<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,61-1643510,00.html>
On This Day - June 7, 1923
What a labourer thought was gunfire was a rare meteorite.
THE Natural History Museum at South Kensington has received a very rare
and interesting gift in the shape of a meteorite, which fell just before
1pm on March 9 between Saffron Walden and Ashdon, in Essex.
The man who saw the meteorite fall was a labourer, who states that he
heard a “sissing” noise and supposed that an aeroplane was overhead.
Looking up a second or two after he saw what he thought was a projectile
fall about ten to fifteen yards from him, causing the earth to spout up
like water.
He was much alarmed, because he considered that something had been
discharged from a gun. Three days later, in company with another man, he
took the meteorite up from where it had fallen. He says that there was a
small hole where it had entered the ground, and this hole increased in
width as he dug deeper. The stone was found at a depth of two feet.
The specimen weighs about 3lb, and is what is known as a white chondrite
meteoric stone. It is about 5in long by 4in wide and has a thickness of
about 3in in its thickest part.
The surface of the stone shows with remarkable distinctness, the lines
of flow of fused materials radiated from the centre of the surface and
proves that it was partially fused owing to the high velocity at which
it entered the earth’s atmosphere.
The rarity of the occurrence of a meteor seen to be falling is evident
by the fact that only about fifteen falls have been recorded in the
British Islands.
EJ
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