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Hometo the ENDS of the EARTH
THE METEORITE THAT VANISHED

HOMEPAGE
INTRODUCTION
TIMELINE
BIOGRAPHIES
THE LACROIX REPORT
METEORITE FACTS
METEORITIC EVENTS
BRITISH HAPPENINGS
IMPACT SITES
METEORITES ON DISPLAY
RESOURCES		 BRITISH HAPPENINGS
There have been 19 recorded meteoritic 'falls' in the UK and one 'find' since 1623. The falls are listed below:

1623 Stretchleigh, Devon (12 kg/26.5 lb)

1628 Hatford, Berkshire (33 kg/72.8 lb)

1795 Wold Cottage, Yorkshire (25.4 kg/56 lb)

1804 High Possil, Strathclyde (4.5 kg/9.9 lb)

1830 Launton, Oxfordshire (0.9 kg/2 lb)

1830 Perth, Tayside (11 kg/24.3 lb)

1835 Aldsworth, Gloucestershire (0.5 kg+/1.1 lb+)

1844 Killeter, Tyrone (small shower)

1876 Rowton, Shropshire (3.2 kg/7 lb)

1881 Middlesbrough (1.4 kg/3.1 lb)

1902 Crumlin, Antrim (4.1 kg/9 lb)

1914 Appley Bridge, Lancashire (33 kg/72.8 lb)

1917 Strathmore, Tayside (13 kg/28.7 lb)

1923 Ashdon, Essex (0.9 kg/2 lb)

1931 Pontlyfni, Gwynedd (120 g/4.2 oz)

1949 Beddgelert, Gwynedd (723 g/26 oz)

1965 Barwell, Leicestershire (46 kg/101.4 lb)

1969 Bovedy, Northern Ireland (fell in sea)

1991 Glatton, Cambridgeshire (767 g/27 oz)

  • The largest fragment known to have fallen in Britain landed in Barwell, Leicestershire on Christmas Eve 1965. Weighing 7.88 kg (17.4 lb), it was one chunk from a stone meteoroid weighing 46 kg (101.4 lb) that broke up during its descent. When the object flew over Coventry, police received reports about a flying saucer.

    In Barwell, villager Ernest Crow witnessed a loud bang and a flash in the sky as a series of fragments rained down. Joseph Grewcock's window was smashed and a piece of meteorite was later found in a vase. A 1 kg (2.2 lb) lump plummeted through the roof of a knitwear factory. The meteorite has a ridged black fusion crust and resembles coarse sandpaper inside.

  • The only iron to have fallen in Britain landed in Rowton, Shropshire in 1876. It was picked up by a local worker who witnessed the event.

  • Britain's only 'find' (that is, not witnessed as it fell) was uncovered in 1974 in an Iron Age pit at Danebury Hill, Hampshire. Weighing just 30 g (1 oz), it is thought that the object may have been revered by ancient tribes (as was the case with some meteorites discovered in burial mounds in the US), but no one knows for certain.

  • The most recent British fall was in May 1991 in Glatton, Cambridgeshire. Retired civil servant Arthur Pettifor was gardening when he heard a loud whining sound, followed by a stone crashing into a hedge 20 m (66 ft) away. The 767 g (27 oz) meteorite was warm when he picked it up.

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