The faulted Carboniferous shore at Howick brings together fossil-rich marine limestone, ancient coastal sandstones and rooted plant-bearing beds. Crinoids, brachiopods, corals and trace fossils reward careful observation, while the discovery of a giant Arthropleura moult has revealed an exceptional part of the younger delta-plain landscape.
FIND FREQUENCY: ♦♦♦ – Marine fossils and traces are documented in several distinct beds; patience and careful observation are more useful than breaking rocks.
CHILDREN: ♦♦♦ – Close supervision is needed beside cliffs, slippery reefs and short rock ledges; the whole shore is not a level path.
ACCESS: ♦♦♦♦ – Road access and a short coastal approach are available, but parking, shore access and the return route must be checked on arrival.
TYPE – Limestone and sandstone reefs, shale, cliffs and loose foreshore blocks; the different fault blocks contain different fossil assemblages.
DIRECTIONS
♦ Reach Howick by the minor road from the B1339. Continue past the hamlet to the T-junction and turn left towards the coastal approach.
♦ The established approach uses the first roadside layby on the right. Park only where currently lawful and unobstructed, keep gateways and passing places clear, and follow the public coastal route towards the shore.
♦ The starting-area reference is 55.45164°N, 1.58780°W, near the coast north of the Bathing House. From this area the guide covers approximately 1 km north and a shorter, approximately 200 m southern stretch; named geological stations below are kept separate so that these approximate walking distances do not become false bed locations.
♦ Choose accessible shore sections on a falling tide and allow time to return before water reaches the headlands. Use the public coast path where the foreshore is unsafe; do not climb ledges or descend closed access points to continue the route.
♦ Check current path notices and local signs. The published June 2021 works notice between Howick Burn and the Bathing House concerned a temporary closure and should not be read as a continuing closure today.
FOSSIL HUNTING
Howick’s fossils are best understood as several assemblages separated by a major fault and by changes in environment. North of the Howick Fault, limestone reefs and associated shale preserve marine animals. South of the fault, sandstone, rooted horizons and thinner marine intervals record a younger delta plain and its occasional flooding by the sea. Start by identifying the rock type and exact part of the coast; a fossil in a loose block cannot automatically be assigned to the nearest named bed.
The Acre, formally the Three Yard Limestone Member, contains crinoids, brachiopods and corals. Crinoid stems commonly appear as small circular or ring-like sections, sometimes still joined in short lengths. Brachiopods may show ribbed shells or their moulds, while corals can reveal repeated internal partitions in a weathered surface. Northwards, the Sandbanks or Four Fathom Limestone Member carries a comparable broad marine fauna. Trilobite fragments are recorded in a small shale exposure above the Sandbanks, near an ascent path, but that historical record is not a promise of present exposure or complete trilobites.
The shale above the Acre is particularly important for delicate bryozoans. Billing’s work recorded branching and mesh-like colonies under historical names including Rhabdomeson gracilis, several Fenestella species, Penniretepora spinosa, P. flexicarinata and Sulcoretepora parallela. Some intact colonies were interpreted as preserved close to where they lived. The study station is fixed by its grid reference near the fault, despite being called Cullernose Point in the thesis. Look with a hand lens at naturally weathered surfaces; ripping shale apart can destroy a colony as easily as reveal it.
Plant fossils in the southern sandstone include root systems of Stigmaria, bark recorded as Lepidodendron in a broad sense and smaller plant debris. A dimpled root-bearing surface or branching rootlets can be more informative than a detached fragment. Some sandstone bedding planes also carry burrows: published records include Planolites, Archaeonassa, Skolithos, Teichichnus and Taenidium at particular levels. These are traces of animal activity, not the animals’ shells or bones. Their form and position within the bed matter more than an isolated resemblance.
Howick also has a historic tetrapod footprint surface, now substantially degraded by waves. The better impressions were five-toed and are discussed under the trace name Baropezia, with an anthracosaur interpretation in the later study. Do not mistake an irregular weathering hollow for a footprint or expect the old trackway to remain intact. North of the fault, other researched trace fossils belong to the Alston Formation, including Neoeione moniliformis; older accounts used different names and sometimes the wrong formation.
The giant Arthropleura found in 2018 was an exceptional partial moult preserved in a fallen sandstone block, not a routine beach find. Its 76 × 36 cm preserved portion allowed an estimated whole-animal length of 2.63 m; the complete animal was not recovered. That scientific recovery required specific permissions. If a large articulated impression or unusual trace appears, photograph it with a scale, record its position and seek specialist advice without extracting or preparing it. For any ordinary loose specimen, establish removal permission first and retain a precise locality and matrix record.
Significant discoveries, geological research and conservation milestones at Howick.
1954 – Early protection of the southern coastal section
The broader Castle Point to Seaton coastal site was first protected. This is part of the conservation history of the southern comparison stretch; it does not establish that today’s entire Howick Bay guide lies within the later geological SSSI.
1969 – The coastal succession mapped
Farmer and Jones described the Carboniferous coast from Howick Bay towards Foxton Hall. Their work established an important framework for relating the limestones and intervening beds along this broader section.
1970 – The Howick limestone correlation investigated
Farmer, Jones and Murchison studied the identity of the limestone called Howick or Lickar. Correlating this thin marine marker helped place the surrounding coastal strata within the regional succession.
1976 – Deltaic and channel deposits interpreted
Elliott used the coastal sedimentary sequences, including Howick’s channel deposits, to investigate deltaic environments. Later studies refined the distinction between large river channels and smaller, partly tidally influenced deposits.
1989 – Southern geological SSSI boundaries revised
The Howick to Seaton Point geological site was renotified with revised boundaries. Its present northern limit lies south of the main bay starting point, so this event belongs to the specifically designated southern stretch.
1991 – Bryozoans and the Lickar interval documented
Billing recorded distinct bryozoan assemblages in the Acre shale, Sandbanks limestone and Lickar succession, retaining their separate grid references. A detailed small log at NU 262 174 distinguished rooted horizons, coal, fossiliferous shale, limestone and overlying beds.
11 December 1992 – Northumberland Shore SSSI notified
The shore was included in the Northumberland Shore conservation site for its coastal bird-habitat interests. The main Howick Bay shoreline falls within this designation, distinct from the geological site farther south.
1995 – Tetrapod footprints described
Scarboro and Tucker documented Carboniferous footprints on the Howick bedding surface. Later discussion used the trace name Baropezia and an anthracosaur interpretation; continuing wave erosion has degraded the old track surface.
2001 – Channel architecture and limestone variation compared
Bowden examined four Howick-area sections, comparing the bay, Bathing House, Haven and Burn. The work documented lateral variation in the limestone and reconstructed the dimensions of the large sandstone channel from multiple sections.
2016 – A northern Howick feeding trace studied
Boyd and McIlroy described Dactyloidites jordii from Howick. The beds north of the fault were initially assigned to Stainmore in this trace-fossil work, but their position was subsequently corrected to the Alston Formation.
19 September 2017 (issue 2018) – Neoeione established through three-dimensional study
Boyd and McIlroy examined Howick burrows and established Neoeione moniliformis, revising traces previously described under Eione and rejecting the proposed two-tier interpretation involving Parataenidium.
January 2018 – Giant Arthropleura remains discovered
A fallen sandstone block revealed an unusually large partial Arthropleura moult. The block had fallen between April 2017 and January 2018; the preserved fossil was a portion of the animal’s shed exoskeleton rather than a complete giant body.
May 2018 – The Arthropleura specimen recovered
The specimen was recovered with permission from Natural England and Howick Estate and entered the museum collection as CAMSM X.50355. These permissions applied to the specific scientific recovery.
21 December 2021 (volume 2022) – The giant arthropod and its host beds published
Davies and colleagues described the 76 × 36 cm preserved moult and reconstructed an animal about 2.63 m long. Their detailed study placed the host sandstone 2 m below the Lickar Limestone and interpreted a vegetated, locally channelised delta plain around 326 million years ago.
17 August 2025 (issue May 2026) – Sedimentary and trace-fossil interpretation revisited
Liu and colleagues published a further sedimentological and ichnological study of Howick. It represents a recent stage in research on the relationship between the coastal deposits and their animal traces.
GEOLOGY
Howick exposes two formations of the Yoredale Group across the Howick Fault. Older Alston Formation rocks lie to the north, including the Brigantian (late Viséan) Acre or Three Yard Limestone and the Sandbanks or Four Fathom Limestone. Younger Stainmore Formation strata lie to the south, where the Lickar Limestone, formerly called the Howick Limestone, helps locate a succession of rooted beds, sandstone channels and marine mudrocks. Treating the whole coast as one Brigantian limestone section misses this fundamental break.
The northern succession records repeated marine flooding followed by the arrival of mud and sand. Limestone with crinoids, brachiopods and corals formed during marine conditions. Overlying shale passes upwards into sandier beds, including storm-influenced deposits with hummocky layering, then cleaner shoreface and foreshore sandstone. Rooted, ganister-like sandstone and a thin coal mark vegetation colonising the top of one cycle before renewed flooding. The different fossil groups reflect these environmental changes rather than one uniform fauna.
The younger southern rocks preserve a more varied delta-plain story. Fine sandstone and mudstone include small channels, rooted surfaces, thin coals, animal tracks and burrows. The sandstone containing Arthropleura was interpreted as a minor river channel whose margins were stabilised by vegetation; nearby deposits also show tidal influence. The fossil-bearing interval is dated in the published study to the latest early Serpukhovian, traditionally Pendleian, approximately 326 million years ago. That age belongs to the fossil horizon and must not be applied to every limestone and sandstone in the guide.
Marine water subsequently spread across this vegetated landscape. Carbonaceous shale and sideritic beds above the fossil sandstone contain bryozoans, brachiopods, crinoids and marine foraminifers, leading up to the Lickar marker. Its limestone can be thin, sandy or discontinuously nodular. Farther along the same coastal system, a major sandstone channel cuts down through part of this succession. Up to 8 m of sandstone is exposed in the excursion account; a separate multi-section reconstruction gives a channel about 850 m wide and 12–15 m deep. These are different measurements, not conflicting thicknesses to be averaged.
The fault moves the southern rocks down relative to the north. About 200 m of stratigraphic displacement is described, but that is not the height of a continuous exposed column. The Great Limestone, important in the regional formation framework, is absent from the exposed Howick Bay section. Smaller faults and deformation complicate local correlations, while folds give the northern limestone reefs their undulating or whaleback form. Calcite veins and tension gashes record fractures within the rocks.
Whin-type igneous intrusions provide a later overprint. A dolerite body follows the fault zone, and a narrow dyke farther north bakes adjacent sandstone. These cross-cutting rocks are separate from the fossil-bearing sedimentary succession. Modern erosion then exposes different bedding surfaces, removes parts of old trackways and produces the loose blocks on the shore. The detailed account below separates each published log and observation station, rather than joining measurements with unrelated starting levels.
Detailed geology: the fault-separated Alston and Stainmore successions, the Arthropleura beds and independently scoped coastal logs.
The shore must be read as two fault-separated successions, with further variation along each one. This account distinguishes the main bay and Bathing House, the southern-edge Rumbling Kern exposures, and the northern Acre–Sandbanks continuation. The separate Howick Haven and Howick Burn sections are retained only as clearly labelled comparisons. Published log heights, bed thicknesses, channel dimensions and fault displacements are different quantities and are not combined into one synthetic column.
YOREDALE GROUP
Alston Formation: north of the Howick Fault
North of the fault, the marine limestone and overlying sandstone cycles belong to the Alston Formation. The Three Yard and Four Fathom are formal limestone members assigned to the Brigantian, late Viséan; Acre and Sandbanks are the corresponding local names. Earlier trace-fossil papers assigned some of these northern beds to Stainmore, an interpretation corrected in the later study of the bay. Regional formation or limestone thicknesses are not substituted for measurements at these exposures.
Three Yard Limestone Member (Acre Limestone)
Acre limestone, north of the fault at NU 258 183. The limestone contains crinoids, brachiopods and corals, and is cut by calcite-filled tension gashes. No exact local thickness was established in the recovered account; the regional 5–6 m figure is not presented as a measurement of this reef.
Shale above the Acre. Dark shale succeeds the limestone and locally contains pyrite and calcareous nodules. This finer rock preserves a different fossil assemblage from the limestone itself.
Acre-shale bryozoan station. Billing recorded iron-stained shale at NU 259 180, a coordinate near the Howick Fault, although the thesis calls the site Cullernose Point. That naming discrepancy must not move the fauna to a different headland. The limestone at the station was reported barren of bryozoans, whereas the shale yielded Rhabdomeson gracilis, Fenestella frutex, F. plebeia, F. polyporata, Penniretepora spinosa, P. flexicarinata and Sulcoretepora parallela. Associated fossils include Schellwienella, trilobites, bivalve fragments and crinoids. Intact delicate colonies were interpreted as preserved in place. These are the study’s historical identifications, not a modern revision of every species.
Upward-sandy beds above the Acre shale. Sandy shale passes into muddy sandstone as the cycle coarsens upwards. No numerical thickness is assigned to this interval.
Storm-influenced sandstone. Pale grey sandstone contains hummocky stratification, with hummocks of approximately 0.5–1 m wavelength, together with thin graded and cross-laminated beds, burrows and nodules. The wavelength describes sedimentary structures, not sandstone thickness. These beds record the transition towards a storm-influenced shoreline.
White shoreline sandstone at NU 260 186. Planar bedding and cross-bedding occur in cleaner sandstone interpreted as shoreface and foreshore deposits. Burrows include the trace historically called Eione moniliforme or E. moniliformis. Later three-dimensional work established Neoeione moniliformis and rejected the proposed two-tier Parataenidium interpretation. Other reported northern Howick traces include Dactyloidites jordii and Beaconites capronus; these records belong to the Alston beds, with detailed claims limited where the original studies were not recovered.
Ganister-like rooted top of the Acre cycle. Hard, clean quartz-rich sandstone is penetrated by dark root streaks and forms a seat-earth. It records colonisation of the former sediment surface by vegetation.
Coal horizon above the rooted sandstone. A thin coal marks the cycle boundary. The described 20 cm recess is an exposure feature and is not converted into a measured coal thickness.
Four Fathom Limestone Member (Sandbanks Limestone)
Sandbanks limestone at NU 260 187. The northern continuation exposes crinoids, brachiopods and corals in limestone folded into asymmetrical north–south whalebacks, with steeper western limbs. No exact local thickness is supplied here.
Sandbanks bryozoans. Billing’s separate station at NU 260 187 yielded Rhabdomeson gracilis, Fenestella multispinosa and F. plebeia. Local baking affects the limestone; fossil-rich pockets were interpreted as the result of current sorting. This is a distinct station from the Acre shale and the younger Lickar interval.
Shale above the Sandbanks. A small exposure beside an ascent path yielded trilobite fragments in the excursion account. Its limited extent and historical observation do not establish present visibility or a bed thickness.
Stainmore Formation: south of the Howick Fault
The younger rocks south of the fault include the Cushat–Lickar interval, rooted sandstone, thin coals, channel deposits and marine flooding beds. Lickar is the name used in the modern study for the limestone historically called Howick. The Great Limestone is absent from the exposed bay section, and a regional Six Fathom Hazle is not inserted as a verified local bed. Local named horizons below are not assigned invented formal member ranks.
Rumbling Kern: a separately located southern-edge cycle. The following beds are described at NU 263 172 and towards the Bathing House. They proceed upwards through the rooted surface and marine interval into the large channel sandstone; their measurements are not transferred to the fossil-discovery log.
Seat-earth — 20 cm. Pale grey fossil soil lies immediately beneath the coal.
Coal — 15 cm. The thin coal caps the underlying vegetated cycle.
Shale below the Lickar — about 1 m. Fine sediment marks the marine flooding part of the next cycle.
Lickar limestone nodules. The carbonate is developed as discontinuous, pillow-like bodies at least 1 m across. That dimension is their lateral size, not a 1 m limestone thickness.
Sideritic mudstone — 1 m. Mudstone above the limestone contains sideritic material and is succeeded by an erosive sandstone contact.
Major channel sandstone — up to 8 m exposed. A sharp base cuts into the underlying succession. Peat and plant rafts occur low in the sandstone; large cross-beds record predominantly eastward flow. The excursion interpretation is of a braided system moving from the west or north-west towards the east or south-east.
Northern channel margin at NU 260 179. The channel base rises northwards and locally lies within 1 m of the limestone. Gently south-dipping internal beds record lateral accretion. Farther north the major channel is absent; its sandstone must not be extended uniformly across the bay.
Seat-earth at the channel top. A rooted horizon can be followed around a small syncline. It is a higher surface than the footprint-bearing palaeosol described in the separate lower succession.
Multi-section channel reconstruction. Bowden’s model used the bay and Bathing House sections to reconstruct a channel approximately 850 m wide and 12–15 m deep. This architectural estimate has a different scope from the excursion’s up-to-8 m exposed sandstone thickness, and both quantities retain their provenance.
Howick Bay locality 9: older excursion succession. At NU 259 179, the following small-channel, coal and footprint intervals were described separately from the northern limestone cycles. The named Parrot Coal appears at the base of the detailed Howick Bay graphic column below these channel and footprint beds; the figure supplies no exact thickness for it.
Lower upward-coarsening package — 1.5 m. Mudrock grades into fine sandstone, historically interpreted as levee deposits. A small channel with lateral-accretion surfaces cuts the package and is itself cut by a larger one. Later work interprets related low channel deposits as probably tidal; the historical interpretation is kept distinct.
Channel-abandonment coal. A thin coal overlies the lateral-accretion deposits. No numerical thickness is supplied.
Footprint-bearing package — 2.5 m. Mudrock passes upwards into sandstone, with the track-bearing surface towards the top and another thin coal above it.
Historical tetrapod track surface. The excursion records six impressions and a medial drag mark on a surface about 20 cm below the thin coal. Impressions averaged approximately 18 × 14 cm and the better examples showed five digits. Later work discusses the track as Baropezia, attributed to an anthracosaur, rather than retaining an older temnospondyl identification as settled. Waves have degraded the surface, so the original trackway should not be promised to visitors.
Davies and colleagues: the separate approximately 17 m fossil-site log. This measured graphic section lies south of the fault. The following observations retain the authors’ own datum and figure references. Unlabelled boundaries are graphical approximations, and photograph positions are not converted into an artificially precise sequence of unique beds. In particular, the figure caption’s 10.6 m burrowed bed is described as below the fossil, whereas other associated observations have lower numerical labels.
Basal laminated sandstone. The lowest illustrated sandstone lies beneath the mudrocks enclosing the low lateral-accretion set. Its complete thickness is not calculated from image pixels.
Lower dark mudrocks. Fine-grained beds occur both below and above the basal heterolithic channel set. They remain part of the local succession even where the text focuses on photographed sedimentary structures.
Heterolithic lateral-accretion set. Figure 5e locates the photographed sandstone–mudstone set at about 1.5 m on the local log. Northward migration in a small, probably tidal channel is inferred; its figure position is not a standalone bed thickness.
Lower upward-sandy package. Above the basal mudrock, laminated and internally cross-stratified sandstone builds towards the rooted, footprint-bearing surface illustrated near 4.6 m. This describes the graphical interval, without adding a new exact thickness.
Rooted footprint sandstone. Figures 6a–b place Baropezia impressions and Stigmaria at the 4.6 m observation level. The roots and prints record a sediment surface occupied by plants and terrestrial animals.
Thin coal above the footprint sandstone. A separate coal is drawn between the lower footprint-bearing package and the next rooted sandstone. It is retained as a graphical horizon; a precise correlation with each coal in the older excursion column is not imposed.
Rooted, laminated sandstone above the coal. Rooting symbols occur in the sandstone up to approximately the 6 m landmark. This is followed by a darker mudrock interval beneath the fossil-bearing package.
Probable tidal rhythmites. The 6 m observation illustrated in Figure 5d includes probable tidal rhythmites. Skolithos and Teichichnus are documented in the subjacent trace assemblage; the account also records Taenidium. These traces belong to their specified levels, not to every sandstone in the bay.
Mudrock and siderite below the fossil sandstone. Dark beds with siderite nodules occupy the interval approximately between the 6 m and 8 m landmarks. A thin laminated and burrowed transition is shown at the base of the overlying sandstone; no precise new thickness is assigned from the drawing.
Base of the fossil-bearing sandstone package. The text gives a 3.2 m package, with its lower surface illustrated at the 8 m observation level. Syneresis cracks occur on the underside of a fallen block. The package’s measured thickness is separate from the figure’s observation-height labels.
Lower fine sandstone within the 3.2 m package. Horizontal laminae in the lower half are interrupted by roots, including Stigmaria. This rooting records vegetation associated with the depositional surface.
Rooted ripple-laminated sandstone. Figure 6e places branching, coalified rootlets at the 9 m observation level.
Upper medium-grained cross-bedded sandstone. The upper metre contains coal clasts and the Arthropleura remains; Figure 5c illustrates cross-bedding at 9.5 m. The host sediment is interpreted as a minor fluvial channel stabilised by roots, rather than the separate large braided-channel body.
Root-bearing surface on the fallen block. Figure 6h, labelled 9.8 m, shows a main Stigmaria rhizomorph with lateral rootlets. The illustrated surfaces are observations within the fossil package, not newly named beds.
Plant-debris surface. At the 10 m observation, bark is assigned broadly to Lepidodendron sensu lato. A bifurcating axis may be part of a medullosalean seed-fern frond; that interpretation remains tentative.
Seeds associated with the fossil-bearing block. The 10.2 m figure observation includes seeds possibly referable to Samaropsis, interpreted as cordaitalean material. The question remains open; no secure species identification is asserted.
Wave-rippled sandstone with horizontal burrows. Planolites and Archaeonassa occur on the surface shown in Figure 6c. Although labelled 10.6 m, the caption describes it as below the fossil horizon. The published position labels are retained without forcing a false reconciliation.
The Arthropleura specimen and its age. CAMSM X.50355 is a partial moult, 76 × 36 cm, preserving 12–14 tergites. The authors estimated an animal approximately 2.63 m long, 55 cm wide and about 50 kg; those are reconstructed whole-animal dimensions, not the size of an intact fossil. The block came from a sandstone bed approximately 6 m above beach level, 2 m below the Lickar Limestone. The age adopted for the horizon is latest early Serpukhovian, traditionally Pendleian, approximately 326 Ma. Its January 2018 discovery and May recovery are different events.
Marine shale and sideritic beds above the fossil package. Carbonaceous shale and sideritic material contain bryozoans, brachiopods, crinoids and marine foraminifers. Exposure is obtained laterally and is locally affected by faults and erosion. No named foraminiferal assemblage from Boulmer is transferred to this bay.
Mudrock beneath the Lickar marker. The graphic log separately depicts the dark, siderite-bearing interval between the 3.2 m fossil package and the limestone. The marine fauna in the text belongs to this flooding succession.
Lickar Limestone marker. The limestone, historically called Howick, is shown near 13 m on the local figure datum. The fossil bed lies 2 m below it. The paper discusses the marker near the base of the late Serpukhovian; neither the figure position nor this correlation dates all northern Alston rocks to the fossil’s approximately 326 Ma age.
Mudrock above the Lickar. A further dark interval with siderite nodules is drawn above the limestone and below the upper sandstone. It is distinct from the fossil-bearing marine mudrocks beneath the limestone.
Upper laminated sandstone. The graphic section shows sandstone from around the 14.5 m landmark to the truncated 17 m top. Its complete thickness is not established, and it is not automatically equated with the separate incised braided-channel sandstone.
Separate upper braided-channel sandstone. The southern bay also exposes an approximately 8 m sandstone body that incises at least 4 m into older deposits. Its reported continuation about 3 km south is regional context, not a claim that the entire body lies inside this guide’s walking area.
Billing’s Lickar station at NU 262 174. The small log in Figure 7.3 has its own metre datum. It cannot be spliced into the Davies section by matching height numbers. The limestone is approximately 25 cm thick, while the complete marine interval is approximately 1.35 m; the beds and fossil levels are retained individually below.
Basal seat-earth. The rooted substrate beneath the local coal is not given a separate numerical thickness.
Thin basal coal. Coal overlies the seat-earth. Its thickness is not independently quantified.
Lower marine shale and first bryozoan lenses. The first bryozoan lenses occur about 25 cm above the seat-earth. Inarticulate brachiopods and Fenestella occur in the lower shale. A higher shale above the second rooted surface carries Fenestella and Dyscritella; those are separate fossil levels, not one mixed band.
Second rooted horizon. A thin seat-earth symbol appears at approximately 0.45 m on Billing’s figure datum, above the lower Fenestella-bearing shale. This is an approximate graphic position, not a printed bed thickness.
Lickar carbonate — approximately 25 cm. Sandy carbonate contains crinoids and brachiopods. Billing’s local Lickar assemblage includes Rhabdomeson gracilis, Fenestella multispinosa, F. plebeia, Septopora carbonaria, an indeterminate trepostome and Dyscritella sp., mainly from the underlying shales. One Septopora was recorded in reddened limestone. The separate Old Boat House record at NU 263 169 is outside this station.
Upper marine and black shale. Brachiopod- and crinoid-bearing shale passes upwards into barren black shale, with increasing sideritic material. No standalone total thickness is supplied.
Ironstone nodular horizon. Nodules are illustrated around 1.65 m on Billing’s datum, between the fossil-bearing shale and the barren black shale. The height is a graphical landmark rather than a new measured bed thickness.
Cross-bedded sandstone cap. The sandstone base is drawn near 2.0 m on the same local datum. The log is truncated above it, so the total sandstone thickness is unknown.
Nearby comparison sections: outside the main guide stretch. Howick Haven and Howick Burn lie farther south. Their details are retained to explain lateral changes in published studies, not as beds all exposed at the Bathing House or new directions to collect them.
Howick Haven limestone at NU 262 168 — 30 cm. The historical Howick/Lickar carbonate is dark and contains bryozoans, gastropods, brachiopods and crinoids at this separate southern station.
Howick Haven dark mudrock — 1 m. Siderite nodules occur in the mudrock above the limestone.
Howick Haven sandy mudrock — 1 m. Isolated ripples and flaser bedding record the sandier part of the upward-coarsening interval.
Howick Haven sandstone — 3 m. Small-scale cross-lamination occurs in the sandstone that completes the shoreward-coarsening sequence.
Howick Haven younger channel fill. An erosion surface and angular sandstone blocks belong to a Quaternary channel fill, not a Carboniferous river channel or sedimentary member.
Howick Burn lower bay-fill cycle — 1.5 m. At NU 259 163, mudrock passes upwards through sandy mudrock and muddy sandstone into sandstone.
Howick Burn upper bay-fill cycle — 1.5 m. A second, separate upward-coarsening cycle repeats that general lithological progression at the Burn locality.
Four-section limestone variability. Bowden compared the bay, Bathing House, Haven and Burn. Across those separately located sections, lime mudstone and wackestone form nodules approximately 1.5–2 m across and up to 30 cm thick, with thin marine mudstones above and below and siderite nodules 1–4 cm across above. Productid and spiriferid brachiopods, crinoid ossicles and fenestellid bryozoans are recorded within that comparative scope; the dimensions and combined fauna are not assigned wholesale to one bay outcrop.
Faults and later intrusions. These features cut or deform the sedimentary succession and are described outside the formation-member hierarchy.
Howick Fault. The fault downthrows south, bringing Stainmore against Alston. The later study gives about 200 m total stratigraphic displacement, with around 20 m distributed across a roughly 100 m damage zone. These are structural quantities, not the thickness of exposed sediment.
Fault-zone dolerite. The excursion describes a south-dipping fault, approximately 40°, associated with a Whin-type dolerite intrusion. The intrusion is a cross-cutting body, not a fossil bed or limestone member.
Northern narrow dyke. At NU 260 186, a narrow Whin dyke bakes the adjacent sandstone. Its approximately 1 m relief above the surrounding surface is a topographic observation, not a measured dyke width.
References.
N. S. Davies and colleagues, The largest arthropod in Earth history: insights from newly discovered Arthropleura remains, published online 2021, Journal of the Geological Society volume 2022; especially Figures 3–6.
M. E. Tucker, Carboniferous rocks of the Howick shore section, excursion, localities 7–13 and separately labelled comparisons 5–6.
Bowden (2001), Durham University thesis, Howick sections and channel architecture, pp. 18–22.
Billing (1991), Durham University bryozoan thesis, Howick stations, pp. 187–191 and Figure 7.3.
Boyd and McIlroy, Neoeione trace-fossil study, online 2017, issue 2018.
British Geological Survey: Alston Formation, Stainmore Formation, Three Yard Limestone Member and Four Fathom Limestone Member.
SAFETY
Headlands and low reefs can be cut off as the tide rises. Check tide times, swell and weather, visit the shore on a falling tide and keep a safe route back to the coast path in view. Do not assume that the route around a point remains open because it was accessible earlier.
Cliffs shed sandstone blocks, and the major fossil discovery itself came from a rockfall. Stay clear of cliff bases, overhangs and unstable edges; do not climb or lever blocks. Short ledges, rounded cobbles, wet shale and seaweed-covered rock can cause slips and falls even where the beach initially looks flat.
Tell someone your route and expected return time, preferably visit with a companion, and carry a charged phone. Keep children close and respect signs, fences and nesting or roosting birds. A published geological station is not an instruction to enter unsafe or restricted ground.
EQUIPMENT
Good-grip walking boots, a hand lens, a camera and scale, a notebook, a map and local tide information are the most useful equipment. Oblique light often makes burrows, shell outlines and plant impressions easier to recognise.
If removal of a loose specimen is authorised, use soft wrapping and a rigid box, keeping delicate shale separate from heavy limestone. Do not bring tools with the intention of splitting reefs, digging fossil beds or reproducing the 2018 scientific excavation.
CLEANING AND TREATING
Record and photograph an authorised specimen before cleaning. Dry loose shale and plant-bearing sandstone slowly at room temperature, support thin slabs and remove only loose dust with a soft brush. Avoid soaking fragile shale or rubbing carbonised plant films and delicate bryozoan meshes.
For stable limestone, begin with gentle surface cleaning under magnification. Fossil and matrix may both be calcitic and break together, so do not force hard rock from a shell or coral and do not use household acids. Keep pyritic material dry, avoid varnish or routine coating, and leave unusual tracks, articulated remains and large plant structures unprepared for specialist examination.
IDENTIFY YOUR FINDS
Need help identifying a fossil? Share clear photos, where you found it and its size with the community.
FURTHER READING
Geological excursion: Carboniferous rocks of the Howick shore section
Davies and colleagues: the giant Howick Arthropleura and its geological setting
University of Cambridge: the Howick Arthropleura discovery
BGS: Alston Formation
BGS: Stainmore Formation
Boyd and McIlroy: Neoeione and the interpretation of Howick burrows
Natural England: Northumberland Shore SSSI
Natural England: Howick to Seaton Point SSSI, the separate southern stretch
ACCESS RIGHTS
The main Howick Bay shore, including the checked starting-area and Arthropleura locality, lies within Northumberland Shore SSSI. The separate geological Howick to Seaton Point SSSI starts farther south: its name must not be used to imply that it covers the whole bay. Follow the official Northumberland Shore record, the southern geological site record and current signs for the precise stretch visited.
Public walking access does not grant permission to remove fossils. Observe the reefs and cliffs without hammering or digging, avoid disturbing coastal birds, and establish the landowner’s permission and any necessary Natural England consent before extracting or taking material. The named permissions for the 2018 scientific recovery were specific to that work and do not constitute a general public collecting licence.
It is important to follow our ‘Code of Conduct’ when collecting fossils or visiting any site. Please also read our ‘Terms and Conditions‘
LINKS
♦ Fossil Discussions
♦ Fossil Articles
♦ Buy Fossils, Tools and Equipment
♦ Buy Crystals, Meteorites, and Artefacts
♦ Join Fossil Hunts
♦ UK Fossils Network
