Colchester Earthquake plaque unveiled

Mayor Peter Chillingworth unveiled the marker at the precise minute the Colchester Earthquake hit in 1884 - some 135 years ago.

It has been fixed to the Lion Walk United Reformed Church and organised by Colchester’s high steward Sir Bob Russell.

The church was chosen because it was the most visible building damaged in the quake as the top of the spire crashed to the ground.

Approximately 1,200 buildings were damaged with the epicentre found to be in Wivenhoe.

Sir Bob said: “I am grateful to Lion Walk Church for agreeing to allow the plaque to be fixed to the tower, and my further thanks are given to the owners of Lion Walk Shopping Centre who have generously paid for the plaque and will carry out the installation.”

Records by the British Geological Survey show it was the sixth earthquake to have involved Colchester, the first being in 1048.

It was Britain’s most destructive, although fortunately there were no fatalities.

Sir Bob said: “There is an urban myth that several people were killed, including a five-year-old girl whose demise was described in some detail in a book of fiction published in 1976.

“The author used real photographs of buildings damaged in the earthquake but wrote false accounts as to what had happened.

“Fake news, to use current jargon.”

“I feel that such an important event in Colchester’s evolving history should be recognised, and there is no better place for the earthquake plaque to be displayed than on a building which was significantly damaged.

“The spire of Lion Walk Church was restored to its previous glory as a landmark in the centre of Colchester.”

This is the fourth green plaque that Sir Bob has organised.

The others are in Butt Road to mark the first air raid on Colchester in the First World War, at the corner of Chapel Street and Southway in memory of those killed in a Second World War bombing and at the Creffield Medical

Centre in honour of Boy Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell.