TREMORS shivered through Oxfordshire as the most powerful UK earthquake in a decade rippled through the country. 

Scores of people in Oxfordshire reported feeling their surroundings shake on Saturday afternoon - including in Oxford, Didcot, Witney, Abingdon, Bampton and Kidlington. 

Police confirmed there was a 'minor earthquake' in South Wales, measuring 4.4 magnitude.

It is the most powerful to strike the UK since February 2008, when a 5.2 magnitude quake hit Lincolnshire. 

Did you feel the earthquake? Email our reporter or tweet @TheOxfordMail

Rumblings from the quake were heard in the Oxford Mail's offices off Botley Road, at about 2.30pm.

Abingdon resident Danny Williams told the Oxford Mail: "I was in bed reading on when my bed shook violently for about three seconds.

"It was a very strange and surreal experience."

Mary McIntyre, who lives in Tackley, also felt the her home tremble.

She said: "I was lying down on the bed when the bed shook, window rattled and all the stuff on my dressing table rattled for a few seconds afterwards."

Commenting on Facebook, Sharon Laker in Headington said: "Our whole block of flats shook - quite scary to say the least."

Others in Oxford reported feeling furniture shake and hearing a 'huge bang'.

Oxford Brookes University student Joanna Griffiths said she felt the earthquake in her home in Oxford, so much so that it woke her up. 

She added: "My student accommodation felt like it was shaking for a good few seconds."

In past years the county has been shaken by sonic booms from RAF Typhoon aircraft, but this was not the cause today. 

Tweeting about the earthquake, South Wales Police said there is no need to contact emergency services unless someone has been injured.

Thousands of people have reported feeling the tremors.

According to the British Geological Survey (BGS), the earthquake struck Cwmllynfell in South Wales at 2.31pm. 

It measured a magnitude of 4.4 at a depth of 7km.

Oxford Mail:

Above: United States Geological Survey's map of where the tremors have been reported

BGS has published a seismogram showing readings shooting off the chart when the earthquake hit (see main article image). 

Dozens more Oxfordshire residents have shared their experience of the quake on social media. 

Bill Dring, who lives in Bayworth near Boars Hill, said he felt the earthquake with his partner Vikki.

He said: "We were laying on the bed in our lift conversion listening to the radio when we felt the bed shudder.

"It was just once but a really strange feeling.

"I thought at first the house had shifted and went outside looking for cracks but there was nothing.

"I thought of earthquakes and even looked it up on the web but there was nothing new about Oxford. Then the reports started to appear.

"I never in a million years thought I would feel an earthquake in Bayworth."

Mike Drake in Sibford Gower near Banbury said he heard a 'really big bang' then his house 'shook for a couple of seconds'.

David Rayner said he was walking with his dog on Oxford's Port Meadow at about 2.30pm, when he heard what sounded like 'distant gunshots'.