Firemen in Hull, northern England, deal with fallen chimney stacks after the earthquake hit early Wednesday.
The British Geological Survey put the preliminary magnitude for the earthquake at 5.3, according to the British Press Association.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake measured 4.7.
Emergency services across England received calls following the incident, many from people who woke up to find their homes shaking.
Ambulance officials said a man from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, required hospital treatment after a chimney collapsed and fell into his bedroom.
The quake struck at around 0100 GMT and was centered about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of London, the British Geological Survey said.
Julian Bukits, of the organization, called it the most powerful quake in Britain since a 5.4 quake hit North Wales in 1984.
"This was a very large earthquake in UK terms," he told The Associated Press. "This one has been felt throughout the whole of England and southern Scotland."
"It felt pretty scary," Haydn Jones of Nottingham, who lives in a third-floor apartment, told CNN. He said he had lived abroad in Japan and knew immediately what it was, but felt that a lot of those in England "didn't really know what was going on."
Jones likened the feeling to "someone very big and angry jumping on the ceiling below you, rather than the floor."
He believed the shaking lasted about 10 seconds, but said, "time sort of stands still for you."
Earthquakes frequently hit Britain -- between 200 and 300 annually, according to the British Geological Survey, although most have a magnitude of less than 2.
Earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.0 to 4.9 hit mainland Britain about once every two years and strike beneath the North Sea about once per year.
Britain's strongest recorded quake was the North Sea quake of June 7, 1931, with a magnitude of 6.1. It was felt across the British isles and in northwestern Germany. The quake killed one person.
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The most powerful onshore quakes occurred on July 19, 1984, in north Wales (magnitude 5.1) and on April 2, 1990, along the Welsh border with England (5.1 magnitude.)
A 4.6 magnitude quake in Colchester on April 22, 1884, was Britain's most damaging earthquake, knocking spires from churches and masonry from roofs. Turrets and parapets also fell, and brick walls and chimneys collapsed. Two people were killed.
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