We seek to establish whether or not secular variation, the rate at which the magnetic eld is changing in time, is a function of eld strength. Towards that end we examine a database consisting of palaeomagnetic directions and absolute intensities from piles of extruded lava ®ows, many of which record polarity transitions. We nd that directions from stratigraphically adjacent lava ®ows are most (least) correlated when the local eld strength is high (low). Since volcanic activity is unrelated to, and therefore uncorrelated with, magnetic secular variation, this relationship between angular correlation and intensity indicates that angular secular variation is quiet (enhanced) when and where the local eld strength is high (low). Our conclusion is consistent with some aspects of the recent behaviour of the modern eld and is qualitatively consistent with sedimentary data recording reversals. Although we nd a simple relationship between angular di¬erence and intensity, a corresponding relationship for relative intensity di¬erences has proved to be more elusive; its possible resolution will bene t from the continued collection of full vectorial palaeomagnetic data from lavas. Statistical models of secular variation need to incorporate the information content of serially correlated stratigraphically ordered data if the lava data are to be fully exploited. We suggest that the apparent inverse relationship between angular secular variation and local eld strength could be the result of electromagnetic coupling between the solid inner core and the liquid outer core, with the inner core tending to stabilize core convection, and hence the eld, when the intensity is high (as has been hypothesized).