The Barwell Meteorite.

The Barwell Meteorite.

 

A lump of the actual meteorite from the Natural History Museum

(courtesy of Sir Patrick Moore).

On Christmas Eve in 1965, a small star fell from the heavens and landed in Barwell Leicestershire. In fact, it was the largest meteorite that is known to have hit Britain and according to the National Space Centre, the rock is 4.55 billion years old.

At 4.20pm, just as the light was fading, a fireball was spotted in the sky followed by several sonic booms as a meteorite broke up over Warwickshire. Several large pieces continued northwards and one exploded over Barwell. Another piece may have burnt up completely or possibly landed unobserved north of Loughborough.

In Barwell, a lot of small pieces were found in the gardens and fields surrounding the village. A few did minor damage to buildings. The largest piece was discovered in the local recreation ground  and weighed 7.7kgs. Fortunately, there were no injuries. 

  

Left: from the Coventry Evening Telegraph, 8th March 1966.

Right: from the Hinckley Times, 31st December 1965. 

Click on the cutting to enlarge it. 

 

Mr Percy England was annoyed as a lump of meteorite had dented the bonnet of his new Vauxhall Viva. He tried claim for the damage on his insurance, but the company wouldn’t pay out as it was ”an Act of God”. He then asked the church for a payment to cover his costs but did not get any cash from them either.

In February 1966, the Natural History Museum, in London, began to piece together all of the collected fragments. Of those found, only two pieces actually fitted together, and they decided that much of the meteorite had yet to be discovered. The museum offered 10 shillings an ounce (equivalent to about £6.00 per oz/29g today) for fragments of the meteorite. The cash offer sparked a local meteorite hunter rush.  The Police had to arrange for extra car parking in Barwell, for the influx of searchers.

Harold Platt was lucky enough to uncover one of the largest pieces of the meteorite which was given pride of place on top of his piano for over a week. "We got £39.50 for the piece of the meteorite," recalls Harold's wife. "We sold it to Leicester museum and went on holiday with the money."

 From the Coventry Evening Telegraph, 4th March 1966

 In total between 44 and 50 kilograms of meteorite were discovered.

In 2009, a piece of the Barwell meteorite weighing just under one kilogram sold at auction for just over £8,000.

Although there have been several meteorite hits in Britain since 1965, the Barwell meteorite remains the biggest and for the safety of the earth - let's hope it stays that way.

What was the Civil Defence Corps link to this event?

The Leicestershire Constabulary on the scene were worried that the objects that fell  could be radioactive and so they called the County Civil Defence Officer. He arranged for members of a Civil Defence Corps Reconnaissance team to visit the village with their Radiac meter and check things out. Fortunately, there was no radiation detected and the population of Barwell did not end up appearing in the next episode of Quatermass.

 

SOURCES:

An article in “Leicestershire Press”– a news site by De Montfort University journalism students.

The newspaper cuttings above 

The Siren - newsletter of Leicestershire CDC, Spring 1966.