ERUPTING volcanoes are nothing new to the people of North Wales.
With the disruption caused by this month’s Eyjafjallajoekull volcano ash cloud, the Free Press can reveal that the famed Moel Famua volcanic eruption did not actually take place.
Following heavy snowfall in February 1773, something very strange happened in the Clwydian range.
At around 11pm that night there were reports that the 1,818ft mountain had been heard to utter deep groans, while nearby hills were said to have trembled from their roots.
The noise was reported like the sound of distant thunder, while an hour later there were reports of a loud clap and a jet spurting out from the vertex of the hill.
In addition, the “eruption” reports mention that in the same instant vast bodies of combustible matter - liquid fire - rolled among the heaps of ruins.
In similar reports, there were mentions of volcanic eruptions near Mold on January 31 and February 1, 1773, which reportedly caused vast quantities of burning matter to be thrown up, and the summit of the mountain falling into a vast opening!
But geologists from the British Geological Survey say that Moel Famau was not an active volcano in the 18th century, so there is 'absolutely no chance of it erupting now'.
"The last volcanic activity in Britain was, in fact, directly related to the magmatism we see in Iceland today, around 55 million years ago," said geologist Dr Kathryn Goodenough, who works on ancient volcanism through geological time.
"Around 60 million years ago, Britain and North America were joined together.
"At that time, a crack began to open between the two continents, with the eruption of many volcanoes."
The remains of those ancient volcanoes can be seen today along the western coasts of the British Isles.
The British volcanoes ceased to erupt 55 million years ago, but volcanism continued further westwards, as the North Atlantic Ocean began to open.
The British Isles also contain evidence of other, even older volcanic activity.
The hills of Snowdonia were formed by volcanic activity almost 500 million years ago.
"However, Moel Famau is not even an ancient volcano, it is actually made up of what we call sedimentary rocks – layers of mud and sand that formed on the floor of an ancient ocean hundreds of millions of years ago, then were slowly compressed to form solid rocks," said Dr Goodenough.
"I don’t know what the reports at Moel Famau at 1773 could have signified.
"It is possible there was an earthquake there at that time, though I’m not aware of any records of such an event.
"But, whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t a volcanic eruption."