A minor earthquake is believed to have hit Staffordshire on Wednesday evening as residents’ homes were left shaking with an ‘almighty noise’.

The 3.3 magnitude tremor was felt in Stoke-on-Trent and surrounding areas at around 8.20pm last night.

It is the largest of 21 earthquakes to hit the UK in the last two months, comfortably beating two 1.8 magnitude tremors felt on the Isle of Mull in May.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) confirmed the tremor, which had an epicentre 7.3km (4.5 miles) below the village of Tean.

Mark Begg, 30, told reporters he was at home in Uttoxeter when he felt ‘a very large shake’.

He said he checked ‘around the house to see if I could see anything’ and ‘after noticing there were no signs of damage I concluded it was most likely a mini earthquake’.

Tom, 38, in Cheadle, Staffordshire, said: ‘I was sitting watching an episode of Only Connect with my wife on YouTube and as we opened another bottle of wine the whole house shook.

‘I thought either one of the children had fallen out of bed or something else had happened.’

The BGS says it detects and locates between 200 and 300 earthquakes in the UK each year.

Between 20 to 30 earthquakes annually are felt by people with the others only recorded by sensitive instruments.

One woman, in Blythe Bridge, told StokeonTrentLive: ‘I was relaxing in the bath when there was an almighty noise and the house seemed to shake – I honestly thought a lorry had hit the house.

‘My kids came running as did the dog and I jumped out the bath. Thankfully there doesn’t seem to be any damage.’

Another resident, in Biddulph, said: ‘I was working at my desk and it started shaking. I thought it was the neighbours next door at first.

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