At Hinkley Point, you can find complete fish and reptile bones exposed along on the foreshore. Vertebrae of Ichthyosaur are commonly found loose in the foreshore single. Ammonites and shells can also be found.
FIND FREQUENCY: ♦♦♦ – This location is highly productive after winter storms for reptile and fish remains, but ammonites and shells are less common.
CHILDREN: ♦♦♦ – Although this location is suitable for families, it is best suited to the fossil enthusiast because most of the fossils can only be found after winter storms and high tides.
ACCESS: ♦♦ – Access to the beach can be made from Knighton. It’s a fairly long walk and the car parking area is along an unmade track.
TYPE: This is a foreshore and cliff location, so fossils can be found in both. However, the vast majority of fossils are found exposed loose on the foreshore after high tides, or during scouring conditions.
DIRECTIONS
♦ This location is best accessed from Knighton, but is poorly signposted. The best way is to drive to Stogursey and, from there, you will see a signpost to the village of Burton. At Burton, a narrow road leads to Knighton. It is signposted on the right hand side as ‘Knighton’ across a wall. This cannot be seen if driving from Shurton and is easily missed.
♦ Follow the road through the village. It will then come to a left hand bend and a farm track. Follow this track up and over the hill, and up and over the next hill. This is an unmade road and full of potholes, used mostly by farm vehicles. You will see a large sign saying vehicles are not permitted past this point. However, there are plenty of parking spaces before it, you will need to walk the remainder of track.
♦ Continue to follow the farm track by foot until you reach the cliff. Walk right until the cliff dips. Here, you can easily descend to the shore. Carry on walking to the right along the foreshore.
♦ Car Parking Postcode: TA5 1QD; Google Maps Link
♦ Site location: What3Words: ///whirlpool.trading.engages
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FOSSIL HUNTING
Hinkley Point is a highly productive fossil-hunting locality, best known for its abundance of Early Jurassic marine reptiles and associated marine fauna. Regular tidal action continually exposes new material, making careful searching of the foreshore particularly rewarding.
Marine reptile remains are among the most frequent and recognisable finds. Ichthyosaur material is very common and is most often attributed to Ichthyosaurus communis, though fragments of larger forms such as Temnodontosaurus are also reported from the area. Typical finds include vertebrae, ribs, limb elements and occasional jaw fragments, with teeth being found less frequently. Most material is disarticulated, but the density of remains makes this an excellent site for reptile collectors.
Ammonites are widespread and occur in a range of sizes. Commonly encountered genera include Dactylioceras, Arietites and Psiloceras. Many specimens show a pronounced ammonite keel, which can sometimes be seen weathering out on exposed surfaces. Ammonites are most often found within blocks of Blue Lias limestone rather than loose on the beach, and these blocks rarely split cleanly. If a specimen is visible as a clear ammonite keel or partial whorl protruding from the rock, it is usually best to collect the entire block and prepare it later rather than attempting to split it in the field.
Belemnites, most commonly attributed to Passaloteuthis, are abundant on the foreshore and are often found loose after high tides or storms. Both complete guards and broken fragments are common, with occasional concentrations occurring in small areas.
Bivalves and other shells are frequent and include flattened and partial specimens, with better-preserved examples appearing after periods of erosion. While not always visually striking, they are an important part of the site’s fossil assemblage.
Fish remains are another notable feature of Hinkley Point. Scales, vertebrae and fin elements are commonly found, particularly within shale. Typical finds are often attributed to genera such as Dapedium and Pholidophorus. With careful searching, partially articulated fish and, more rarely, near-complete specimens can be found exposed on the foreshore. These fossils are delicate and should be handled with care.
Crinoid material is also present, most notably as crinoid-rich limestone blocks. These are commonly referred to as Pentacrinites blocks and may contain columnals, stem fragments, and occasionally more complex articulated sections. Such blocks are usually heavy and weather slowly, but can yield attractive specimens with preparation.
At the base of the cliffs, fossils are frequently found within the first metre above normal beach height. After high tides, bones and fossil fragments are often washed out and redistributed across the foreshore, making post-tide searches particularly productive. Always maintain a safe distance from the cliffs, as rock falls can occur without warning.
Some of the most significant fossil discoveries and scientific milestones from Hinkley Point include important Early Jurassic marine reptile finds, notable ichthyosaur discoveries from the foreshore and nearby Bridgwater Bay, and modern fossil rescues connected with the Hinkley Point coast.
2002 – large Ichthyosaurus skeleton found at Hinkley Point by Alister Cruickshanks
In 2002, Alister Cruickshanks discovered about three quarters of an Ichthyosaurus skeleton at Hinkley Point. This became one of the most notable modern marine reptile finds from the locality and showed how productive the foreshore can still be after scouring conditions.
2003 – the Collard plesiosaur found near Hinkley Point in Bridgwater Bay
In 2003, Nicholas Collard discovered the famous Collard plesiosaur in Bridgwater Bay near Hinkley Point. It was especially important because it was described as the only complete and fully articulated plesiosaur skeleton found in Britain for over 100 years.
2010–2011 – detailed preparation and study of the Collard plesiosaur
The Collard plesiosaur was later prepared and studied in detail using both physical preparation and imaging techniques. This work turned the discovery into one of the best documented marine reptile fossils from the wider Hinkley Point coast.
2019 – ichthyosaur bone discovered during Hinkley Point C works
In 2019, Rachel Trick spotted a 45 cm fossil bone during works at Hinkley Point C. It was identified as coming from an ichthyosaur and was removed for preservation, showing that important marine reptile material is still being found in the Hinkley Point area today.
GEOLOGY
The coastline at Hinkley Point exposes a classic sequence of Lower Jurassic (Early Jurassic) strata, making it one of the most important and instructive geological sections in Somerset. The cliffs and foreshore here are dominated by the Blue Lias Formation, a unit well known for its alternating limestones and shales and its exceptional fossil content.
The Blue Lias at Hinkley Point is characterised by rhythmic bedding, with harder limestone layers interbedded with softer, darker shales. These repeating layers reflect changes in sedimentation during the Early Jurassic, with quieter marine conditions allowing fine muds to settle, interrupted by periods of increased carbonate deposition forming limestone beds. This alternating sequence is clearly visible along the cliff faces and across the foreshore, particularly at low tide.
The limestone beds form prominent ledges and platforms on the foreshore and are generally more resistant to erosion. These beds often weather into large, blocky slabs that may contain fossils but rarely split cleanly. In contrast, the shale layers are much softer and erode more rapidly, breaking down into muds and thin fragments. This differential erosion plays a major role in fossil exposure, as fossils weather out of the softer shales and are released onto the beach.
The cliffs themselves are actively eroding, with frequent small-scale collapses and slumping. This erosion is a key factor in continually refreshing the fossil supply, as new material is regularly exposed and washed down onto the foreshore. However, this also makes the area hazardous, and the cliff base should be treated with caution at all times.
The foreshore geology is strongly influenced by tidal action, with high tides and storm events redistributing loose material and exposing fresh surfaces. After periods of rough weather, newly eroded shale patches and freshly broken limestone blocks are often visible, offering the best opportunities for finding fossils. Between tides, the foreshore can appear relatively barren, but subtle changes in erosion frequently reveal new material.
Localised variations within the Blue Lias sequence can be observed along the coast, with some beds being more fossiliferous or more prone to erosion than others. These variations explain why certain stretches of foreshore are consistently more productive than others, even over relatively short distances.
This is a detailed stratigraphic breakdown of the late Triassic to early Jurassic succession at Hinkley Point, where low foreshore cliffs and rock platforms expose part of the Blue Lias Formation while boreholes beneath the headland prove the underlying Blue Anchor Formation and Penarth Group. The section is important as the eastern end of the classic west Somerset Blue Lias coast and for showing how the expanded Hettangian–lower Sinemurian marine limestone–mudstone cycles rest on thin Rhaetian transgressive beds.
MERCIA MUDSTONE GROUP
Only the Blue Lias is normally exposed in the Hinkley Point sea cliffs and foreshore. The underlying Blue Anchor Formation and Penarth Group are not usually visible in the coastal face but are securely proved beneath the point by site investigations, and they are included here because they form the full local pre-Lias succession below the exposed Jurassic beds.
Blue Anchor Formation (Upper Triassic)
Bed HP1 — Blue Anchor Formation (c. 38 m locally)
The uppermost Mercia Mudstone Group beneath Hinkley Point consists of pale to dark grey-green silty mudstones and siltstones, locally dolomitic, with thin laminae, dolomitic bands and evaporitic components including gypsum, anhydrite and occasional halite. At Hinkley it is known chiefly from boreholes and geotechnical investigations rather than from the sea cliff itself. These beds represent the final marginal-marine to restricted shallow-water phase of Mercia sedimentation before the full Rhaetian marine transgression. Their green-grey colour, fine lamination and evaporitic overprint indicate fluctuating salinity and periodic restriction, very different from the darker open-marine mudstones of the Penarth Group above.
Depositional Environment
Restricted lagoonal to sabkha-influenced mudflat and shallow-marine conditions, with intermittent marine influence and evaporite formation near the top of the Triassic basin fill.
PENARTH GROUP
Westbury Formation (Upper Triassic)
Bed HP2 — Westbury Formation And Basal Bone-Bed Facies (c. 14 m locally)
At Hinkley Point the Westbury Formation is proved beneath the Blue Lias as a package of very dark shaly mudstones with dark grey argillaceous limestones. Regionally this formation commonly begins with one or more erosive phosphatic bone beds above the top of the Blue Anchor Formation, followed by black to dark grey marine shales and thin shelly limestones. In west Somerset the Westbury marks the main Rhaetian marine flooding event, and the dark colour, pyrite-rich aspect and shell-poor black-shale facies indicate oxygen-restricted bottom conditions. The Hinkley borehole sequence is entirely consistent with that interpretation, even though the sea cliff itself does not normally expose these beds.
Typical Fossils
Typical west Somerset Westbury fossils include bone-bed debris, fish teeth and scales, phosphatic nodules, oysters and other marine bivalves, with rare marine reptile material regionally. Those fossil concentrations are important to the local Triassic–Jurassic transition, but they are not currently known as a regularly exposed Hinkley Point foreshore horizon.
Depositional Environment
Shallow marine transgressive muds deposited under restricted to dysoxic bottom-water conditions during the major Rhaetian sea-level rise.
Lilstock Formation (Upper Triassic)
Cotham Member
Bed HP3 — Cotham Member (c. 2 m locally)
The Cotham Member beneath Hinkley Point is a thin but important interval of pale grey to greenish-grey calcareous mudstones with thin limestones, siltstones and sandstones. In regional west Somerset sections it is generally soft, laminated and only sparsely fossiliferous except near the base, and it commonly records fluctuating salinity, intermittent emergence and low-energy lagoonal deposition. The member is rarely more than a couple of metres thick, but it is a key marker because it separates the dark marine Westbury shales from the harder pale limestones of the Langport Member above.
Depositional Environment
Restricted lagoonal to mudflat conditions with fluctuating salinity, episodic exposure and only limited benthic faunal development.
Langport Member
Bed HP4 — Langport Member / Sun Bed Interval (c. 2 m locally)
The Langport Member at Hinkley Point is a thin but distinctive pale limestone-and-mudstone interval forming the top of the Penarth Group. Site investigations describe pale grey limestones with interbedded grey to bluish grey mudstones; regionally, these are the hard, pale, fine-grained limestones long known as White Lias. The topmost Sun Bed is the key marker horizon at the Triassic–Jurassic transition across southern Britain and may show signs of boring or emergence on its upper surface. At Hinkley Point this unit is not usually visible in the low coast section, but it is critical because the Blue Lias begins immediately above it.
Typical Fossils
The Langport Member carries a restricted shallow-water fauna of bivalves, gastropods and ostracods, with plant fragments and rare simple corals locally in west Somerset correlative sections. The fauna is generally low diversity, reflecting very shallow, intermittently stressed marine conditions close to the top of the Triassic.
Depositional Environment
Very shallow restricted marine carbonate sedimentation with intermittent emergence at the top of the member.
LIAS GROUP
Blue Lias Formation (Latest Triassic To Lower Jurassic)
At Hinkley Point the coastal exposure is a low 5–10 m cliff and foreshore pavement rather than a high continuously measurable cliff. The sea front exposes only Blue Lias, the beds dip northwards at about 7–9°, and the locality is best understood as the eastern end of the expanded west Somerset Blue Lias coast rather than as a standalone numbered type section.
Because no formal published Hinkley Point cliff bed-number log equivalent to the St Audrie’s Bay or East Quantoxhead sections was located, the divisions below are practical site-use intervals only. They are based on the proved local formation boundaries, the visible lithological style of the Hinkley foreshore cliffs, and regional correlation with the immediately adjacent west Somerset coast.
Bed HP5 — Basal Blue Lias Above The Sun Bed (subsurface local correlative)
The base of the Blue Lias at Hinkley Point is the base of the first fissile mudstone above the Langport Member Sun Bed. As elsewhere on the west Somerset coast, the lowest few metres are likely to include latest Rhaetian pre-Planorbis beds passing up into the first psiloceratid-bearing Hettangian strata. Hard grey limestones, calcareous mudstones and dark fissile paper shales characterize this transition. Although this basal interval is not described in a formal Hinkley Point measured coastal log, it is a necessary local correlative because the Penarth Group is proved directly beneath the exposed Blue Lias in site investigations.
Bed HP6 — Lower Blue Lias Limestone–Mudstone Cycles (main exposed foreshore interval)
The main visible Hinkley Point section consists of repeated thin limestone–mudstone cycles. Argillaceous limestones, commonly about 0.10–0.30 m thick, alternate with calcareous mudstones and fissile dark grey to black shales; some beds are laminated, some nodular, and weathered mudstones break down to clay while the limestones stand out as low ledges and pavements on the foreshore. This is the characteristic lower Blue Lias offshore facies of the Bristol Channel Basin, deposited well away from littoral carbonate shoals, with repeated small-scale changes in carbonate precipitation, mud supply and bottom-water oxygenation.
Bed HP7 — Ammonite-Bearing Hettangian To Lower Sinemurian Levels In The Hinkley District
Biostratigraphical control in the Hinkley district comes chiefly from nearby inland and coastal correlative exposures rather than from a single numbered Hinkley cliff face. Old quarries east of Stogursey and near Cockwood yielded interbedded shales and limestones with Psiloceras planorbis, while a nearby pit south of Hill Farm also contained P. planorbis; another pit very close by yielded Coroniceras and was thought to lie in the Bucklandi Zone. These records show that beds of lower Hettangian and lower Sinemurian age are present on the Hinkley–Stogursey block and help anchor the Hinkley Point Blue Lias within the Planorbis to Bucklandi part of the regional succession.
Bed HP8 — Higher Blue Lias District Continuation And The Unconfirmed Top Of The Formation At Hinkley Point
Across the wider west Somerset coast between Blue Anchor and Hinkley Point, the Blue Lias continues upward to about the middle of the Semicostatum Zone, and mudstone-dominated upper parts farther west include shale-rich and locally bituminous intervals with fewer limestones. The full Blue Lias is up to about 140 m thick locally at Hinkley boreholes, but the actual Hinkley Point frontage exposes only part of that expanded basin succession. The overlying Charmouth Mudstone Formation has not been confirmed in the Hinkley Point cliff sections or in the main onshore investigations, so the point should be treated as a Blue Lias locality rather than as a complete lower Lias coast section.
Bed HP9 — Structural Style And Preservation Of The Section
The Hinkley Point beds are gently but consistently north-dipping and are affected locally by east–west faults associated with the Hinkley Point structural zone. Small-scale faulting and differential weathering can repeat or truncate individual beds on the foreshore, and the section should not be forced into a single uninterrupted cliff log. Inland, the same structural setting brings Penarth Group and upper Mercia strata closer to the surface south of the point, helping explain why the locality combines low coastal Blue Lias exposure with a much fuller subsurface Triassic–Jurassic record.
Ammonite Zonation
Regionally, the Blue Lias of the Hinkley Point district belongs within the expanded west Somerset succession that ranges from latest Rhaetian pre-Planorbis beds through the Hettangian Planorbis, Johnstoni, Liasicus and Angulata zones into the lower Sinemurian Bucklandi and Semicostatum zones. The Hinkley Point frontage itself is not the place where all these zonal boundaries are exposed continuously, but the local and nearby records show that at least the lower part of this ammonite-controlled sequence is present beneath and beside the point.
Typical Fossils
Typical fossils in Hinkley Point and correlative west Somerset Blue Lias beds include Liostrea hisingeri in the lowest Hettangian, psiloceratid ammonites such as Psiloceras planorbis, Caloceras in the Johnstoni Subzone, later arietitids such as Coroniceras and Arnioceras, together with oysters and gryphaeids, other marine bivalves, brachiopods, occasional nautiloids, fish remains and sporadic marine reptile material. At Hinkley Point, fossils are most likely to be found in freshly weathered foreshore blocks and bed surfaces rather than in a tall, continuously accessible cliff.
Depositional Environment
The Hinkley Point succession records the final late Triassic change from marginal-marine evaporitic mudflat conditions in the Blue Anchor Formation into the Rhaetian transgressive black-shale seas of the Westbury Formation, followed by restricted lagoonal and very shallow carbonate sedimentation in the Cotham and Langport members. Above that, the Blue Lias records a much more open offshore marine shelf setting below normal wave base, with rhythmic alternations of limestone, calcareous mudstone and fissile shale reflecting repeated changes in carbonate supply, clastic mud input and bottom-water oxygenation during the earliest Jurassic.
Total Thickness Covered Here
At Hinkley Point site investigations prove about 38 m of Blue Anchor Formation, about 14 m of Westbury Formation, about 2 m of Cotham Member, about 2 m of Langport Member and up to about 140 m of Blue Lias. Only the uppermost part of this total is actually visible in the sea cliffs and foreshore, but taken together the locality represents roughly 196 m of late Triassic to early Jurassic stratigraphy above deeper undifferentiated Mercia Mudstone Group.
References
Whittaker, A. & Green, G.W. (1983). Geology of the Country around Weston-super-Mare. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Sheet 279 with parts of sheets 263 and 295.
Palmer, C.P. (1972). “The Lower Lias (Lower Jurassic) between Watchet and Lilstock in north Somerset (United Kingdom).” Newsletter on Stratigraphy, 2, 1–30.
Warrington, G. & Ivimey-Cook, H.C. (1995). “The Late Triassic and Early Jurassic of coastal sections in west Somerset and South and Mid-Glamorgan.” In Taylor, P.D. (ed.), Field Geology of the British Jurassic.
Simms, M.J., Chidlaw, N., Morton, N. & Page, K.N. (2004). British Lower Jurassic Stratigraphy. Geological Conservation Review Series No. 30, especially the Blue Anchor–Lilstock Coast account.
Newell, A., Woods, M. & Graham, R. (2024). UK Stratigraphical Framework Series: Lias Group. British Geological Survey Open Report OR/24/016.
British Geological Survey Lexicon: Blue Anchor Formation, Westbury Formation, Lilstock Formation and Blue Lias Formation.
British Geological Survey Earthwise: Penarth Group, Permo-Triassic, Bristol and Gloucester region and Lower Lias, Jurassic, Bristol and Gloucester region.
EDF Energy / NNB. Hinkley Point C Environmental Appraisal, especially Groundwater and Geology and Description of the Existing Site and Surrounding Area, for the local Hinkley Point subsurface and cliff context.
SAFETY
Common sense when collecting at all locations should be used and knowledge of tide times is essential. You can easily be cut off by the tide as the sea always reaches parts of the cliff and wear a hard hat. There are also regular cliff falls along this part of the coast, so keep well away from the base of the cliff.
EQUIPMENT
Hinkley point often depends on beach conditions to find loose fossils, but always take the right tools such as hammers and chisels, goggles and gloves to split any ex-situ blocks.
CLEANING AND TREATING
Begin by removing any loose sediment very carefully using a soft toothbrush. Take your time, as many fossils—particularly pyritic specimens—are fragile and easily damaged. Once cleaned, fossils should be desalinated by soaking them in fresh water for at least 24 hours to remove residual salt. After soaking, allow specimens to dry naturally at room temperature. Do not dry them on radiators or other heat sources, as rapid drying can cause cracking or long-term damage.
Once fully dry, we recommend sealing fossils with Paraloid B-72, dissolved in acetone. This is a museum-grade consolidant that is widely available in pre-mixed bottles. Paraloid B-72 is stable, long-lasting, and does not yellow or react chemically over time. Importantly, it is also fully reversible, making it suitable for scientifically important or display-quality specimens.
Some collectors prefer to treat ammonites with artists’ varnish. This is acceptable for common species that are not of scientific importance, as it enhances colour and contrast and can make a specimen really “pop”. However, varnish is not reversible and is therefore not recommended for rarer or research-grade fossils.
ARTICLES
ACCESS RIGHTS
This site is an SSSI. This means you can visit the site, but hammering the bedrock is not permitted. For full information about the reasons for the status of the site and restrictions please download the PDF from Natural England – SSSI Information
PLEASE NOTE: Hinkley Point Power Station has some of the highest security measures, please keep away from the station, keep to the footpath and foreshore.
It is important to follow our ‘Code of Conduct’ when collecting fossils or visiting any site. Please also read our ‘Terms and Conditions‘
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