The Thrill that many will never forget

At c 01.00 on Wednesday 27 February 2008 momentary tremors were felt in Tewkesbury and all over England .  The epicentre was in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire for some strange reason.  No damage reported in Tewkesbury .

It appears that Tewkesbury is no stranger to earthquakes.  Newspapers contain reports of afflictions in 1896, 1904, 1922 and, in particular, that of 13 June 1931 whose tremors lasted for 25 minutes.

Sub-editors then could innocently report that “the alarming visitation, which occurred at 1.26 a.m. on Sunday, gave a thrill to many people as they will never forget”.  The intrepid Register reporter himself was reading in bed when “the first tremor hit the house”.  Most graphic reports came from those who were working through the night at the Poor Law Institution (the former workhouse on Gloucester Road , the old Hospital in Oldbury Road and at the train station at Ashchurch where “instrument bells and the telephone tinkled” and “there was a roaring noise as though some fast train was rushing through the station.”  Certainly no fast train ever rushed through the station en route to Tewkesbury !

It seemed as if the Register itself was the most badly affected because bales of paper were overturned and “the storeroom presented a state of confusion”.

Such visitations are, of course, marvellous stimulants to conversation but such thrills are soon forgotten.  Does anybody still remember the Quake of ’31?  Will anybody remember the Quake of 08?

John Dixon; President, Tewkesbury Historical Society.