Earthquake brings back memories of the times Shropshire shook in the 80s and 90s
An earthquake that shook parts of Shropshire this week had people racing to social media to find out what had happened.
But it also brought back memories of times over the past 40 years when the country was again rocked by quakes of even greater magnitude.
It was in April 1990, that Shropshire experienced one of the biggest earthquakes to hit Britain for 100 years.
It's epicentre was around Clun and Bishop's Castle officially on the Pontesford Linley fault line. It measured 5.2 on the Richter Scale, compared to the 3.2 quake of Monday.
The difference was huge, with structural damage to many homes, trees uprooted and even a gas leak in Shrewsbury town centre.
And, without the instant news online there was a feeling of real fear as people left their homes and places of work amid fears that buildings could topple.
Two streets in Shrewsbury were closed, one because of a gas leak and the other because of falling tiles and slates.
A chimney stack at Shrewsbury's historic railway station, built in 1848, also lost one of its chimneys and trains were delayed as the station was closed.
Dozens of office workers and workers from the station spilled out onto the station car park in Castle Foregate.
With so many old buildings, police cordoned off much of Shrewsbury town centre amid fears that vibration from vehicles could bring down masonry from already weakened buildings.
They even called in town crier Martin Wood, who had been in the Music Hall, now Shrewsbury Museum, at the time. He used his massive voice to warn of dangers and give advice on public transport.
The Darwin Centre, only recently opened, was evacuated and in nearby Butcher Row a chimney and roof tiles crashed into the street.
Engineers from the then West Midlands Gas toured the town checking for leaks and people in Shrewsbury and beyond suffered brief power cuts.
In Castlefield a chimney collapsed on a house and masonry smashed car windows.
There were not one but two quakes in Shropshire in 1984 one in July, one three months before.
The centre of the 1984 quake was off the Welsh seaside resort of Porthmadog and as far as Shropshire was concerned, while buildings were rocked, there were few reports of structural damage.
