Betteshanger (formerly Fowlmead) Coutry Park is a great site for Carboniferous plants, which are abundant and come from Kent’s former Betteshanger Colliery. Fossils are found in spoil, which is maintained by Geoconservation Kent Rigs. This is a perfect site for all the family, which is easy to access. Carboniferous, Spoil, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Abereiddy is the best and easiest place in the UK to find graptolites. It is also an outstanding place where you can see and photograph in situ graptolites, crammed into the sloping bedrocks. Although this site is a SSSI (so hammering the bedrock is strictly prohibited), there is no reason why you would want to disturb the bedrock. The foreshore is full of rocks that can be picked up without tools and contain better specimens than those in the bedrock. Ordovician, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
When different types of fossils are talked or written about, they are often given complicated Latin names, such as Dactylioceras commune, Neohibolites minimus and Stigmaria ficoides. These names can sound a bit daunting and you […]
These pages are designed as a general guide for all those interested in the fascinating fossils of the British Chalk. Hopefully this will be a useful resource for academics and students alike, whilst at the […]
Southerndown is a Jurassic coastal location that closely resembles the classic Lias sites of Somerset. The early Blue Lias is mostly thickly bedded limestones, with thin shale bands. The limestones are full of bivalves, with occasional ammonites. They sometimes also yield reptile remains and fish. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Houghton Quarry is an abandoned quarry, formerly used to extract chalk for a cement works onsite (which is no longer there). Quarrying stopped about 40 years ago, but, due to its size and terracing, only parts are overgrown, leaving an enormous amount of clean chalk. A large amount of this consists of boulders of various sizes on the quarry floor, yielding many good fossils. Collecting is not allowed here. Cretaceous, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
This site is a disused railway cutting near Tilton-on-the-Hill, which is extremely rich in fossils. Now fairly overgrown, there is just one small area of collecting where the cliffs are still accessible. The site is a SSSI, for the diversity of its fossils, its geological important and for the living fauna and flora that can be seen here. It is also a nature reserve. One key feature is the presence of two thick limestone beds – crammed full of brachiopods – which can be easily collected from by looking in the loose scree. Jurassic, Disused Railway Cutting, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
The cliffs at Gedgrave, which run along the east bank of the River Butley, were previously completely overgrown for quite a number of years, despite being recognised as an SSSI for their geological and palaeontological importance. However, as part of Natural England’s conservation of SSSI sites, a small, three metre section has been fully excavated making this site accessible once again. Pliocene, Cliffs, Rating: ♦♦♦
This is an unusual location, where a public footpath runs right through the middle of a very large, newly re-opened quarry, which was originally a series of smaller, disused quarries. The quarry has no gates or barriers and contains a huge variety of rocks to explore, including a glacial bed, where you can find just about anything. This site also has areas of deep water, so care should be taken at all times. Jurassic, Working Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Hooken Cliff is the best location in Devon for finding fossils, in particular, echinoids, ammonites, fish and brachiopods, which are easy to find – you just never know what you may find. They can be found in the White Chalk Subgroup (Seaton Formation) and the Grey Chalk Subgroup and in the Upper Greensand. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Irchester Country Park contains Jurassic limestone dating from around 165mya. It is overgrown in places and can be rocky or flooded, with a constant danger of rock falls. This means this site is unsuitable for children. Jurassic, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦
These series of disused quarries, in Llandrindod Wells, are rich in trilobites and graptolites. The largest of the quarries has deep water (also shown on OS maps), and is now fenced over following an accident in which a child sadly drowned. A second quarry, slightly further to the northeast, contains no water and has easy access, with productive shales. Ordovician, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Cwm Craig Ddu is a roadside section found to the east of Llangammarch Wells, along the B4519. A disused quarry (now overgrown) is also present on the hilltop, but fossils can really only now be found along the cutting. Early fossil plants and small bivalves can be collected here. This site is a SSSI, so hammering the bedrock is strictly prohibited. Silurian, Roadside Cutting, Rating: ♦♦♦
Bach Y Graig is a stream section, rich in trilobites and graptolites. The latter are mostly complete, but are also very fragile and paper thin. Therefore, when splitting, their segments often end up being separated on either side of the split. The site is also dark, being in a thickly wooded area, and is very hard to find without a map or GPS. Ordovician, Stream, Rating: ♦♦♦
This small section of stream cutting in the middle of nowhere is worth a visit to look for trilobite remains. Fossils are not particularly frequent, but, with some careful searching, you should find trilobite pieces, as well as graptolites. Ordovician, Stream cutting, Rating: ♦♦
This disused quarry is situated along the main A470 through the Brecon Beacons. The quarry also contains a waterfall, which keeps the faces clean. There is strictly a no hammering allowed, due to SSSI rules and because the site falls within the Brecon Beacons National Park. However, loose material can be collected from, especially at the base of the waterfall and from the stream running through the quarry. Devonian, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦
Fishguard is a similar location to Abereiddy Bay, where graptolites can be found in shales, wedged between the volcanic rocks in the cliffs. However, unlike Abereiddy Bay, there are far fewer sections where these can be found, and they are also much harder to find. Ordovician, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦
What is stratigraphy? The word ‘stratigraphy’ is used to describe the study of rock layers or strata. The most fundamental principals employed within this discipline are: The law of superposition, which states that, within any […]
Easton Bavents is the best location in the UK for finding Pliocene mammal remains and represents the only publically accessible site where mammal remains can be found in situ from the Norwich Crag. The location is of international importance, although fossils are limited to favourable tides. Today, fossils are uncommon, due to the thinning of the beds following many years of extensive erosion. Pliocene, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
The actual site is a foreshore location on the eastern shore of the River Severn to the west of Tites Point, in Gloucestershire. At low tide, the Silurian Ludlow beds are exposed, yielding a range of fossils, including seeds, plants and molluscs. However, of most importance is the abundance of fish remains from the Ludlow Fish Bed. Silurian, Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
To the southwest of Cogenhoe is an extremely overgrown quarry on the top of a hill. Although the quarry itself has now become too overgrown to collect from, the public footpath, which takes you to the quarry, climbs through several different geological formations and rocks are scattered across the fields next to the footpaths. Ploughing uncovers the rocks; and it is in them that you can find fossils. Jurassic, Ploughed Fields, Rating: ♦♦
Situated on the border of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire, this quarry is popular with schools. These are able to visit and collect fossils from a designated area, where the quarry regularly dumps fresh material on a spoil heap. Rich in echinoids and now an SSSI, this is a site definitely worth visiting, if permission can be obtained. Jurassic, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Ammonites (Ammonitida) were shelled cephalopod molluscs that lived throughout the world’s oceans during the Mesozoic (Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods) and they were an extremely successful order, as evidenced by the frequency with which their […]
Wootton Bassett is an incredibly interesting and unique location. Fossils are found in a stream, which washes them from the famous ‘Wootton Bassett Mud Spring’. The mud spring erupts from time to time, bringing fossils from the underlying Ampthill Clay to the surface, where they are washed out by a stream from the spring. While the spring itself is fenced off, the stream is accessible. Jurassic, Stream Embankment, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Ostracods are small, shelled crustaceans that are still living today. Their fossil record stretches back into the Cambrian period. These little animals range in size from below a millimetre to a few centimetres, but most […]
This disused sandpit (known as the Sahara Sandpit) is now being used for landfill, but a special area has been designated as a RIGS, because of its geological importance. Entrance to the site can be obtained by prior arrangement from the occupants of the house next to the sandpit, who will open the gates for you. They are usually very accommodating to visitors. Jurassic, Disused Pit, Rating: ♦♦♦
At first site, Besom Hill can seem fairly poor for fossils. However, if you can find the thin Bullion Mine Marine Band, you will change your mind. This band of rock is highly fossiliferous and includes fish teeth, scales, fin spines and other remains. Goniatites and bivalves are also common within this layer. Carboniferous, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Newhey Quarry is full of Calamities (fossil stems of giant, tree-like horsetails), bivalves, and brachiopods. Some of the most interesting finds at this site are the superb trace fossils, including ripple marks, worm burrows and ‘fish marks’.Carboniferous, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦
Offerton is superb for fossil ferns, roots and trunks, which can all be found in a small river cutting. The specimens are very well preserved and the brownish leaves are much clearer to see here than at most other Carboniferous plant locations. This is an outstanding site where you will certainly come back with many good quality specimens. Carboniferous, Stream Cutting, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Brown’s Folly is located in a nature reserve. Fossils can be found everywhere in the old quarries in the area and many exposures of Great Oolite can be seen. The reserve is managed by the Avon Wildlife Trust and kept clear by the Bath Geological Society. The site is an SSSI, so no hammering on the bedrock is allowed, but loose material can be picked up and collected. Jurassic, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦
There are two common questions by beginners and enthusiasts: “I’m new to fossil collecting, where can I collect?” and “I’ve found a fossil, what is it?” I’m blessed with owning SS Buckman’s Type Ammonites – […]
Belemnites (Belemnitida) were squid-like animals belonging to the cephalopod class of the mollusc phylum, and therefore related to ammonites of old, as well as to modern squids, octopuses and nautiluses. Now extinct, their fossils are […]
When different types of fossils are talked or written about, they are often given complicated Latin names such as ‘Dactylioceras commune’, ‘Neohibolites minimus’ and ‘Stigmaria ficoides’. These names can sound a bit daunting and you […]
Foraminifera (forams) are single celled organisms belonging to the Protista kingdom. Their fossils have been found in rocks from the Cambrian period onwards, and they are still living and abundant today. Forams generally inhabit marine […]
The Wren’s Nest National Nature Reserve is an area of nature reserve to the northeast of Dudley in the West Midlands. It was designated as a National Nature Reserve in 1956 because of its exceptional geological and paleontological features of Silurian age. It is also a SSSI. Silurian, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Flint meal is a rich source of siliceous microfossils. The material is often packed with sponge spicules, as well as foraminifera and ostracods. To collect flint meal unweathered, fresh flints recently eroded out of chalk […]
Bembridge Foreland is an important Isle of Wight fossil site, where the Bembridge Limestone and Bembridge Marls are exposed across the foreshore as a broad wave-cut platform and scattered rock outcrops. Best searched on a low tide, these beds are well known for their shelly fossils, especially gastropods and bivalves weathering from the limestone onto the shore. At foreshore level towards the south-west of the bay, the Bembridge Oyster Bed is regularly washed out and is the main source of the site’s vertebrate material, including turtle, crocodile and mammal remains.Eocene, Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
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The Valley of the Rocks is a popular tourist destination, especially for hikers, artists and writers. The dry valley has cut through Devonian Lynton beds, which are highly fossiliferous. The coastal road, west of Lynton, runs through this valley, with plenty of car parking space for visitors. It has been popular ever since a number of famous writers visited the area in the sixteenth century.
Devonian, Outcrops, Scree, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
At UK Fossils, we receive hundreds of photos of fossils every month and, although we try our hardest to identify each and every find, most photos we receive are so blurred or contain no scale, […]
This is a very dramatic location, but Rigg is one of the least visited fossils locations on Skye. The reason is that this is only for the experienced collector. It has a fascinating coastline of Lower and Middle Jurassic sediments. Rich in fossils, archaeology and local wildlife, Rigg is one of these places where safety and common sense must prevail. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Lilstock is a productive coastal site where reptile remains and loose bones can often be found along the foreshore, alongside Jurassic ammonites, bivalves and fish remains. At the eastern end of the bay, the Triassic Lilstock Formation yields blocks rich in fish, shark and reptile material, as well as microfossils from the sandstones, offering a varied collecting experience across two geological periods. Triassic, Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
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Blue Anchor exposes a thin but highly productive Rhaetian bone bed within the Penarth Group, yielding abundant reptile, shark and fish remains, similar to the famous Aust site on the Severn Estuary. The foreshore is scattered with blocks ideal for splitting, while the overlying Jurassic beds also produce ammonites and occasional reptile material, making this a varied and rewarding location.Triassic, Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
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The Chilcompton site is an old spoil heap form coal mining days, with a publically accessible footpath through the middle. Although now overgrown, the footpath still provides coal measure shale debris, which yields plant remains. Carboniferous, Spoil, Rating: ♦♦♦
Stocker Hole is a large disused quarry to the south of Radstock, The quarry has a footpath running right through the middle and contains Carboniferous Black Rock Limestone. Corals, and brachiopods are the most common fossils here, with Bryozoans also being found. Carboniferous, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦
Rusey Cliff is one of the few places in Cornwall where well-preserved fossils can be collected. Plant remains can be found in slabs of the Lower Carboniferous-aged Boscastle Formation, and corals, brachiopods and goniatites can be found in similar aged limestone rocks along the foreshore. The site can be accessed by walking along a cliff top footpath, which takes you through a large area of landslip. Carboniferous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Sandy Mouth is the most northerly coastal Lower Carboniferous location in Cornwall, where plant remains can be found. Here, the rocks consist mostly of the Bude Sandstones, but the upper beds, which consist of mudstones and siltstones, often fall down onto the beach. These contain plant remains, which are fairly common. Carboniferous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Wanson Mouth is located just to the south of Widemouth Bay. It is a privately owned beach, but with public access permitted and no restrictions on collecting fossils. It is also a quick and easy site to access, with some excellent Upper Carboniferous fossils to be found, such as goniatites, ostracods, molluscs and worm tubes. Carboniferous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Maer Cliff is accessed from the popular tourist beach of Northcott Mouth. The most common finds here are from the Upper Carboniferous and consist of plant and fish remains, together with burrows and tracks within nodules. In addition, plants and fish scales can be found loose within the layers of shale. The site is easily accessed and suitable for children. Carboniferous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Foxhole Point features the Crackington Measures, which continue from Widemouth Bay. While it is possible to walk here from Widemouth Bay, it is best accessed from the village of Millook to avoid a long walk over difficult terrain. Plant remains and goniatites can be found here from the Upper Carboniferous. Carboniferous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦
Crackington Haven is a small, but popular location, which has outstanding views. Fossils have been found on both sides of this small cove, but unfortunately it has become over collected. Today, fossils can be difficult to find and those within the bedrock are SSSI protected. Carboniferous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦
