The cause of a loud bang which shocked Swindon residents early this morning remains a mystery.

One Old Town woman said she climbed into her loft to check that the boiler hadn't burst after hearing the noise at just before 6.30am and others called the Adver offices to ask what had happened.

Wiltshire Police said they received three calls at a similar time asking about the noise but nothing suspicious was being investigated.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) said the incident was not thought to be an earth tremor with no evidence of a seismic disturbance in the area.

In April 2012 a sonic boom which led to calls to emergency services across a large part of England was caused by a Typhoon aircraft which took off RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire responding to an emergency, the MoD said.

A sonic boom is created as an aircraft breaks the sound barrier, causing a high-energy shockwave. 

Rachel Davis commented on the Adver's Facebook page: "Ahhh i heard that i thought it was my next door neighbours!"

Claire said on the Adver website: "Having heard a sonic boom, which sounds like the windows are being blown out, this didn't sound like that at all. It was much more subtle, sounded like someone had smashed into my garage."

But LordCharles said: "It was a high altitude sonic boom. The air is less dense at high altitude so jets can go much faster before there is a sonic boom. They are also very stealthy so you will not necessarily hear the jet's exhaust noise.

"At an RAF Colerne air display one year an English Electric Lightning shot past at 300 feet. It flew past in silence until the sonic boom reached us. People were stunned and excited at the same time. Some greenhouse windows shattered and a farmer's chickens stopped laying for three days."