Little Haven’s steeply folded Carboniferous sandstones and shales reveal a former coal-bearing landscape. The coves beside the village offer striking geological features and occasional plant fossils, from frond impressions to ribbed stems preserved in loose shale.
FIND FREQUENCY: ♦ – Plant impressions occur, but many loose fragments are incomplete or poorly preserved.
CHILDREN – The village beach and rock pools suit supervised exploration; the rocky coves require careful tide planning.
ACCESS – A short walk leads from the village car park to the main beach. Reaching the adjoining coves depends on the tide and uneven rock.
TYPE – Coastal Coal Measures exposures, loose shale and sandstone blocks, plant impressions and historical non-marine bivalve records.
DIRECTIONS
♦ Approach Little Haven along the village lanes and use the signed National Park car park. Parking charges apply seasonally; check the current tariff and notices. The village beach is a short walk away.
♦ The geological stretch includes The Settlands immediately north of the village and the coves towards Rooks Bay and Falling Cliff to the south. Plan any foreshore exploration for a falling tide near low water, leaving ample time to return.
♦ Headlands and rocky channels can cut off the return route before the open beach is covered. Do not rely on reaching Broad Haven as an emergency escape.
♦ National Park walk reference: SM856127, Little Haven village.
FOSSIL HUNTING
The most useful material is usually fine-grained shale rather than the conspicuous coarse sandstone. Inspect naturally weathered surfaces of loose pieces in the coves north and south of the village, where access and collection are permitted. Thin bedding surfaces may carry carbonaceous plant films or impressions; many fragments are too broken or weathered for a close identification.
Look for a repeated biological pattern: rows of small leaflets along a frond, a branching stem, or the regularly spaced nodes and longitudinal ribs of a Calamites axis. A dark patch alone is not enough to identify a fossil. Sandstone may preserve an impression of a larger piece of wood, whereas a loose coal chip commonly shows little recognisable plant anatomy. The photographs below include a wood impression and shale material from this locality.
The Geological Survey recorded fern and seed-fern foliage in The Settlands and Little Settlands, together with horsetail-like remains. Its historical lists include Mariopteris, Neuropteris, Alethopteris and Calamites. These records show the range once recovered from particular beds, rather than promising that every kind will be found on a visit. The finer locality distinctions and original names are retained in the detailed geology section.
Some Settlands shales also yielded non-marine bivalves, historically identified as Carbonicola, Anthracomya and Naiadites. A curved shell outline or paired valves on a fine bedding surface may be a better clue than colour. At Falling Cliff and Rooks Bay, the recorded plant assemblages include different combinations of foliage, jointed stems and lycopsid remains. Do not assume a loose beach fossil identifies the bed from which it came.
Where a promising permitted loose piece is found, record the cove, date and matrix, photograph the surface before cleaning and keep any matching part and counterpart together. Observe seams and folds from stable open ground. Cliff faces, caves and old workings are places to leave undisturbed, not places to seek a fresh collecting surface.
Significant discoveries, geological research and conservation milestones at Little Haven.
1916 – Survey documents the coastal rocks and fossils
Cantrill and colleagues published a detailed account of The Settlands, Falling Cliff and Rooks Bay, distinguishing fossil assemblages and recording folds, faults, coal seams and uncertain correlations. This is a documented geological milestone, not a claim that fossils were first discovered here in that year.
2002 – Northern coastal section included in protected-site notification
The Newgale–Little Haven Coast SSSI notification recognised the coastline’s geological and marine biological importance. Its structural interest includes the Broad Haven–Settling Nose section; the designation also protects habitats beyond the fossil-bearing rocks.
2009 – Modern Coal Measures terminology clarified
The national Carboniferous framework distinguished the Lower and Middle Coal Measures formations and recorded the Middle Coal Measures outcrop south of Little Haven. This provides the modern nomenclatural context for interpreting the older local descriptions.
GEOLOGY
The rocks around Little Haven belong to the South Wales Coal Measures Group, deposited during the late Carboniferous. Sand accumulated in comparatively energetic channels, while finer mud and plant debris settled in quieter parts of the associated lowland environment. Peaty accumulations ultimately became coal. The alternation of resistant sandstone with softer shale, fireclay and thin coal helps explain both the rugged headlands and the recessed coves.
The cliff succession has since been compressed into steep folds, faulted and locally overturned. These Variscan structures make a simple walk along the shore very different from walking steadily up through geological time: the same package may be repeated, cut out or inverted. At The Settlands the Survey described thick sandstone packages enclosing softer fossil-bearing beds; south of the village it recorded a different arrangement of mudstone, sandstone and named coal seams. Similar-looking sandstones on opposite sides of the inlet cannot safely be matched by appearance alone.
Current BGS terminology distinguishes the Langsettian South Wales Lower Coal Measures Formation from the Duckmantian–Bolsovian South Wales Middle Coal Measures Formation. The latter is explicitly recorded in the outcrop south of Little Haven. These age assignments correct the reversed formation ages in older accounts of this guide. They should not be read as proof of a clearly exposed Lower–Middle formation boundary at the village beach: local deformation and uncertain seam correlations prevent that tidy interpretation.
The most rewarding geological observations are therefore the relationships within each accessible exposure: sandstone over softer beds, the sharp anticline at the southern edge of The Settlands, and the steeply tilted shale and sandstone around the coves. The chart is a schematic guide to the local packages and named coal horizons, not a measured vertical log or a claim that every unit is visible on one tide.
The separate sandstone, shale and coal exposures, historical fossil horizons and structural complications around Little Haven.
SOUTH WALES COAL MEASURES GROUP
Strong folding, faulting and inversion interrupt the coastal succession around Little Haven. The Settlands, Little Settlands, the Point, Falling Cliff and Rooks Bay therefore require separate descriptions rather than one continuous measured column. Fossil records from White Wall/Broad Haven and Musclewick concern different exposures.
South Wales Lower Coal Measures Formation and South Wales Middle Coal Measures Formation
The modern regional framework assigns the Lower Coal Measures to the Langsettian and the Middle Coal Measures to the Duckmantian–Bolsovian. The Middle Coal Measures crop out south of Little Haven. Older local descriptions pre-date this terminology, and their individual sandstone and coal packages cannot all be assigned confidently to a modern formation boundary. The sources used here do not establish those boundary-defining marine bands in this beach section.
The Settlands: sandstone, shale and fireclay packages. Two substantial sandstone packages enclose softer shales, fireclays, thin sandstones and traces of coal. The northern sandstones are faulted against shales farther south and cut by fractures interpreted in the 1916 memoir as overthrusts directed from the south. Plant impressions and non-marine bivalves occur in the softer beds. The memoir’s comparisons with higher horizons were tentative, not a demonstrated local correlation.
Southern bounding sandstone and Fox Hole. The sandstone bounding The Settlands on the south is sharply anticlinal. Erosion of the underlying softer strata and thin coals created Fox Hole on the northern side of the creek. This relationship helps explain the cave’s position, but is not an invitation to enter it or work beneath its roof.
The Point south of the village inlet. The sandstone here resembles that at Fox Hole, but resemblance alone does not establish that it is the same bed. Because the rocks above the sandstones differ, the memoir inferred a fault passing inland along the inlet. This discontinuity is important when comparing the northern and southern coastal sections.
Mudstones and irregular sandstone bands south of the Point. Massive, poorly bedded mudstones contain irregular wedge-shaped bands of yellow, iron-stained sandstone. Farther south a substantial grey sandstone package overlies the local coal-bearing interval. These are local lithological observations; the available evidence does not justify attaching measured bed thicknesses or new formal member names to them.
Lower or Coal Vein, Little Vein and Upper or Crane Vein. In ascending order, the historical district coal group comprises the Lower/Coal Vein, Little Vein and Upper/Crane Vein. The memoir gives approximately 12 yards between successive seams, a district estimate of separation rather than seam thickness or a modern measured beach log. The Upper and Little veins chiefly produced culm, while the Lower yielded coal. The Deep Level began at Falling Cliff on the Crane Vein; the inland Woodland Colliery workings provide mining context, not visitor access points.
Falling Cliff sandstone and structural repetition. Sandstone above the coal-bearing interval forms Falling Cliff. The memoir traced its reappearance towards Musclewick in an inverted position, illustrating the effects of folding on the coastal outcrop. Its alternative correlations between the Little Haven coal group and Broad Haven were competing interpretations. They do not establish a single proven seam equivalence, total formation thickness or continuous collecting route into Musclewick.
Historical fossils: south-east corner of The Settlands. The 1916 memoir lists Mariopteris muricata; Neuropteris heterophylla, N. obliqua and N. tenuifolia; Anthracomya sp.; Carbonicola aquilina, C. ovalis and Carbonicola sp.; and Naiadites cf. quadrata. These are the source’s historical identifications, not a claim that every name is an accepted modern combination. They are tied to memoir locality 1 and Appendix I90, rather than the whole coast.
Historical fossils: northern Settlands and Little Settlands. The north-side Settlands record (locality 2, Appendix I91) includes cf. Anthracomya modiolaris, Carbonicola acuta and C. aquilina. Little Settlands (locality 3, I92) yielded Alethopteris decurrens, A. lonchitica, Neuropteris sp., Calamites undulatus and Calamites sp. Its north side (locality 5, I94) yielded Neuropteris gigantea, Calamocladus equisetiformis and Calamocladus sp. These northern-extension records are distinct from the village’s main beach.
Historical fossils: Falling Cliff. The foot of Falling Cliff (memoir p. 122, locality 1; Appendix I95) yielded Neuropteris cf. callosa, N. heterophylla, a cyclopteroid pinnule of Neuropteris sp., Calamites undulatus, Calamites sp. and Sphenophyllum cuneifolium. The memoir’s separate locality 2 list belongs to Musclewick/Talbenny, so its additional foliage records must not be attributed to Falling Cliff.
Historical fossils: Rooks Bay. South of the fault in Rooks Bay (memoir p. 122, locality 3; Appendix I97), the Survey recorded Neuropteris rectinervis, Annularia radiata, Lepidodendron obovatum and Sigillaria sp. Together with the Falling Cliff assemblage, these records establish a varied plant component while retaining the separate provenance of each collecting horizon.
Survey specimen-register provenance. The original catalogue links south-east Settlands to Pembrokeshire 26 SE Eλ1, O.T.J. 1481–1494 and Pl. 523–531; north-side Settlands to Eλ2 and Pl. 551–553; Little Settlands to Pl. 554–565; and its north side to Pl. 566–571. Falling Cliff is Wλ1, Pl. 595–598 and 611–625, and Rooks Bay is Eλ7, Pl. 626–639. These are historical register groups, not verified present-day museum object records or evidence of type status.
References. Cantrill, T. C. and colleagues (1916), The country around Milford, Geological Survey memoir, pp. 119–122 and Appendix I (p. 170); Waters, C. N. and colleagues (2009), A lithostratigraphical framework for the Carboniferous successions of southern Great Britain (onshore), BGS Research Report RR/09/01, sections 5.4.1–5.4.2.
SAFETY
Check tide times and the weather before setting out. The headlands and adjoining coves can be cut off on a rising tide; return before the route narrows and never depend on wading around a point. Avoid rough seas and waves breaking onto the rock platforms.
Keep well clear of cliff bases, overhangs, caves and mine remains. The strongly fractured cliffs can shed material without warning. Wet shale, seaweed and uneven blocks are slippery; wear footwear with good grip and supervise children closely. Stay on established paths above the cliffs.
EQUIPMENT
A hand lens, camera, notebook and small padded containers are more useful than heavy tools for observing the plant impressions. Wear sturdy footwear and carry suitable weatherproof clothing. Take only material whose removal is permitted by the landowner and site guidance.
Do not hammer bedrock, cliff faces or large fixed blocks. If permission specifically covers splitting a sound loose piece, use eye protection and a small geological hammer, work away from other people and follow an existing bedding parting rather than breaking through a promising fossil.
CLEANING AND TREATING
Begin with a dry, soft brush and handle shale fragments by their edges. Carbonaceous plant films and the surrounding shale can be very fragile. Avoid soaking, vigorous scrubbing, wire brushes or trying to carve a deeper outline around an impression.
Keep matching halves together and retain the locality label. Allow damp material to dry gradually in a supported position. If a specimen begins to flake or crumble, seek specialist preparation advice before applying a consolidant; indiscriminate glue or varnish can conceal diagnostic detail.
IDENTIFY YOUR FINDS
Need help identifying a fossil? Share clear photos, where you found it and its size with the community.
FURTHER READING
BGS: A lithostratigraphical framework for the Carboniferous successions of southern Great Britain
Pembrokeshire Coast National Park: Little Haven walk and map
Natural Resources Wales: Newgale–Little Haven Coast SSSI citation
ACCESS RIGHTS
The coast northwards from Little Haven lies within Arfordir Niwgwl–Aber Bach / Newgale–Little Haven Coast SSSI, designated for geological and marine biological features. The designation is not a collecting licence or a blanket right of access. The southern coves must not be assumed to have identical boundaries or management merely because they appear in this guide.
Use established public access and follow current signs and any local restrictions. Seek the landowner’s permission before removing specimens and check with Natural Resources Wales before research or work affecting protected exposures. Leave bedrock, cliff faces, caves and fixed blocks undamaged, and avoid disturbing rock-pool and under-boulder habitats. Where removal is not expressly permitted, photograph finds in place.
It is important to follow our ‘Code of Conduct’ when collecting fossils or visiting any site. Please also read our ‘Terms and Conditions‘
Joe Shimmin. Last inspected 2007, Updated 2017, Edited by Jon Trevelyan 2016
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