DID you feel the earth move in Herefordshire last month?

If you did, you might not be alone, with experts revealing that an earthquake hit a Herefordshire market town.

According to the British Geological Survey, a seismic event shook Bromyard at 7.28 pm on May 30.

The quake registered at 1.2 on the Richter Scale, officially designating it as a ‘micro’ earthquake, meaning that whilst it was picked up by seismographs it likely would not have been felt by many locals.

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The event occurred at a depth of about eight kilometres beneath our feet and was produced by background, tectonic activity, with no strong evidence of it being ‘induced seismicity’, a quake caused by humans.

According to the Woolhope Club, minor earthquakes occasionally occur in Herefordshire, usually as a result of movements along faults some kilometres down in the basement, well beneath the rocks which are seen outcropping at the surface.

Two notable earthquakes have taken place in the county in historical times, they said. The largest was a magnitude 5.3 event on December 17, 1896, which would have been heavily felt and caused damage of varying severity to poorly constructed buildings.