An earthquake that rattled doors and windows across many parts of the district was the largest quake in the general area for more than 40 years, experts have revealed.

The first ‘felt’ earthquake of 2011 struck the region on Monday night, with residents in the Skipton, Keighley, Calverley and Rawdon among those who felt the tremor.

The quake, measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale, struck near Ripon at 9.02pm but was felt more than 50 miles away.

Mother-of two, Phoebe Ratcliffe, 32, of Tannery Lane, Embsay, near Skipton, said: “We were watching television and the whole room shook. I thought a car had hit the house.

“It actually shook the glass door between the dining room and lounge which you’d have difficulty shaking in the frame on your own.” Dr Roger Clark of Leeds University’s school of earth and environment, who lives in Yeadon, said: “I’m embarrassed to say my daughter felt it but I didn’t realise it was an earthquake. I was putting the washing away and I thought I’d disturbed a shelf.”

He said most tremors in the UK, measuring 1.5 to two, could not be felt and there had been at least a dozen in the last 30 days, but this was the first in 2011 that could be felt.

The whole of the UK has a long geological history and the quakes are related to the movement of the mid- Atlantic plate, he said.

The British Geological Survey said it was the largest quake in the general area since one in the Pennines in June, 1970.

BGS head of seismology Brian Baptie said: “We get an earthquake of this size about once a year in the UK.

“We don’t expect it to have caused any damage but it could have been felt up to about 100km away.”

His colleague Dr Aoife O’Mongain, said: “It would have only lasted for a couple of seconds. And at that strength it is not likely that it would have caused any damage.

“People living in the vicinity may have felt their windows rattling as if a lorry was going passed.”

Rawdon firefighters got a call from a worried member of the public asking if crews had also felt the tremors but a spokesman there said: “No. Not a thing!”

And police also got a call from a member of the public in Yeadon reporting a quake.

Facebook however was rife with chat about how slight shakes had been felt in that area just after 9pm.

The rumble followed a quake of 3.5 which struck in Coniston in the Lake District on December 21.

Historically, the largest earthquakes to have occurred nearby were in Wensleydale on December 9, 1780, and Skipton on November 14, 1900.