AN earthquake centred on North Yorkshire was felt in homes across the region last night.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) last night confirmed that the epicentre of the tremor was near Ripon, and measured 3.6 on the Richter Scale – making it the most powerful quake to have struck the area since a quake measuring 4.8 in 1780.

But the quake, which struck at 9.02pm, was felt across the region.

Dr Aoife O’Mongain, from the BGS, said the epicentre of the quake was 10km west of Ripon, at a depth of 6km.

She said: “At that strength, it is not likely that it would have caused any damage.

“People living in the vicinity may have felt their windows rattling as if a lorry was going past.”

Middleham resident Andy Brown, 44, said: “It was absolutely weird, everything just started vibrating and shaking in the house.

“There was a definite rumble and I just said to my wife, ‘What was that?’ “I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

Carol Leaman, from Leyburn, said: “My bungalow actually shook.

“It was like an explosion to start with, and then the dog jumped up and rushed to the window, barking. It really was quite dramatic.”

The 64-year-old added: “The first thing I thought was I wondered if a plane had crashed, then I wondered about a gas explosion because there had been a smell of gas along the road in the past few days. I looked for signs of any fire and there wasn’t any, so we began to think that maybe it was an earthquake.”

A resident in Hurworth, near Darlington, said: “We were just sitting listening to the radio and suddenly there was a ‘whoosh’ and everything in the china cabinet in the dining room rattled.

“It only lasted about five or six seconds, but it was certainly noticeable”

Nurse Jayne Hawthorne, 44, said her flat, in the centre of York, shook for a few seconds.

She said: “There was a noise and then we could hear the walls crack and then the flat shook. The whole place rattled.”

The tremor is the second to hit the north of England in recent weeks.

Last month, the BGS confirmed that an earthquake measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale took place shortly before 11pm, on December 21, in Coniston, in the Lake District.

Ruth Campbell, from Ripon, said: “The whole house shuddered and there was a rumbling noise – we turned down the television to listen to it. It felt as if an underground train was running directly under the house. I wondered if our boiler had blown up or something and we were feeling the aftereffects of the explosion.

“Our neighbour said they had thought a vehicle had crashed into the side of their house.”

Anyone who experienced the quake is asked to report it to the BGS on earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk