Editing Wold Cottage meteorite

{{Short description|Meteorite that fell in Wold Newton in 1795}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox meteorite
|Name= Wold Cottage
|Image= Wold Cottage Meteorite.JPG
|Image_caption= On display in the [[Natural History Museum, London]]
|Type= [[Chondrite]]
|Class= [[Ordinary chondrite]]
|Group= L6
|Structural_classification=
|Composition=
|Shock=
|Weathering=
|Country= United Kingdom
|Region= [[Yorkshire]], England
|Lat_Long= {{coord|54|8|02.4|N|0|24|45.3|W|display=inline,title}}<ref name="database">{{metbull|24325|Wold Cottage}}</ref>
|Observed_fall= Yes
|Fall_date= 13 December 1795, 3&nbsp;p.m.
|Found_date=
|TKW= {{convert|56|lb|abbr=on}}
|Image2=
|Image2_caption=
}}
The '''Wold Cottage meteorite''' (also called the '''Wold Newton meteorite''') fell near Wold Cottage farm in 1795, a few miles away from the village of [[Wold Newton, East Riding of Yorkshire|Wold Newton]] in [[Yorkshire]], England.

==The meteorite==
The stone fell at around 3 o'clock, on 13 December 1795, landing within a few yards of ploughman John Shipley.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nhm.ac.uk/galleries/galleries-home/treasures/specimens/meteorite/|title=Natural History Museum|website=www.nhm.ac.uk|access-date=25 July 2017}}</ref> It created a crater approximately {{convert|1|yd}} across, and embedded itself in the underlying chalk rock to a depth of  {{convert|7|in}}, passing through {{convert|12|in}} of topsoil. The fall was observed by several people, who described a dark body passing through the air.{{sfn|Sowerby|1806|pp=5–6}} As discovered at its landing point, the stone was warm and smoking; several people reported sounds of explosions as it fell.{{sfn|Sowerby|1806|pp=18–19}} The owner of the land was [[Major (British Army)|Major]] [[Edward Topham]], a well-known public figure, an ex-soldier, playwright and newspaper proprietor; he publicised the find and exhibited the meteorite publicly at [[Piccadilly]] in London.<ref name="ub"/>{{sfn|Pillinger|Pillinger|1996}}

The stone initially weighed {{convert|56|lb}}.{{sfn|Sowerby|1806|p=6}} [[James Sowerby]], a [[naturalist]], acquired the meteorite in 1804.<ref name="ub">{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7SvtVoa1W-cC|title=The History of Meteoritics and Key Meteorite Collections: Fireballs, Falls and Finds| editor-first = G. J. H.|editor-last = McCall| editor2-first=A. J.| editor2-last=Bowden| editor3-first = R. J.| editor3-last = Howarth| publisher = Geological Society| year = 2006|isbn = 978-1-86239-194-9| chapter = Meteorites in history: an overview from the Renaissance| first = U. B. |last =Marvin|pages = 39–40| chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=7SvtVoa1W-cC&pg=PA39 }}</ref> The meteorite was later acquired by the [[British Museum]] in 1835.<ref name="ub"/><ref>{{cite web| url  =http://www.vauxhallsociety.org.uk/Sowerby.html| archive-url  =https://web.archive.org/web/20080124144810/http://www.vauxhallsociety.org.uk/Sowerby.html| archive-date = 24 January 2008|title = SOWERBY, JAMES (1757–1822)| publisher=The Vauxhall Society | access-date= 13 November 2012}}</ref>

The meteorite can nowadays be seen in the [[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]] in London.

===Analysis and research===
Early analyses recorded two parts of the stone, an earthy part, and a malleable part. The earthy part analysed as containing silicon, magnesium, iron, and a small amount of nickel, of which some parts of the iron and nickel were in the elemental state; the earthy substance was similar to [[kaolin]] (weathered [[feldspar]]), but relatively tough. The malleable parts also contained iron and nickel, the majority iron. A form of iron [[pyrite]]s (iron sulphur compound) was also reported present.{{sfn|Sowerby|1806|p=18}}<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Howard | first1 = E. | author-link=Edward Charles Howard| last2 = Williams | first2 = J. L. | last3 = De Bournon | first3 = C. | author-link3=Jacques Louis, Comte de Bournon| title = Experiments and Observations on Certain Stony and Metalline Substances, Which at Different Times are Said to Have Fallen on the Earth; Also on Various Kinds of Native Iron | doi = 10.1098/rstl.1802.0009 | journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London | volume = 92 | pages = 168–212 | year = 1802 | doi-access = free | bibcode = 1802RSPT...92..168H }}</ref> Modern science records the meteorite as a [[L chondrite|L6 ordinary chondrite]].<ref name="database"/>

The Wold Cottage meteorite was the largest meteorite observed to fall in Britain, and is the second-largest recorded in Europe (after the [[Ensisheim (meteorite)|Ensisheim meteorite]]).<ref name="ub"/> The meteorite and evidence given about its fall contributed to the debate concerning whether extraterrestrial matter existed or not, and towards the early scientific study of meteorites.<ref>Sources:
*{{cite web| url  =http://fernlea.tripod.com/woldcottage.html | title = The Wold Cottage & It's Meteorite|first  =Robert | last =Elliott | access-date= 13 November 2012}}
*{{cite web|  archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070809201913/http://www.meteoritearticles.com/historyarticle.html | archive-date = 9 August 2007| first  =Mark| last = Bostick|url  =http://www.meteoritearticles.com/historyarticle.html| title = Early Meteorite Falls|at = The Wold Cottage Fall | access-date= 13 November 2012}}</ref>{{sfn|Pillinger|Pillinger|1996a}}{{sfn|Pillinger|Pillinger|1998}}

===The monument===
[[File:WNMeteor.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The Wold Newton meteorite monument]]
{| style="border: 1px solid darkgray;" align="right" style="text-align:center;"
! Inscription
|-
| Here
|-
| On this Spot, Dec<sup>r</sup>. {{not a typo|13<sup>th</sup>}}, 1795
|-
| Fell from the Atmoſphere
|-
| AN EXTRAORDINARY STONE
|-
| In Breadth 28&nbsp;inches
|-
| In Length 36&nbsp;inches
|-
| and
|-
| Who[[:en:long s|ſ]]<nowiki/>e Weight was 56 pounds.
|-
| ----
|-
| THIS COLUMN
|-
| In Memory of it
|-
| Was erected by
|-
| EDWARD TOPHAM
|-
| 1799
|}

A monument was erected on the location of the stone's impact, by Major Topham, on whose property the stone had fallen.{{sfn|Sowerby|1806|p=7}} The structure was built of brick {{convert|4|ft|abbr=on}} square and {{convert|25|ft|abbr=on}} high, with a plaque on one face.<ref>{{cite PastScape|mnumber=79897|mname=Commemorative monument recording fall of a meteorite, erected 1799 |access-date=13 November 2012}}</ref>
{{clear left}}

==In fiction==
The event was used by the science fiction writer [[Philip José Farmer]] in his "biographies" of fictional characters (''[[Tarzan Alive]]'' and ''[[Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life]]'') as the basis for a literary premise commonly referred to as the [[Wold Newton family]]. The film ''[[Robinson in Ruins]]'' would also refer to the event, with the main character, Robinson, seeing it showing meteorites always fall at the time of significant events, in this case the 1795 amendment to the Settlement Act which allowed capitalism to develop faster in England.

The meteorite plays quite a central role in the 2019 detective novel ''Sherlock Holmes & The Christmas Demon'' by British author [[James Lovegrove]].

==See also==
* [[Glossary of meteoritics]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Literature===
*{{citation| title  =The Value of Publicity—The Wold Cottage Chondrite, Edward Topham, and the Foundation of Meteoritics| last = Pillinger| first = C. T.| last2=Pillinger| first2= J. M.|journal = Meteoritics & Planetary Science| volume= 31| page= A108| date = January 1996|bibcode  =1996M&PSA..31Q.108P|doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.1996.tb02098.x}}
*{{citation| bibcode = 1996M&PS...31..589P| title = The Wold Cottage meteorite: Not just any ordinary chondrite| last  =Pillinger| first = C.  T.| last2=  Pillinger| first2= J. M.| journal = Meteoritics|volume = 31| issue =5| pages= 589–605| date = August 1996a| doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.1996.tb02032.x}}
*{{citation| bibcode = 1998M&PSA..33Q.123P| title = Wold Cottage and Its Influence on Reports of the Pettiswood and Evora Meteorites| last =	 Pillinger| first = C. T.| last2 =Pillinger| first2= J. M.| journal = Meteoritics & Planetary Science| volume =  33| page =  A123| date = July 1998 | doi = 10.1111/j.1945-5100.1998.tb01327.x| doi-access = free| url = https://authors.library.caltech.edu/records/b84n5-87t61/files/Eiler_1998pA159.pdf?download=1}}
*{{citation| url  = https://archive.org/details/britishmineralog02soweiala| title = British mineralogy, or, Coloured figures intended to elucidate the mineralogy of Great Britain | first = James|last= Sowerby| author-link=James Sowerby| year = 1806|volume =2|chapter = Tab. CI. FERRUM nativum. Meteroic Iron| pages =1–19|chapter-url = https://archive.org/stream/britishmineralog02soweiala#page/n11/mode/2up}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Wold Cottage meteorite}}
*{{citation| url = http://piclib.nhm.ac.uk/results.asp?search=40&searchtxtkeys=Wold |title = (search) "Wold"| publisher  =Natural History Museum| work = piclib.nhm.ac.uk}}, Images related to the Wold Cottage Meteorite and monument

{{Meteorites}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wold Cottage (Meteorite)}}
[[Category:Meteorites found in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Wold Newton, East Riding of Yorkshire]]
[[Category:1795 in England]]
[[Category:1795 in science]]
[[Category:History of the East Riding of Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Thwing and Octon]]