The East Midlands includes several fossil hunting locations across Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, and Northamptonshire, largely underlain by Jurassic Lias deposits. These rocks are known for yielding ammonites, bivalves, and other marine fossils typical of the Lower Jurassic.
Old railway cuttings, such as the deep section at Tilton-on-the-Hill, expose a range of fossil-bearing strata and provide accessible collecting opportunities. Disused quarries across the region also offer productive sites, particularly where Jurassic formations are exposed.
In Northamptonshire, a number of former quarries yield Jurassic fossils, with publicly accessible locations such as Irchester providing opportunities to collect from these deposits.
Munday’s Hill Quarry at Heath & Reach records a changing Early Cretaceous coastline, from tidal sands and fossil wood to the brachiopod-rich Shenley Limestone and marine Gault Clay. This is a permission-controlled quarry: any group visit, collecting area and safety arrangements must be agreed in advance with the operator. Cretaceous, Working Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
The former Houghton Regis chalk quarry reveals a fossil-rich Cretaceous seabed, including the distinctive Totternhoe Stone and its reworked shells. The quarry is now an important wildlife site where fossils are for observation and photography: collecting and hammering are not permitted. Cretaceous, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
The fossil-rich Tilton railway cutting exposes rusty Jurassic ironstone, shell-packed limestone and overlying mudstone. Its brachiopod beds and changing marine environments make it an important geological reserve. Visit to observe and photograph the fossils: collecting is not permitted, and the rock faces must not be hammered. Jurassic, Disused Railway Cutting, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
The Vale of Belvoir offers a different kind of fossil hunt: searching weathered Lias limestone and field brash among a landscape of low clay hills. The Long Lane routes towards Barkestone-le-Vale and Belvoir introduce the area, but searching fields and taking fossils require the landowner’s permission and suitable ground conditions. Jurassic, Ploughed Fields, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Irchester Country Park preserves the last face of Wembley Pit, where Jurassic ironstone, rooted clays and fossiliferous limestone record changing seas and coastal wetlands. Brachiopods, bivalves and other marine fossils can be studied alongside the quarry’s industrial history, with managed paths and viewpoints providing the safest way to explore. Jurassic, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦
