The UK appears to be a hotbed of earthquakes, with three hitting in just 48 hours and coming days after four hit in one week – making it seven quakes since the start of 2025
The UK has been hit by three earthquakes in just 48 hours – with one near a major motorway. Since the start of 2025, several earthquakes have been detected across the country, with four being felt just last week.
However, according to the British Geological Society, three were detected in just 48 hours earlier this week. The largest of the trio measured 1.4 on the Richter scale, in Skelton, Cumbria – just a few hundred metres away from a stretch of the M6 motorway. It happened at 6.51pm on Wednesday and was recorded at a depth of around 3km.
Earlier that day, at around 2.48am, another one measuring 1.3 on the scale was recorded at 3km down in the Irish Sea, but was felt in West Blackpool.
And a third, which hit at 10.46pm last night, was found to be 7km down and measure 0.9 in Penrith. It took place just a few metres away from the famous Filter House holiday home – one of the UK’s most remote.
The new cluster comes days after four were recorded in a week. A 2.9 magnitude quake was found at a depth of just over eight miles and took place at around 8:45pm on Sunday, January 5.
The shaking was felt by people in “Oban, Strontian, Mull and in surrounding villages in the region” and could be felt around 31 miles from the epicentre in Kinloch.
B&B owner Mary MacPhail told the BBC she was enjoying Sunday dinner when she heard a “rumbling” sound.
She said: “I initially thought it was maybe a plane going over. We do get low flying planes sometimes… The house didn’t shake, it was just a noise – a very loud rumbling.”
Others included a 1.5 magnitude quake at a depth of just 2.4 miles in Greatgate, Staffordshire on January 4.
On January 2, there was a tiny 0.4 magnitude quake at a depth of 3.7 miles in Bute, Scotland and also a 0.7 magnitude tremor at a depth of just under five miles in Melbourne, Derbyshire on New Year’s Day.
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