56
The East Anglian Earthquake.
Colne, situated on a London Clay hill, about 160 feet above
Ordnance datum, no destruction appears to have been caused.
At Greenstead, about 11/2 miles to the east of the town, on the
other side of the river opposite the Hythe, a considerable
percentage of the chimneys were thrown down, and one
house reported much damaged. The western side of the
church tower was cracked from top to bottom, and part of the
plaster coating stripped off ; the tower is solid brickwork.
Southward from Colchester, along the Mersea Road, but
little damage was observed. The shock is reported to have
been severely felt at Broom Hill (Lt.-Col. Walker), a clock
being thrown into the middle of the room and a pier-glass
broken, but the house escaped permanent injury.29
St. Giles's Rectory, about one mile S.S.E. of Colchester, on
the edge of glacial gravel, near its junction with a long
narrow slip of London Clay, was much cracked and all the
chimneys thrown down. The cracks from the base of the
chimney-stacks extended down through the house to its base-
ment, and a crack extended from top to bottom of the wall at
the S.E. corner, besides numerous cracks in the other walls.
A recess built out from the dining-room was quite torn away
from the house, leaving a crack about an inch in width.
Glasses were thrown off shelves in a store-room and bottles
thrown down in the cellar. Mr. J. C. Shenstone reports that
this house does not appear to have been very substantially
built.
Bourne Pond Mill, a very old building near the rectory, was
considerably damaged; ornamental stone-work was thrown
down, the gable-end of the mill shifted about two inches, and
the mill much shattered.
29 From later information supplied by Col. Walker and Mr. Shenstone,
it appears that this house is very solidly built and only one storey high,
being well adapted to withstand an earthquake shock. The only damage
was the cracking of some ceilings and the loosening of the keystone
of the row of bricks over a glass door facing S.S.E. The clock in
question (a heavy one) was standing on a cabinet surrounded by a rail
three inches high, over which it was thrown on to the floor, falling towards
the W.S.W. In the next room the looking-glass, facing W.S.W., also
fell in this direction. In another room a small piece of furniture,
standing against a wall facing S.S.E., was moved out into the room.