Remembering when the earth shook for Wharfedale residents more than a century ago

Wharfedale, these days, is sleepy and picturesque. The signs of nature there are attractive ones; the river and the greenery in particular.
Peaceful Grassington was shocked by an earthquake on December 15, 1859Peaceful Grassington was shocked by an earthquake on December 15, 1859
Peaceful Grassington was shocked by an earthquake on December 15, 1859

On this day in 1859, though, Wharfedale was rocking - literally. That was when, on a bright and cloudless morning, the residents of Grassington and its neighbouring villages were shocked by an earthquake. One afraid man had stepped out with a gun.

The shock was understandable, considering reports from the archive; doors were thrown open and furniture shook. Confusion was on many people’s minds.

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The Leeds Mercury reported: “Many a timid inhabitant arose, armed, and searched every room and corner of his house to find some unwelcome intruder. A few dressed, and began their daily vocations, mistaking the rattling sound which accompanied the shock to the call of their masters or fellow labourers.

“One man, we are informed, seized his gun, and prepared for the worst. Some miners also were at that moment at work on Grassington Moor...those men heard distinctly the noise attending the shock, and mistook it for a falling in of the mine.”

The impact of the earthquake can, perhaps, be partially explained by the layout of the area. The carboniferous limestone, for example, was an excellent conductor of sound and propagator of motion.

At the time, it was not clear what the cause of the natural disturbance was. By process of elimination, one reader tried to solve the puzzle.

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The paper reported: “With all due deference to your correspondent in Tuesday’s Mercury, the phenomenon cannot, we presume, as he alludes, be ascribed to thunder nor any other atmospheric agency, as fireballs, or fall of meteoric stones, etc for the whole firmament was bright and cloudless.

“Moreover, the fact of its being heard by the miners, at a depth and distance to which the loudest thunder never penetrates, is stronger evidence in favour of the fact we assert than any argument or testimony that can he adduced in support of the contrary.

Its effects have been felt over an area of more two hundred square miles.”

Today, Wharfedale will be a far more quieter place. That day in 1859 was a different matter entirely.

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