Shropshire earthquake a 'once in two years' event with tremors felt '60 miles away'

Homes across the county were rocked on Monday afternoon when the quake struck, with the epicentre confirmed as being just outside Wem. Residents in parts of Walsall and Wolverhampton also reported feeling the tremors.

Scientists at the British Geological Society confirmed the quake had a magnitude of 3.8 and a depth of 8km.

Jon-Paul Orsi from the society said: "An earthquake of this size can result in strong shaking within about 10 kilometres of the epicentre, but damage is unlikely. The earthquake may have been felt at distances as far as 100 km away."

Mr Orsi said earthquakes of such magnitude only happened about every other year.

“There is an earthquake of this size, or greater, roughly every two years on average somewhere in the UK.

"The last earthquake of this magnitude was near Grimsby on 9 June, 2018. Earthquakes like this one occur because of small movements on faults within the Earth’s crust.”

Caroline and Paul Blair, who live in the centre of Whitchurch, said the quake lasted for just a few seconds, but was very noticeable.

"We were sitting watching TV and I heard a noise like a door slamming if you have left two doors open through the house.

"Then we noticed that our TV, which is on a stand, was moving and then the sofa that we were both sitting on just rocked. It was so weird, it was like someone was jumping on it."

Even residents in Shrewsbury felt the activity.

Harry Leather from Ellesmere Road in the town said: "We were sat on the sofa when it felt like the whole house was shaking, I've never felt anything like it.

"It must have been for around three to four seconds but long enough to know that the ground was shaking. It didn't feel bad enough to do any serious damage."

Residents in the Black Country also reported feeling the earth move beneath their feet.

Lauren May from Wednesfield said: "The house shuddered for about two seconds, it felt like a car had gone into the house."

Christine Hall who lives in a flat in Bilston said: "It was about 4pm and I saw the bookcases moving and shaking.

"There was no noise but it was obvious it wasn't just the noise of traffic going past because you could tell by the shaking which was unusual and it lasted for about two minutes before it stopped."

The quake comes three months after one measuring 2.8 shook parts of the Black Country.

And in March 1990, Shropshire experienced one of the biggest earthquakes to shake Britain for 100 years.

Centred between Knighton and Newtown, along the River Teme, experts originally estimated it at 6.3 on the Richter Scale but later reduced it to 5.2.