Hastings’ Early Cretaceous sandstone and mudstone preserve plant remains, shells and vertebrate fossils along the shore east of Rock-a-Nore. The cliffs towards Ecclesbourne Glen also record river channels and dinosaur footprints. Beach access changes as the coast erodes: use only an open, signed route and never cross a safety barrier.
FIND FREQUENCY: ♦♦♦♦ – Fossils have been recorded in loose blocks and exposed foreshore beds, but scour and beach cover control success.
CHILDREN: ♦♦ – Difficult access and a rocky shore make this unsuitable for younger children.
ACCESS: ♦♦♦ – Rock-a-Nore provides the approach and paid parking. Continue only by an open, signed public route.
TYPE: Sandstone, siltstone, mudstone and loose blocks; these are Wealden rocks, not chalk.
DIRECTIONS
♦ The cliffs at Hastings are best accessed from the large car park at ‘Rock-A-Nore’ (postcode TN34 3DW). Simply follow the Hastings seafront eastwards and head towards the ‘Old Town’. This is also the road to the well-known fishing tackle shops.
♦ Nearby, there are toilets and several food outlets/shops. You will pass a sea life centre and a fisherman’s museum.
♦ Continue to the end of the large car park, where you will have to pay to park. Beach access can change as cliffs and access structures erode; follow current signs and any closures.
♦ Do not climb over safety barriers or use a closed or damaged ramp or steps. Use only an open, signed public access route. If no such route is available, do not continue to the foreshore.
♦ Ref: TQ 83330 09699 – 50.85773°N, 0.60345°E
FOSSIL HUNTING
Along the Rock-a-Nore–East Cliff shore towards Ecclesbourne Glen, concentrate on loose local rock and whatever foreshore sediment is naturally exposed. Collecting success depends strongly on beach cover. The earlier field account records shells, plant material, teeth, fish scales and reptile fragments, with many of the better specimens enclosed in hard blocks. A productive-looking cliff is not an invitation to search beneath it: the useful task is to inspect detached material away from the cliff base, and only where access is open.
Start with the fine-grained bedding faces rather than judging every rock by its outer shape. Plant debris may form thin dark films or recognisable impressions. Horsetail material was recorded in the original guide as Equisetites; look for regular jointing or lengthwise markings, although a short, featureless stem fragment may remain unidentified. Several plant-rich beds are documented in the East Cliff succession, so a fossil does not need to be a tooth or bone to be a worthwhile find. Keep delicate impressions on their backing rock.
Fish scales and small teeth reward slower searching with a lens. The old Rock-a-Nore account names Scheenstia and Hybodus, but these are retained as field identifications rather than a newly verified species list. Ganoid scales typically have an angular, often diamond-shaped outline and a hard, shiny enamel-like coating; an overlapping edge or peg can be useful when preserved. Among teeth, compare rounded crushing crowns with pointed crowns bearing smaller side cusplets and vertical ridges, features found in hybodont sharks. These are group-level clues, not a species test: wear can round a cusp and polishing can make ordinary pebbles shine. Do not import the separately documented Cliff End species list into a Hastings identification.
The dense calcareous sandstone blocks traditionally called “Tilgate Stone” are particularly worth examining. BGS records shell- and bone-bearing examples among the fallen material between the eastern breakwater and Foul Ness. Some blocks instead contain striking radial calcite aggregates: their patterned appearance is mineral growth, not necessarily a fossil. Inspect naturally weathered edges for a shell outline or exposed bone structure. The rock name describes the matrix, not a single fossil bed, and a loose block cannot normally be assigned to a precise horizon from that name alone.
Possible vertebrate fragments should be handled conservatively. A preserved outer bone surface and porous interior can help distinguish bone from an oddly shaped concretion, but usually cannot identify the animal. Large or associated pieces deserve photographs, exact location notes and expert assessment before preparation. Photograph several views before wrapping a find, including an existing broken edge if it reveals structure. Label each specimen separately so that a loose scale and a bone-bearing block do not lose their different finding places. Shells and plant pieces remain worthwhile targets when the beach is covered or the available blocks are heavily weathered.
Footprints were historically recorded on fallen sandstone west of Ecclesbourne Glen. Inspect broad bedding surfaces for impressions and natural casts, and photograph a convincing example with a scale and a wider view. Three projections alone do not prove an Iguanodon footprint: fractures and erosion can produce suggestive shapes, while a genuine print may preserve only part of the foot. Leave tracks and fixed surfaces intact. Keep labels specific to Rock-a-Nore, East Cliff or Ecclesbourne, since museum specimens labelled simply “Hastings” may come from inland quarries. The rare mammal fauna of Cliff End, farther east, is a separate occurrence; it is not a list of fossils to expect on this shore.
A chronological record of fossil discoveries and geological research at Hastings.
1862 – Coastal observations recorded
Tylor recorded dinosaur footprints on fallen sandstone blocks just west of Ecclesbourne Glen, an exact coastal observation within this guide’s eastern scope.
1987 – Local stratigraphy revised
The BGS memoir published overlapping East Cliff logs and documented changing channel deposits towards Ecclesbourne Glen.
1995 – Fossil record synthesized
The Geological Conservation Review synthesized the reptile and footprint importance of the Hastings coast while distinguishing the wider locality’s historical collections.
GEOLOGY
Rock-a-Nore and East Cliff expose upper Ashdown Formation with Wadhurst Clay above. Both belong to the Wealden Group. Alternating sandstone, siltstone and mudstone preserve channel structures, plant-rich horizons, rooting and iron-rich concretions.
The variation within the Ashdown rocks is more informative than the sandstone cliffs alone suggest. The East Cliff composite contains massive and cross-bedded sandstones, finely laminated silty beds and thinner plant-rich mudstones. A particularly thin rooted mudstone contains lignite and plant fragments, with roots extending into the underlying bed. This records vegetation growing on a former sediment surface, while cross-bedding and the sideways changes in sandstone record sediment moved and deposited by currents.
Iron-rich features give several beds their distinctive appearance. Ferruginous ribs produce honeycomb weathering in a silty interval; other sandstones contain iron-pan or boxstone-like nodules, and some muddy beds contain small sideritic aggregates. These features should not be confused with separate formal members. Calcareous blocks historically called “Tilgate Stone” can contain shells and bones, but the name describes a rock type. Towards Ecclesbourne, cross-bedded sand and silt also show dewatering structures, and the upper sandstone changes thickness and character across the glen.
The detailed East Cliff succession combines overlapping measured sections; it is not one continuously accessible cliff. Sandstones change laterally towards and across Ecclesbourne Glen, so those neighbouring measurements cannot simply be added below the composite.
The Foul Ness Fault lowers the north-eastern side by about 17 m and brings different parts of the succession together. That displacement is distinct from the estimated 17 m upper sandstone in the East Cliff log. Slipping ground and historical exposures do not define a safe modern walking route.
Detailed geology and stratigraphy of Hastings.
Rock-a-Nore and East Cliff eastwards to Ecclesbourne Glen. The East Cliff measurements below combine overlapping sections at TQ 8305 0961, TQ 8311 0966 and TQ 8326 0970; they are not one continuously accessible face.
WEALDEN GROUP
The modern BGS framework places these formations in the Wealden Group. Older publications use “Hastings Beds”, “Hastings Group” or “Wealden Supergroup”; these are historical classification schemes rather than extra units in the succession.
Wadhurst Clay Formation
Early Cretaceous, Valanginian. Caps the upper Ashdown sandstone. The Cliff End Sandstone is an informal sandstone unit within this formation, not a separate formation.
Basal shales, silts and ironstones — Thickness unrecorded. Shales and siltstones with ironstone nodules were seen at the top of the East Cliff composite, without a measured thickness.
Cliff End Sandstone — About 7 m at East Hill. A prominent sandstone cap on East Hill, overlying the basal shales. Nearby High Wickham has a pebble horizon, but that separate inland section is not the beach log.
Ashdown Formation
Early Cretaceous, late Berriasian–early Valanginian. The following East Cliff composite is described top down. The historical term Ashdown Beds refers to this formation.
Massive upper sandstone — Estimated 17 m. Fine to medium sand, low-angle cross-stratification and thin iron-stained mud-flake conglomerates.
Spring-bearing clay — 0.1 m. A thin dark clay seam gives rise to iron-rich seepage.
Interbedded sandstone and siltstone — 3.5 m. Thin alternations with iron-pan development along joints.
Grey silty mudstone — 1 m. Fine-grained break in the sandy succession.
Laminated silty sandstone — 1.7 m. Fine sandstone with strong joints and local iron-pan.
Cross-bedded sand and silt — 5.5 m. Grey to ochreous strata with local cross-stratification and iron-stained joints.
Rooted plant-rich mudstone — 0.1 m. Lignite and plant fragments; roots penetrate the underlying bed.
Honeycomb-weathering siltstone — 2.3 m. Fine sandy laminae alternate with silt; ferruginous ribs create the distinctive weathering pattern. Plant debris and local roots occur.
Boxstone-bearing silty sandstone — 2.4 m. Iron-pan and plant fragments; local nodules near the base and staining in the upper part.
Plant-rich laminated siltstone — 0.4 m. Dark fine sediment with abundant plant material.
Sphaerosideritic mudstone — 2.2 m. Grey-green silty mudstone with sideritic aggregates.
Sphaerosideritic fine sandstone — 0.45 m. Pale fine sand with silty laminae and iron-pan.
Variable silty mudstone — 2.4 m. Sideritic upper part, darker shaly interval beneath and a more massive lower portion.
Alternating siltstone and mudstone — 4.75 m. Iron-rich or locally sphaerosideritic siltstone alternates with muddy layers; plant material occurs near some bed bases.
The Foul Ness Fault lowers the north-eastern side by about 17 m: this is structural displacement, not bed thickness. It places higher Wadhurst Clay against the Cliff End Sandstone and contributes to unstable slipping ground.
Towards Ecclesbourne, lower Ashdown strata include a cross-bedded silt/sand unit up to 5 m thick with dewatering structures. Across the glen the upper sandstone changes laterally into a cross-stratified unit up to 12 m thick and then into thinner sand/silt beds. These are lateral changes, not additional beds beneath the East Cliff composite.
Calcareous “Tilgate Stone” is a rock type rather than a formal member. Fallen blocks can contain shells and bones, and some display radial calcite aggregates. These descriptions refer to loose fallen material.
Hastings museum labels and historical reptile names can refer to inland quarries as well as the shore. Broad “Hastings” labels therefore do not establish an exact Rock-a-Nore–Ecclesbourne origin, and the Cliff End mammal locality is farther east.
Wadhurst Clay Formation
Foul Ness slip-backwall sandstones. At TQ 83280977 the historical slip backwall exposed two Wadhurst Clay sandstone beds: an upper bed 1.0 m thick and a lower bed 2.4 m thick. The lower bed lay about 12 m above the Cliff End Sandstone. These fault-block measurements are separate from the East Cliff Ashdown composite; the 12 m figure is stratigraphic position, not sandstone thickness.
References
Benton, M.J. and Spencer, P.S. (1995). Fossil Reptiles of Great Britain. GCR 10, Hastings account.
SAFETY
Do not climb over safety barriers or use a closed or damaged ramp or steps. Use only an open, signed public access route. If no such route is available, do not continue to the foreshore.
The tide reaches the cliff base and can cut off the return route. Plan around a falling tide and return early. Keep well clear of high cliffs, scree and overhangs; falling debris can occur without warning.
Do not search newly washed scree after heavy rain or assume a helmet makes the cliff base safe. Observe current restrictions east of Rock-a-Nore without assuming that every part of the foreshore has the same access status.
EQUIPMENT
Take sturdy footwear with good grip, tide information, a hand lens, a camera, wrapping material and rigid specimen boxes. Keep the load manageable for the rocky shore.
A hand lens helps distinguish small teeth, scales, shell fragments and plant material. Do not bring digging tools for excavating in-situ beds; leave important tracks and large remains in place for recording.
CLEANING AND TREATING
Pack fragile clay-hosted remains separately and allow them to dry slowly. Begin with a soft dry brush only when the matrix is stable; do not soak flaky mudstone, bone or plant-rich material.
Hard sandstone, ironstone and bone-bed matrix can break through a fossil rather than around it. Avoid indiscriminate splitting, acids, bleach and routine coatings. Keep potentially important bones, teeth and associated remains unprepared and seek specialist advice.
IDENTIFY YOUR FINDS
Need help identifying a fossil? Share clear photos, where you found it and its size with the community.
FURTHER READING
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881 to 1955): A geologist-priest in Hastings
Lake and Shephard-Thorn (1987), Geology of the country around Hastings and Dungeness
Hopson, Wilkinson and Woods (2008), A stratigraphical framework for the Lower Cretaceous of England, BGS RR/08/03
ACCESS RIGHTS
Observe current council signs, barriers and closures. The protected coastal geology should be left undamaged: do not excavate the cliffs or in-situ beds. Restrictions reported east of Rock-a-Nore do not establish a safe replacement route or a closure of every part of the foreshore.
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