There are similar zones at Monmouth Beach to those found in the Lias of Church Cliffs. Ammonites, bivalves and reptile remains can be found on the foreshore but collecting is always at its best after a good scour and stormy weather.
DIRECTIONS
♦ From Charmouth, drive on the A3052 (Charmouth Road) to Lyme Regis. Drive through the town, climbing a very steep hill (Pound Road) and then veering to the left, as you exit the town centre.
♦ Whilst climbing the hill and near the top, you will see a signpost to Monmouth Beach on the left. Take this left hand turn into Cobb Road. Descend towards Monmouth Beach.
♦ There is a very large car park at the bottom of the hill. This is one operated by Lyme Reis Town Council and is certainly the most expensive! From here, you can walk to Chippel Bay (Monmouth Beach).
♦ Car park postcode: TA5 1EJ: Google Maps
♦ What3Words: Collecting area: ///sports.twinkling.uproot
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PROFILE INFO
FIND FREQUENCY: ♦♦♦ – Monmouth Beach is famous for its highly fossiliferous cliffs. However, unlike Charmouth and Lyme Regis, successful collecting here relies more on getting the right tidal and beach conditions.
CHILDREN: ♦♦♦♦ – This site is recommended for children. The whole family can sit on the beach, walk along the foreshore or pick up ammonites and other fossils.
ACCESS: ♦♦♦♦ – The car park is very close by and has toilets and a cafe. Access onto Monmouth Beach is easy, with a relatively short walk across sand but the terrain gets more rocky and might not suit those with walking difficulties.
TYPE: – Fossils are mostly seen on the foreshore, but can also be found at the bottom of scree slopes, slippages and occasionally a cliff fall. Hammering the cliff is not permitted because Monmouth Beach is part of the Jurassic World Heritage Coastline and is an SSSI site.
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FOSSIL HUNTING
Bones of ichthyosaurs and other marine reptiles are occasionally recovered from the foreshore, most commonly as small, isolated vertebrae or fragments of limb and rib bone. While not abundant, these remains do appear with some regularity, particularly after periods of strong wave action that scour the beach and remove overlying shingle. Fossils here are typically derived from a bed that lies beneath the modern beach level, meaning they are released naturally by erosion rather than by any direct interaction with the cliffs, which must not be disturbed. Careful searching around the tide line, especially among rock pools, loose boulders and wave-worn slabs, often proves most productive. Alongside reptile material, it is also possible to encounter fish remains such as scales and bone fragments belonging to early ray-finned fish like Dapedium and Pholidophorus.
The hard limestones of the Blue Lias are particularly fossil-rich and yield abundant ammonites, along with occasional large, well-preserved nautiluses. These fossils are often tightly enclosed within the rock and many of the more impressive specimens require careful preparation, commonly using an air abrader, to fully reveal their detail. Complete shells can be spectacular, preserving ribbing, sutures and body chambers in remarkable clarity. In addition to ammonites and nautiloids, the limestone can contain bivalves, gastropods and crinoid fragments, reflecting a diverse Early Jurassic marine ecosystem.
Ammonites and nautiluses from this area can exceed half a metre in diameter, with some of the largest and finest examples originating from Chippel Bay. Access to these fossils is limited by the extreme hardness of the limestone, and productive material is usually only exposed following significant cliff falls. More commonly, the beach is strewn with trace fossils and worn ammonite fragments, particularly species such as Psiloceras and Coroniceras, which are characteristic of the lower Blue Lias. Within the limestone bands themselves, brachiopods such as Calcirhynchia calcareaare relatively common, alongside the distinctive curved oysters Gryphaea arcuata, whose robust shells often survive transport and abrasion.
Between the centre of Chippel Bay and Pinhay Bay, the Fish Bed is well exposed at the base of the cliff and represents one of the most important fossil horizons in the area. This finely laminated shale records periods of low oxygen on the sea floor, allowing delicate remains to be preserved with minimal disturbance. Several horizons here contain fish material, though only one consistently yields near-complete specimens. Elsewhere, the shale is densely packed with disarticulated fish scales and bone fragments, giving a glittering appearance on freshly exposed surfaces. Whole fish remains, when found, may include species such as Dapedium, Pholidophorus and Leptolepis, sometimes preserving outlines of fins and body shape. Flat ammonites and thin-shelled bivalves also occur within these beds, adding to the diversity of the assemblage. Scattered among the shale are occasional nodules and lumps of chert, which can contain their own fossil content, including trace fossils such as burrows and worm tubes, offering further insight into the behaviour of organisms living on and within the Jurassic sea floor.
GEOLOGY
The coastline around Lyme Regis exposes one of the most celebrated geological successions in Britain, with Monmouth Beach to the west of the Cobb and Church Cliffs to the east providing extensive access to the lower Jurassic strata. Across this stretch, the Blue Lias Formation dominates the landscape, extending westward into Pinhay Bay and eastward through Charmouth to Black Ven. These rocks record repeated cycles of sedimentation in a shallow marine environment, producing the characteristic alternation of pale, resistant limestone beds and darker, softer shales. This rhythmic layering is especially striking at Ware Cliffs, where the stepped profile of the cliffs clearly reflects the contrasting resistance of the individual beds to erosion.
Overlying the Blue Lias are younger units that further shape the unstable nature of the cliffs. The Shales-with-Beef Member, part of the Charmouth Mudstone Formation, rests directly above the Blue Lias and is composed mainly of dark, fissile mudstones. These beds are often heavily fractured and include bands of fibrous calcite known as “beef,” formed by mineral growth within the compacting sediments. Above this lies the Black Ven Marl Member, a softer and more clay-rich sequence that readily weathers and contributes to frequent landslides. Material from both of these units commonly appears on the beach as loose blocks, slabs, and debris, transported downslope by repeated cliff collapses. Because of this continual movement, the cliffs in this area are extremely hazardous, and fossil collecting must be restricted to the foreshore well away from the cliff base, where sudden rock falls are common and unpredictable.
The Blue Lias Formation itself forms the lowermost part of the cliffs around Lyme Regis and is also widely exposed on the foreshore, particularly on rocky ledges revealed at low tide. These limestone platforms are an important feature of the coastline, providing direct access to beds that elsewhere remain buried. East of Lyme Regis, Church Cliffs are especially well known for yielding calcified ammonites derived from the Blue Lias limestones, although these fossils are released almost exclusively through natural erosion and cliff falls rather than in situ exposure. The overlying Shales-with-Beef Member is less fossiliferous in appearance, as most shells and skeletons have been flattened by compaction, but it still represents an important part of the sequence, marking a shift toward deeper, muddier conditions. Above this, the Black Ven Marl contains some of the finest fossil material in the region, though at Church Cliffs it is only accessible where landslips have delivered fresh material onto the beach.
At Chippel Bay, the Blue Lias is particularly well exposed and offers a rare opportunity to observe a substantial thickness of the formation in sequence. Following a major landslide, Beds H1 to H9 became visible and, in places, can still be traced along the foreshore and lower cliff. These named beds represent individual limestone and shale units within the Blue Lias and were historically recognised by quarrymen when the foreshore was worked for building stone and cement production. Beneath the prominent Table Ledge, a series of limestone bands leads down to the Fish Bed, a distinctive horizon associated with finely laminated sediments and fossil fish remains. Below this lies the Glass Bottle Bed, a thinner and more elusive unit that is normally hidden beneath beach deposits and is only revealed during periods of extreme scouring. Together, these exposures make the Lyme Regis coastline an exceptional natural laboratory for studying early Jurassic stratigraphy, while also serving as a reminder of the dynamic and often dangerous processes that continue to shape it today.
Shales with Beef and the Black Ven Marls can also be seen above the Blue Lias. The Gault Clay is mostly covered up.
Scattered across the beach are numerous blocks of Lower Cretaceous Upper Greensand of Albian age, easily recognised by their distinctive texture and colour. These rocks were originally deposited in shallow marine conditions and are commonly associated here with large, resistant blocks of chert. The chert often preserves trace fossils, including well-defined worm tubes, along with a variety of heavily worn and reworked fossil fragments that hint at the rich marine life present at the time of deposition. Their durability allows them to survive prolonged transport and abrasion, which explains their abundance on the foreshore compared with the softer surrounding sediments.
At Pinhay, the Cretaceous succession continues with chalk deposits that were formerly divided into Upper, Middle and Lower Chalk, resting unconformably above the much older Lias. Notably, the Lower Cretaceous is absent from this local stratigraphic sequence, marking a significant break in deposition before the onset of chalk formation in the Late Cretaceous. This sharp contrast in age and rock type reflects major changes in sea level and sediment supply over time. Despite the presence of abundant Greensand and chalk blocks on the beach, their source is not immediately obvious when examining the modern cliff line, where such beds appear to be missing altogether.
The explanation lies in the dramatic geomorphological history of the area. The coastline has been profoundly reshaped by a series of large-scale landslides that have transported material from much higher levels downslope and seaward. Many of the Cretaceous blocks found on the beach originated from cliffs that once stood considerably inland, before slope failure caused vast sections of the landscape to slump forward. Around 500 metres inland from the present Lias cliffs, the original, unslipped cliff line can still be identified, with the upper Cretaceous rocks preserved in their original position. These relict cliffs provide clear evidence of the scale of past movement and help to explain the otherwise puzzling presence of younger Cretaceous rocks resting among much older Jurassic strata on the shore.
SAFETY
Common sense when collecting at all locations should be used and prior knowledge of tide times is essential. Care should especially be taken at the headland, where the sea reaches the base of the cliffs at high tide. If you venture past this point, return in good time. Care must also be taken of falling rocks. These are frequent because the alternating hard limestone and shale of the Blue Lias make the cliffs highly unstable and prone to collapse.
EQUIPMENT
Collecting from the soft clays is best done using a pointed tool such as a wood chisel or small file, pick or trowel/small spade. However, it is possible to collect by splitting rocks, especially nodules, so you will also need a good hammer and a chisel, together with safety goggles. Most of the rocks are very hard so sometimes a heavy lump hammer is needed.
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.
ACCESS RIGHTS
This site is an SSSI and forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Jurassic Coast. 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 – West Dorset
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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