The UK just got hit with a large earthquake

The largest earthquake of the last two months in the UK just took place.

The 3.3 magnitude quake took place in Staffordshire where residents reported "rumbling" and rattling windows and doors.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) said the tremor's epicentre was 7.3km (4.5 miles) below Tean.

It also said people had reported "an initial rumbling, then a bang" with what "felt more like a shunt, like something had hit something".

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People as far as 20km (12.5 miles) from the epicentre took to social media to describe the effects.

Kelvin Evans, in Upper Tean, told the BBC he heard a "very loud, weird, spooky noise, that seemed to vibrate the front of the house."

Another Tean resident, Jenni Brown, said she thought a vehicle had veered off the road and bumped the side of her house.

Carol Heather, from Hilderstone, said she felt an impact and noise so loud she thought it was a bomb.

"My hair stood on end, I was jolted out of my seat. I was just watching a film and it was really frightening, terrifying. It was such a bang."

Tom, 38, in Cheadle 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."

Several people in Derbyshire also reported feeling the quake

Dr Ian Stimpson, a senior lecturer in geophysics at Keele University, said the area had not historically been hit by earth tremors.

"With this location and depth it is likely to be a natural earthquake rather than anything to do with former mines," he added.

The BGS records and locates between 200 and 300 earthquakes in the UK each year with the majority only detected by sensitive instruments.

They happen when crustal stresses within the tectonic plates are relieved by movement occurring on pre-existing fault planes.

Sounds pretty scary.

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