Old Cumbria Gazetteer - SD26: earthquake 18650215 1103


included in:-	SD26
	SD26: earthquake 18650215 1103
locality:-	Barrow-in-Furness
civil parish:-	Barrow-in-Furness (formerly Lancashire)
county:-	Cumbria
locality type:-	earthquake epicentre
locality type:-	earthquake plus
coordinates:-	SD22796444
1Km square:-	SD2264
10Km square:-	SD26
references:-	British Geological Survey 2010

evidence:-	old text:- Bolton 1869
source data:-	Book, Geological Fragments Collected Principally from Rambles among the Rocks of Furness and Cartmel, by John Bolton, published by D Atkinson, King Street, Ulverston, Lancashire and by Whittaker and Co, Ave Maria Lane, London, 1869. goto source Page 253:- "..." "EARTHQUAKE AT RAMPSIDE, BARROW, &c." "Now that the excitement occasioned by the earthquake of the 15th of February, 1865, at Rampside and Barrow, has subsided, and people can speak about it with calmness, many circumstances connected with it have come to our knowledge which have not been reported before, several of them from our own observation, and others from reliable sources. As it was our intention from the first to ascertain, if possible, how far its effects had been felt in every direction, and whether violent or otherwise, with a view of laying down and colouring the same on the ordnance map, showing the different gradations of intensity, by shading; it was, therefore, necessary to inspect, personally, every place which had suffered injury from its effects." "For this purpose we proceeded to Rampside, calling at Roose Cote, and Moorhead. At Roose Cote, they were commencing to repair Mr. Ross's chimneystack; Messrs. T. and W. Huddleston's chimneys were both somewhat" goto source Page 254:- "injured. In passing Moorhead, we noticed some large pieces of stone lying on the ground, blackened with soot, and upon inquiry the mistress of the house said they were part of their chimneys, which had fallen outside, but far more of them fell into the house, and two of her children had a narrow escape. One, a little girl, was sitting by the fire, with an infant on her knee, the mother, providentially, being close by, had just time to snatch them away from almost certain destruction. This good woman took us through her house, and showed us that the walls in every room were cracked, and some of the flags in the floor were broken by the effects of the shock. At the next house, (a cottage, adjoining the barn, the end wall of which was badly cracked,) the cottager was close by setting some roots of rhubarb. We asked if he felt the earthquake. "Feel it!" he exclaimed, "I was working at the midden when it com, and it ree roo'd ma about, just as if I woz in a riddle; I cud hardly stand."" "After leaving Moorhead we passed Rampside Church, the Parsonage, and two other good houses close by, none of which appeared to be injured. These are all situated on high ground above the village, and with these exceptions, we believe, every house in Rampside was more or less injured by the earthquake, some of them to a fearful extent. The Post Office was very much shaken, and rendered very unsafe, as was also the residence of J. Clegg, Esq., a beautiful "cottage ornée," only one story in height. This house was then shored up with timber, notwithstanding which it was highly dangerous, and a considerable part of it had to be taken down at the time. But the most remarkable case of injury was that of a house close to high water mark, on the shore of Morecambe Bay. This dwelling is built of Red Sandstone, dressed, bedded, and jointed, but since its erection the front wall seems to have been whitewashed several times, which had almost" goto source Page 255:- "entirely hidden the jointing. The earthquake not only made several large cracks in different parts, but almost every stone in the front showed a clear joint broken through the coat of whitewash; thus proving, that nearly every individual stone in the front of the house had been moved on its bed by the effect of the shock. It had to be taken down immediately. There were three or four other houses which it was deemed prudent to pull down also, as they showed a greater amount of damage after the breaking up of the frost. We called on Mr. Clegg, iron ore merchant, who kindly volunteered to go with us to see the effects produced by the earthquake on the railway near Conkle, and on the sands on both sides of it. On our road we met William Parker Simpson, landlord of Conkle Inn and John Thompson, of Roose Beck, fisherman, the two men who witnessed the extraordinary commotion on the sands,- the throwing up of sand, water, and stones. They are both respectable and creditable men, whose word may be depended upon. We were glad to meet with them,and they both cheerfully accompanied Mr. Clegg and ourselves to the sands on the west side of the railway, where there had been a crack in the earth thirty yards in length. It was then partly obliterated by carting, being in the road along the bottom of the railway embankment, but between the railway and West-field Point there still remained several hollows or basins, from which at the time of the convulsions, and for some hours after, copious springs of water issued. We were anxious to hear all the particulars the men could give, as they were the only persons on the sands at the time of the occurrence." "W. P. Simpson made the following statement:- "John Thompson and I were coming from Fowla Island, one mile from Rampside, and when we had got nearly half way we saw at a distance from us, a great mass of sand, water, and stone, thrown up into the air higher than a man's" goto source Page 256:- "head. It was nearly in a straight line between us and Rampside, and when we got to the place there were two or three holes in the sand, large enough to bury a horse and cart, and in several places near them the sand was so soft and puddly that they would have mired any one if he had gone onto them. We thought this very strange, but we supposed it was owing to the frost, for we did not feel the least shock, or know anything of an earthquake until we got to Rampside, and saw that everybody was in terror, and the houses sadly shattered. We then went to Conkle, and found a crack in the ground at the foot of the railway embankment, about thirty yards in length, and water was boiling up in a great many places, just like the great spring at Bien Well. ("Bien Well," a copious spring of very pure water, on the shire of Morecambe Bay, five miles north of Rampside, yielding about 500 gallons per minute.) There were more than 300 of them, and they extended above half a mile on the sands towards Barrow, and at one place there were a great many in a straight line, and only two or three yards from each other."" "In returning to Barrow, we followed the line pointed out by Parker Simpson, which is about north-west and south-east, and we saw the remains of several of the springs, but no water was flowing from them, as it was nine days after the occurrence of the earthquake." "From the foregoing account, and also from our own observations, it appears that the earthquake travelled from south-east to north-west, and the line of its greatest intensity was near the north shore of Barrow Channel, from Conkle to Westfield Point, and from a careful survey, we believe its effects did not extend over an area of more than seven square miles. The violence, the very limited area over which it extended, and other circumstances peculiar to this occurrence, place it in opposition to all the theories propounded as the producing cause of" goto source Page 257:- "earthquake phenomena, especially that of Professor Rogers, of the United States of America, which is the most recent, and as it has been favourably received by geologists in general, it will be interesting to compare the Professor's theory with the effects produced by the earthquake at Rampside and Barrow, by which it will be seen that the cause assigned by him for producing earthquake agency, could not possibly have effected a violent disturbance of the surface of the earth over an area so limited." "The theory of Professor Rogers is as follows:- He considers the producing cause of earthquakes as an actual pulsation in the fluid matter beneath the crust, propagated in the manner of great waves of translation, from enormous ruptures, caused by the tension of elastic matter, and floating forwards on its surface under the superimposed rocky crust of the earth. He also assigns "the thickness of the solid crust of the earth, to be twenty miles;" then, from mathematical reasoning, it is evident that no combination of forces, exerted at a depth of twenty miles, could cause a violent disturbance of the surface of the earth, over an area of about seven square miles, without affecting the district for many miles in every direction. Therefore, we may conclude the centre of disturbance which produced this earthquake, was not twenty miles below the surface of the earth, and it is highly probable it was not a tenth part of that depth." "In reviewing all the circumstances connected with this strange occurrence, there are two deserving special notice. First, we have positive proof that the earthquake wave, travelled from south-east to north-west, i.e., from Rampside to Barrow, for the two men - William Parker Simpson and John Thompson - were on the sands at the time of its occurrence, in a south-east direction from Rampside, and only about two hundred yards from the eruption, yet they did not feel the least shock, or know anything" goto source Page 258:- "of an earthquake until they were informed by the people of Rampside. This, we think, is a proof that the earth was not affected to a distance of 200 yards, in a south-east direction from the site of the principal eruption, and, if such were the fact, it almost demonstrates that the disturbing power was at no great depth below the surface of the earth." "The other circumstance is the fact of the great number of copious springs of water - upwards of 300 - which burst up simultaneously on the sands between Conkle and Westfield Point. We are not aware that similar outbursts of water,- in the form of springs - have accompanied earthquake phenomena in any part of the world. Several learned men, among whom are, Kircher, Des Certes, Dr. Priestley, Dr. Stukeley, Beccaria, Mr. Mallet, and Professor Rogers, have arrogantly propounded theories of their own, to account for earthquake phenomena, all differing essentially from each other, except those of Dr. Stukeley and Beccaria; therefore they cannot be all right, and it is highly probable they are all wrong. Why should we not, rather than speculate upon matters beyond our reach, which, do not admit of proof, acknowledge with all humility, our entire ignorance on this mysterious agency, believing it to be a chapter in natural philosophy, the true interpretation of which, has not yet been revealed to man." "The earthquake was felt in Barrow with very different degrees of intensity, in various parts of the town. That portion of it, farthest from the harbour, on comparatively high ground, was only slightly affected; but the Strand, and other streets in the lower part of the town, were visited with considerable violence. Of this, we had personal experience, having been nearly thrown from our chair whilst writing, and had we been standing at the time it is likely we should have been thrown down. The shock, or rather movement of the earth, did not cease instantly," goto source Page 259:- "but seemed to continue for four or five seconds, for we had time to turn towards the window, and by noticing other buildings in the neighbourhood became convinced that there undoubtedly was a movement amongst them. Directly it was over, there occurred a scene of a rather ludicrous description, and although an earthquake is no laughing matter, we could scarcely refrain from smiling at what came under our observation. There is, in our neighbourhood, a sailmaker's large workroom, in the roof or top storey of a high block of buildings, and the earthquake had only subsided a few seconds, when we saw all the sailmakers rush out of the bottom door like a swarm of bees, almost tumbling over each other to escape from the premises. They all ran across the street, and stared up at the top of the building, expecting to see the whole block come down, for the timbers in the roof of the sailroom had been in violent commotion, a sufficient cause for alarm in anyone. However, the sailmakers would not believe that the disturbance in the roof of their workshop was caused by an earthquake, and, as they could not see sufficiently from the street, they crossed over to a piece of vacant building ground, to enable them to have a better sight of the roof; waiting a considerable time before they again ventured to ascend to their place of business."

:-	Rampside suffered heavy damage, yet Dalton-in-Furness hardly felt the shock. Loquefaction was observed on the shore at Rampside, which suggests a shallow focus.
	Musson 1994

date:-	1865
period:-	1860s
period:-	19th century, late
event:-	earthquake

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