthquakes which may have equalled or exceeded that experienced in Peldon. We have to go back over 400
years - to 28th December 1480 - to find an earthquake in East Anglia with as much impact, following which The Rev Francis
Blomefield wrote in his History Of Norfolk 'buildings [were]thrown down and much damage. A very great earthquake'.
This was felt throughout England.
Closer to home, a parish record written by Robert Dickman, Minister of St Peter's Church, Colchester, relates that masons on
the 'uppermost scaffolding' on St Peter's Church reported 'the steeple parted so wide in the midst that they could
have put their hand into the crack or cleft and immediately closed up close again without any damage to the workmen
(who expected all would have fallen down) or to the steeple itself. Most of the houses here and elsewhere shook and part
of a chimney fell down on North Hill; and very many who were sensible of it were taken at the same time with a giddiness
in their head for some short time'. This was 8th September 1692
The 1884 Earthquake
The Report on the East Anglian Earthquake by Raphael Meldola for the Essex Field Club published the year following the
Great Colchester Earthquake of 1884 gives a meticulous contemporary account of the earthquake's effects (it can be accessed on-line).
Meldola details earthquakes that caused structural damage from as early as AD 103. He goes on to study the geology of the
Abberton, Peldon and Wivenhoe area, meteorological conditions, length of shock, and the extent of its damage and disturbance;
he issued detailed questionnaires to the population and examined notes, letters and newspaper cuttings sent in. In all 109
letters from Essex were written to him about the effects of this earthquake.
The tremor was reported as being felt as far away as Ostend to the East, Somerset to the West, The Isle of Wight to the South
and Altrincham near Manchester to the North. With the benefit of the more modern Richter Scale (developed in the 1930s) we know
it was rated as being 4.6 on the scale (estimates made by the British Geological Survey) although some reports say 5.1.
There were accounts of an earlier, lesser tremor on 18th February 1884 when a slight shock accompanied by a loud noise was
felt at the West Mersea Coastguard station. Mr Hugh Green, who was a surgeon living at Strood Villa (now Pyefleet House)
informed the Mersea vicar, the Rev T R Musselwhite, 'of this circumstance on the same day it happened'. But the scale of
the earthquake of 22nd April 1884 was to eclipse anything that had preceded it.
Here in Peldon we have two eye-witness accounts lodged at the Essex Records Office,
that of the school teacher......
SCHOOL LOG BOOK
April 22nd 'The school assembled at the usual time this morning but at 20 minutes past 9 there was a terrible earthquake
which shook the school very much and also frightened the children. We got out of school and sent them home until the chimneys
could be taken down and loose bricks taken away.
Log Book 1867 - 1891 E/ML36/1 Essex Records Office
The school re-opened on 28th April.
......and that of the vicar
Peldon - Wednesday the 23rd April 1884 Yesterday - April 22nd at 9.13.o'clock (a.m.) there was in this and several of the
adjoining Parishes - and in Colchester - a shock of earthquake - such as - it is believed was never before known in any part of
the kingdom. The Church was shaken to its centre - Several large stones were thrown down from the old tower - three of the lamps
suspended from the roof and one of those placed at the entrance to the chancel - were flung to some distance - the walls of the
Church were rent in sundry points - and the Chancel, which had been newly roofed and put into perfect order only a few weeks
previously was unroofed and utterly defaced.
The School House was also much shaken - its walls were rent and rendered unsafe - the Rectory was greatly damaged - two of the large chimneys fell - one of them on the flat roof of the new dining room. The foundation was - it is feared- much shaken - and it has been deemed unsafe to remain indoors.
Saturday 26th April 1884 I have been round the Parish - scarcely a house escaped - several are roofless - and otherwise
rendered uninhabitable - but happily no one was killed - either here or in any other of the villages to which the earthquake
extended. Poor old Passfield was so frightened - that he has taken to his bed, and it is expected he will never leave it.
Mrs Chas King was severely hurt by the falling of bricks on her head - but this was the extent of personal injury -
for which we devoutly thank God. The Rector had a very narrow escape.
The Rev. Carter Hall
Some Record of the Parish Of Peldon Rev C R Harrison 1867
D/P287/28/6 Essex Records Office
He was to write
'My poor Church and Rectory have suffered so severely from the Earthquake that I am induced to appeal to the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners to ask if they will afford me any help in so great an emergency'
Published in the Parish News of Peldon and the Wigboroughs in April 1974 on the 90th anniversary, taken from a letter written by Rev Carter Hall to the Church Commissioners about the earthquake damage. (A photocopy is held by the Essex Records Office D/P 287/28/8)
In the school logbook on 14th October 1884 the schoolmistress writes that church services are being held in the school while the church is being repaired. (E/ML 36/1 log book 1867 - 1891 Essex Records Office)
The church was not to re-open until January 1885.
Casualties and Near Misses
It would seem that John Passfield did indeed take to his bed and never left it. He was about 82 at the time of the earthquake and
had lived in Peldon working as an agricultural worker and subsequently as a grocer with his wife. His death is recorded as being
registered between April and June 1884.
Mrs Charles King was Susannah born in Langenhoe around 1852 married to Charles Henry King, born in Peldon around 1857.
A report from the Essex Standard tells us
'she was engaged in setting plants in her garden when she was stunned by a falling brick, and as she was clinging to some paling
for some support she was struck on the back by some further considerable quantity of falling debris. It was at first thought
she was much injured but she was soon seen by Mr Hugh Green, surgeon, and it was found that her case was not so serious as was
at first supposed. Her home, however, was most seriously shaken and dilapidated'
Susannah clearly recovered from her injury and both she and her husband lived to a good age, dying in 1935, a week apart.
They are buried in Peldon Churchyard.
The doctor referred to above, Mr Hugh Green, had his surgery in the house that is now known as Pyefleet House (formerly Strood Villa)
close to the Strood. He was another who had a narrow escape.
'The building was... without exaggeration wrecked...The consulting room which Mr Green had fortunately left only a few seconds
before the shock was destroyed by the fall of one of the chimney stacks' The Report on the East Anglian Earthquake by
Raphael Meldola
PYEFLEET HOUSE the home of surgeon Hugh Green
The house should have 3 chimneys, but only one remains and appears to have completely split. Also at the time of the earthquake, the house was the residence of Mr Hugh Green, the highly esteemed and wealthy surgeon of the district. The official report of the earthquake states: " ... the house is literally split from end to end - there is not a sound wall either inside or outside standing. All the windows are smashed, the cap stone to the porch at the entrance is down, as also are the chimneys. Geoff Gonella Pyefleet House
PH01_PFH
The Rev Carter Hall's rather cryptic 'The Rector had a very narrow escape' is explained by Peter Haining
in The Great Colchester Earthquake. The Rector had been in his upstairs study when the chimney stacks fell through the
rectory roof, rendering all the upstairs rooms uninhabitable.
Another report in the Essex Weekly News refers to PC Nicholls ** whose cottage
'has been much knocked about, and he himself had a narrow escape from death. He was stooping for some wood when the crash came,
and the materials of the chimney fell within a few inches of his head'
** I believe this in fact to be PC William Nicholas who had moved with his large family from Tendring to Peldon between the 1881 census and the birth of his son Horace in March 1883. At the time of the earthquake he was aged around 55. By the next census in 1891, still resident in Peldon, he was retired.
Although there were casualties, it is thought just one baby girl died under the rubble in Rowhedge perhaps one could
attribute John Passfield's early death to the trauma of the earthquake. It is believed a stroke victim, Emily Leggett Betts,
in Wivenhoe had a further stroke and also died as a result.
Another eye-witness account from Peldon appears as a footnote in The Great English Earthquake.
I learned of one further narrow escape as I was completing this book from an actual eye-witness, ninety-one year old Mr
Charles Nice, who was just a year old at the time. He was living in the White House [Sampton Wick on Lower Road] and was
sitting in a high chair in front of the fire when the earthquake occurred. Bricks fell down the chimney and covered
him with soot from head to foot. It also caused the front door lintel of the house to go lopsided and this remained
untouched until 1941/2 when the owners at that time decided to straight it as they felt it might detract from the
selling value of the house. But according to Mr Crisp's daughter, Mrs M Carter 'when my father told them the
earthquake had caused it, they were very sorry they had not left it as it was!'
And yet another eye-witness account is written on the back of a framed mirror kept in Mersea Museum.
This mirror is a part of one that was shaken from a mantelshelf and broken at Home Farm Peldon, Essex at the time of the great
earthquake April 22nd 1884 the house being shaken from its foundations, chimneys thrown to the ground and widespread damage
took place, this piece of glass was framed as it was broken by the earthquake in remembrance of so great and terrible event.
Signed by me Elijah Woods occupant of Home Farm 26/6/84
[the 1881 census has Elijah Woods at Pond Farm, Peldon, aged 44 - this could be the farm now known as Home Farm]
Meldola's visit to Peldon
'proceeding in a south-westerly direction [from Abberton] along the road to Peldon, all the houses and cottages were noticed to
have lost their chimneys. These buildings which skirt Peet Tye Common are Peet Tye Place, Pantiles, Peet Tye Farm, Rolls Farm
and others. Some of the chimneys were new and of good workmanship'
It is his opinion on passing through Abberton that 'old brick-built houses had generally suffered more severely than wooden
structures' and in Peldon he judges the cottages were 'old and shaky'.
In Peldon 'the damage here was considerable, this village having suffered more than any of the places hitherto mentioned'
[Layer de la Haye, Layer Breton, Layer Marney, Langenhoe and Abberton]. 'Every house and cottage sustained more or less injury,
some of the buildings having been rendered temporarily uninhabitable'.
The main axis of the disturbance extends on each side of a line about 5 miles in length having a direction NE and SW from Wivenhoe
to Peldon. Along this axis the greatest intensity was manifest as shown by the large percentage of dislodged chimneys,
dismantled roofs etc and more especially by the fracturing of solid masonry.
It was this solid masonry that was the undoing of the church, St Mary's in Peldon. Together with Langenhoe Church, where
the damage was devastating, churches in Peldon, Abberton, Wivenhoe, Layer Breton and Layer Marney suffered greater or lesser damage.
A full account of the damage suffered by Peldon was reported in the Essex Chronicle
The village of Peldon is in a bad condition. The stone battlements on top of the church tower were shaken, and hurled some onto
the roof of the nave and others into the churchyard. The massive stone tower is also rent literally from top to bottom, and now
stands a considerable distance out of the perpendicular.
The village school is considerably damaged, the roof being entirely
spoilt, and some of the outside walls rent to the roof. The rectory has also severely suffered. Pete Hall sustained a similar
fate. The smaller houses, mostly built of lath and plaster, with tiled roofs, are complete wrecks. Peldon Rose Inn is almost
entirely demolished; one side of the house and two rooms were shaken to the ground, leaving the interior walls bare. A large
stack of chimneys fell into the roof, crashing through the ceiling into the room below. A bystander says the whole house
appeared to upheave, and the middle of the roof to open, when the mass of falling bricks and chimney pots tumbled into the
interior.
The village presents a devastated and dilapidated condition. When the shock was felt everyone rushed out of doors
and Mrs King in so doing sustained a cut on the head by a stone from the roof. The scene in this parish is spoken of by
eye-witnesses as having been painful in the extreme - women and children rushed out of their houses in the greatest terror
and alarm, many of them shrieking, while men were also startled and were unable for some time to understand or realise what
had happened. How many of the poor people whose houses have thus been wrecked are to find shelter for themselves and their
families for some little time it is impossible to say. In scarcely any of the houses are the upper rooms tenantable,
while owing to the chimneys having fallen and interfered with the arrangements of the lower rooms, it is
impossible to light fires.
It is a remarkable fact in regard to the effect of the shock at Peldon, that a similar, though slighter shock occurred
exactly two months ago. On that occasion several of the residents of the district were roused from their slumbers about
half-past one in the morning by a subterranean rumbling and an oscillation of the buildings. A daughter of the rector of Peldon,
the Rev Carter Hall, was one of those who experienced the shock on the occasion mentioned, and she has described it
as of the same character as the shock felt there on Tuesday, although of a much slighter nature. An extent of country
about two miles in length seems to have been the only area in which this disturbance was noticed. It is estimated that
the destruction to house property alone in this district will amount to over £6,000. As illustrating the peculiarity of the
wave in its effect on buildings, it may be noted that a house in Peldon was moved upon its foundation for a space of
six inches, not literally but as if it had been taken and partially turned round.
Essex Chronicle Friday 28th April 1884
It would seem that the vast majority of the damage throughout the area was caused by the chimneys falling in.
On the eastern side of the village, Pete Tye Hall and Moor Farm were both damaged considerably. Moor farm suffered
the most, the tremor being strong enough to move a piano out from the wall.
Amelia Went who had the mill near the Peldon Rose, had just lost her husband, when the 1884 earthquake struck her home and business as we learn from this report.
Perhaps the saddest case of loss and discomfort - in the midst of thousands of illustrations of damage done by the shock - presented itself at the residence and business-place of Mrs Went (recently made a widow), Peldon Mill. The house was so far cracked and beaten about that access to the upper rooms could not be obtained by reason of the debris. The south wall bulged in a most threatening manner. The scene at the time of the shock must have been alarming, for furniture and glass were thrown about as if the building had had to resist a cannon ball. The mill itself was not damaged but the round house (brick) on which it rested) had deep fissures in the walls. The shaft of the engine house had been cut in halves about midway up as if by a sword, and the upper portion was considerably twisted. A miller's cottage adjoining was so much damaged that only the kitchen - and that not with safety - was available for shelter day and night, and this was all that nine persons had for household accommodation! 1884 Essex Earthquake Report Pages 36 and 37 Mersea Museum JB01_EREP
Raphael Meldola's report on the earthquake goes into considerable detail
Peldon Mill, south east of the village, on the Mersea Road, opposite The Rose Inn, and the adjoining buildings were considerably damaged, the upper part of Mrs Went's house having been choked up with brickwork and debris on the morning of the disturbance. Mr Wilson Marriage, in a letter dated April 25th [1884] states that the house was cracked in all directions, and it will probably have to be entirely rebuilt. The inmates described the sensation as being thrown 'against the walls and inducing a clinging to anything for support'. Glass and crockery was thrown down and broken, bedsteads, piano and furniture moved about 9 inches from their positions. A square, slightly tapering engine chimney-shaft, about 80 feet high and 4 feet square at the middle, well and strongly built of brick, and standing detached from the other buildings, was fractured transversely at about 10 feet from the top, and the upper part left standing, but twisted round about an inch or more in the direction from W to E. The woodwork of the mill itself did not appear much injured, but the circular brick foundation was cracked in several places. A cottage near the mill was rent all over, one crack at the North end running transversely through the brickwork, with an inclination towards the East of about 30 - 40 degrees with the horizon.
The aftermath
The 22nd April was a lovely spring day but in the period following the earthquake the villagers' misery was compounded by
almost continuous and torrential rain.
Mr Buchanan, an MP from Edinburgh travelling round the villages to inspect the damage said 'it was most melancholy to
see the plight of the inhabitants, their cottages roofless affording no protection against the drenching rain.'
The Report on the East Anglian Earthquake by Raphael Meldola
In May the Rev Carter Hall reports
May 1884 The Mansion House fund collected for the relief of the sufferers and the repairs of Church and school houses - thrown
down as otherwise inferred - has amounted to a sum sufficient for nearly all the purposes for which it has been raised.
The cost of restoration on the Church is estimated at £550 and the repairs on the school at £50 and these costs
the sub-committee for the disposal of the funds have undertaken to defray. Some Record of the Parish Of Peldon
Rev C R Harrison 1867
In all, Peldon (with a population of 458 in 1881) had 72 buildings repaired, 21 owners received contributions for the
repairs and the village received about £9000 from the Mansion House fund. A few houses belonging to the wealthier villagers
were repaired at their own cost.
It was reported in The Essex Farmers, a book by A E Fairhead, about his family, a branch of which lived at
Brick House Farm, Peldon, that the farm was sufficiently damaged to necessitate them moving out temporarily while it was
repaired. William Golden Fairhead's son Stanley was born the month after the earthquake at Abberton Cottage, Layer de la Haye.
It's not known how long they were there. According to the British Listed Buildings Register, the red brick cladding on Brick
House Farm dates to 1885 from when the repairs were made.
Such a major event will provide a talking point in the affected villages for generations and those who lived through it all
had a story to tell.
Mr Simpson has vivid memories of the 1884 earthquake. 'There wasn't a chimney standing' he said, and he went on to tell
me how when he reached the doctor's surgery with an injured man the surgery was so badly damaged that the man could not
receive treatment and had to be taken to the Rector's, where his wound was dressed. 'Bricklayers came from as far afield
as Wales' said Mr Simpson as he continued to talk of the work of the restoration. Cyril R Jeffries in 1935 or 1936
talking to Mr Golden Simpson for the Essex County Standard.
Even today stories are still being told, passed on orally as houses change hands or passed down through generations of families whose relatives lived through the earthquake.
The owner of Honeysuckle Cottage, Hilary, tells me that the wooden-framed cottage was moved twelve inches in the earthquake which explains the fact that it now leans. Amazingly, it wasn't otherwise damaged and hasn't moved since.
The Chelmsford Chronicle of 3rd October 1884 reported an auction of properties including Rose Cottage in Peldon.
A freehold brick-and-tiled dwelling house, known as Rose Cottage, at Peldon, was next offered for sale. the Auctioneer remarking that the house had been somewhat damaged by the earthquake, but not so much as to prevent the present tenant from continuing to inhabit it.
Jeff Wass whose great great grandad, Samuel Hyam, bought the Old House on Lower Road, tells me Samuel bought it cheaply since it had a huge crack after the earthquake. We do know Samuel was in the house by the 1891 census running it as a shop.
The Essex Standard newspaper of 4th August 1888 reported a court case involving a claim for full payment for work by Henry Harrison, blacksmith, wheelwright and painter from Abberton. The case was against the owner of Peldon Hall. It appears Harrison had done some repairs to Peldon Hall which had been damaged by the earthquake and had been required to make it respectable and water tight, (in this case the judge found for the defendant).
The story passed down about Peldon's forge, told to me by Nick Hines, who worked for the pig farmer in the village, was that the forge ended up with a lean and none of its doors or windows fitted after the earthquake. The building there now is clearly not the original.
A photograph of the Schoolhouse shows huge cracks that had been patched up; as we know from the rector's diary it was much shaken - its walls ... rent and rendered unsafe.
The Schoolhouse showing repaired cracks
Old pictures of Whitakers, the house that stood on the North side of Lower Road where a modern bungalow of the same name now stands, show iron building ties supporting the end wall.
So proud of its history was the owner of Wayside Cottage, Church Road, Ann Watkins, had a pottery plaque made which can still be seen on the outside wall of the cottage.
The drawing below taken from an engraving from the London Illustrated News shows Wayside Cottage on Church Road. In the background is Sleyes showing damage to the roof.
A final word from the vicar
1886 The works were subsequently commenced - the school house was effectively completed - but the Church took many
months - it was re-opened on the first Sunday in January 1885 when collections were made in aid of the British and Foreign
Bible Society.
Gloria in Excelsis Deo
Carter Hall Rector
Some Record of the Parish Of Peldon Rev C R Harrison 1867
D/P287/28/6 Essex Records Office
Elaine Barker
Peldon History Project
Sources and More Information
Report on the East Anglian Earthquake Raphael Meldola - see MAW
1884 Essex Earthquake Report - JB01_EREP
"The Great English Earthquake" by Peter Haining
Essex County Standard
Thanks to
Michael Christmas
Rose and Len Harvey
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