HOMES shook and the ground rumbled as an earthquake hit parts of Leigh.

A British Geological Survey report shows that the Leigh tremor was felt just after 10.11pm last Tuesday night and registered 1.6 on the Richter Scale.

Journal receptionist Emma Pugh was one person who experienced the tremor.

"I was lying in bed watching television when the bed moved. I thought the bed had actually broken," said Emma, of Fairhurst Street.

Wigan Council received three calls from concerned locals in Kendal Grove, Peel Street and Gordon Street who reported a loud blast lasting a few seconds.

Journal reader Karen Freeman, from Wigan Road, said she had felt the ground shake and heard a noise "like a car had run into the front of the house".

Karen said people in Cotton Street had felt the tremor and she had been told the movement had caused an elderly woman to fall.

And Stephen Balon of Windermere Road was upstairs at his computer when he heard a deep rumbling sound and noticed his computer monitor was vibrating.

A Council spokesman said geology experts said the incident was "quite typical of a low level tremor associated with mining areas."

"It was really scary, pens started moving about," said Stephen who feared structural damage to his home but said he hadn't found any cracks in the brickwork.