Astrognome Scrapbook Aldsworth Meteorite

Aldsworth Meteorite

Meteorite Stones fell August 4th 1835 at 4.30pm  at  ALDSWORTH, Cirencester, Gloucestershire.

One stone of 1.5 lbs and a shower of smaller stones fell 0.5 miles from Aldsworth, after detonations and appearance of a fireball at Cirencester.

Here is the report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 1857, volume 27,page 140

Details of a Meteorite mentioned in a former Report, which fell at Cirencester in 1835. Extract of a letter to Prof. Powell from Thos. C Brown, Esq.

"Copy of a notice of the Meteorite entered in the Book of Donations of the Permanemt Library, Cirencester, by the late Mr. Arnold Merrick, Curator to the Museum.--'A specimen of a meteorite which fell about half a mile from Aldsworth in a field occupied by Mr. Waine, within twenty yards of his workmen, who were sitting against a wall at the time, on the 4th of August 1835, a sunny afternoon without a cloud.

 A meteor was seen at Cirencester proceeding eastward, and a remarkable noise was heard at half-past 4 in the afternoon. The noise was heard in most parts adjacent.

"'The workman saw no unusual light, but heard the aerolite rush through the air, and felt it shake the ground by striking it with great violence. It fell on a swarth of oats, and drove the straw before it down into the earth for six inches, till opposed by rock. When the men got it up, it was not hot, but the part of the surface which appeared not to have been broken was quite black and soiled the fingers. It weighs about 9270 grains. It contains a great deal of iron, but is not magnetic. Its specific gravity is 3.4.

"'Mr. Waine states that a shower of small pieces fell about half a mile south of the spot where this fell. Children thought it was a shower of black beetles, and held out their hands to catch them as they fell.'

My niece, Miss Anna Sophia Brown, now Mrs Pooley, about 4 p.m. on the same day, being in her father's garden at Cirencester, perceived a meteor passing from W. to E., apparently about twice the height of Cirencester tower, which is upwards of 100 feet high, looking like a copper ball larger than an orange [?], and having a tail or stream of light behind it. In its passage it made a rumbling noise heard by many persons, reminding her of thunder, and the people of the town marvelled that it should thunder in a serene day with a cloudless sky. On the same day at Aldsworth, 13 miles E. of Cirencester, the meteoric stone fell, the particulars of which are before given.