On Tuesday, 18 March 2014, multiple reports began to spread about an earthquake in County Wexford, with social media users on Facebook and Twitter sharing their experiences of the tremor.
Initially, people attributed the low rumbling noise to a passing truck or heavy machinery. Others thought a thunderstorm was raging in the distance. However, as more reports emerged, it became clear that the ground had shaken for a brief moment.
Although Irish seismograph readings were initially inconclusive, it later emerged that the Irish National Seismic Network and the British Geological Survey determined the tremor had a magnitude of 2.2 ML. A station in Wales also picked up a faint reading around the time reports began in Wexford.
In Nicky Rossiter’s The Little Book of Wexford (The History Press, 2013), a similar event is mentioned. On Thursday, 18 August 1892, two tremors were felt in Wexford and Castlebridge. The epicentre was in Pembroke, Wales, but the effects were clearly felt across the Irish Sea. Reports from the time mention a “loud bang” and a “vibration.” The two tremors, which occurred five minutes apart, caused houses to “shake.” In some cases, dishes were damaged. A Wexford-based solicitor, Charles Taylor, noted that his newspaper had shaken and that he had heard a noise “like a large cart passing.”
On that late summer night in 1892, people living across the St George’s Channel in Wales experienced such an earthquake that many fled from their homes in terror.
Seismic activity in the region is well documented. According to the British Geological Survey, the area around Wales has recorded many tremors over the decades. In a report published in 1986, the BGS stated that 70 earthquakes measuring more than 3.5 on the Richter scale occurred between 1727 and 1984.
The parallels between 2014 and 1892 are notable. In both cases, the people of Wexford mistook the tremors for passing traffic, and in both cases, the tremors were corroborated by events in Wales. Rossiter also notes how the 1892 tremor became the main topic of local conversation, with many people recalling an even earlier incident that occurred in 1862.