Newhaven’s Late Cretaceous chalk contains small Offaster pilula and larger Echinocorys echinoids, with finds strongly dependent on beach conditions. The cliffs from Castle Hill towards Old Nore Point reveal marl seams and flint bands that help trace the succession. Large ammonites in the wave-cut platform should be photographed and left intact.
FIND FREQUENCY: ♦♦♦ – Echinoids and other chalk fossils occur in loose material; exposure and success vary.
CHILDREN: ♦♦♦ – Children need close supervision on slippery, boulder-strewn ground and must remain well clear of the cliffs.
ACCESS: ♦♦♦ – Fort Road is the approach to the west bank. Check access before setting out; the sandy port beach is closed.
TYPE: Chalk foreshore and loose blocks; avoid the cliff base and do not damage the platform.
DIRECTIONS
♦ Approach the west bank of the River Ouse estuary along Fort Road; the original guide identifies paid parking at its end. Check the current parking signs and charges.
♦ The sandy West Beach inside the harbour arm is closed. It is distinct from the shingle shore west of the arm. Check the council’s West Beach advice; do not pass locked gates or barriers.
♦ The original route continued west past the nature reserve towards the shingle shore. Follow only a currently open public route; do not assume a through-route is available.
♦ Ref: TQ 445 000 – 50.78172°N, 0.05455°E
FOSSIL HUNTING
Newhaven is particularly rewarding for learning to recognise fossils in chalk before trying to identify a complete specimen. Small echinoids may first appear as curved shell sections on a loose block, while larger examples are visible as outlines in wave-washed rock. This account concerns the chalk shore west of the harbour; it does not imply that the closed West Beach can be entered. Check the access information before planning a visit, and restrict any collecting to places where access and removal of loose material are permitted.
The characteristic small echinoid is Offaster pilula. Some blocks contain several individuals, but many others contain none: finding the right piece of chalk matters more than breaking a large quantity of rock. Examine naturally exposed faces for repeated small rounded or oval sections, then look closely for shell rather than assuming that every pale ring is an echinoid. An exposed section is useful evidence even when the animal itself has already been cut away by erosion. Keep a promising specimen in its supporting matrix instead of attempting to lever its thin shell out on the beach.
Larger Echinocorys are another important part of the locality’s fauna. Their domed tests can be conspicuous, yet a convincing outline on the platform may represent only the bottom of an otherwise missing animal. Look for an intact curved surface with the regular arrangement of plates and pore rows, rather than judging completeness from the outline alone. Turn a manageable loose piece over carefully and inspect its edges before deciding whether it is worth retaining. A less spectacular specimen that preserves its surface can be more useful for identification than a large, badly worn section.
The chalk beneath Castle Hill is scientifically interesting because the Meeching Beds contain unusual forms of Echinocorys. Elsewhere in the local succession, concentrations of Offaster pilula are separated by less productive intervals. Do not attach a precise bed name to an isolated beach block simply because it was found below that bed: fallen and wave-moved material mixes the succession. Note whether the matrix is soft white chalk, harder nodular chalk, flint-bearing or associated with a marl seam, and photograph it before cleaning.
Bryozoans, brachiopods, bivalves and crinoid fragments reward a closer look at the chalk. A brachiopod valve commonly has matching left and right halves, often with a central fold or groove; in a typical bivalve, the two valves form the matching pair. Shell ridges and a hinge or beak help distinguish these remains from a chalk chip. Under a hand lens, an encrusting bryozoan colony resolves into repeated tiny openings, while broken branching colonies resemble delicate twigs. Crinoid stem fragments consist of short joints: look for a central canal and an organised joint surface on disc-like pieces. Examine shell surfaces for organisms growing on them, and retain these associations together rather than cleaning every specimen down to a bare shell.
Giant ammonites, including Parapuzosia, are recorded along this coast. Treat an ammonite exposed in the platform as a feature to photograph and record in place, not a target for excavation. A rare belemnite fragment is recorded from the Arundel Sponge Bed at Newhaven. Its dense, solid guard contrasts with the thin hollow shell of an echinoid; a broken end may reveal radiating calcite around its centre. Concentrate on systematic inspection of accessible loose material, leave the cliffs and fixed platform undamaged, and record the date, exact finding place and matrix with each retained specimen.
A chronological record of fossil discoveries and geological research at Newhaven.
1914 – Chalk markers traced
Brydone’s work traced correlatable marl seams through the coastal chalk and linked them with fossil zonation.
1986 – Chalk framework established
Mortimore introduced the Newhaven and Culver subdivisions and a detailed local marker-bed framework, subsequently raised to formation rank.
1996 – Correlations refined
Work on volcanogenic marls linked the Old Nore marker with a northern German reference horizon, strengthening long-distance correlation.
GEOLOGY
The cliffs west of Newhaven harbour expose Newhaven Chalk Formation and the lower Culver Chalk Formation within the White Chalk Subgroup. The local Old Nore and higher succession is predominantly early Campanian, although Newhaven Chalk as a formation extends through a broader Santonian–Campanian interval.
The local chalk is far from featureless. Around Old Nore Point, the Rottingdean and Roedean marl markers precede Old Nore Marl, a conspicuous clay-rich seam associated with a break in deposition. Finger- and tube-shaped flints occur below it, while the overlying Peacehaven Beds include large branching flints shaped like Thalassinoides burrow systems. The sedimentary seams and the shapes of the flints provide different kinds of evidence for tracing beds along the coast.
Higher in the succession, paired Meeching marls are associated with red, iron-stained sponge-rich layers. The Telscombe marl set and Arundel Sponge Bed provide further markers before the Castle Hill Marls and the transition into Culver Chalk. Fossils also help distinguish intervals: the historical record notes changes in Echinocorys around Peacehaven Marl and in forms of Offaster around Telscombe Marl 1. At Castle Hill, seven to eleven flint bands survive in the lower Culver Chalk beneath the erosional cap. That variable preserved count records truncation of the succession, not seven to eleven equal-thickness beds.
Marl seams, sponge-rich horizons and conspicuous flint bands provide markers through otherwise similar white chalk. Peacehaven, Meeching and Bastion Steps are useful informal bed packages, rather than additional formations or members. Their changing heights along the coast make this a coastal composite rather than one continuous vertical face.
Culver Chalk is preserved at Castle Hill beneath an erosional Palaeogene cap. Only its lower Tarrant Chalk Member is relevant here. The overlying Palaeogene sediment is separate from the Chalk succession.
Detailed geology and stratigraphy of Newhaven.
Castle Hill cliffs west of Newhaven harbour to Old Nore Point. The closed sandy port beach inside the harbour arm is geographically distinct from the shingle shore west of it.
CHALK GROUP
WHITE CHALK SUBGROUP
Newhaven Chalk Formation
Late Cretaceous, Santonian–Campanian formation; the Old Nore and higher local succession is predominantly early Campanian. No single numerical age represents all these beds.
Rottingdean marls at Old Nore Point. Figure 3.92 traces these lower Newhaven markers in the shore and lower cliff beneath the Old Nore Marl near Old Nore Point. They are a local lower lateral exposure, not an imported Brighton log.
Roedean marls at Old Nore Point. The figure separately traces the Roedean marls above the Rottingdean markers and below Old Nore Marl. The labelled cliff heights do not provide individual marl thicknesses.
Old Nore Marl and underlying flints. A conspicuous clay-rich, volcanogenic marl lies above finger- and tube-shaped flints. It marks the base of the informal Peacehaven Beds and a significant break in deposition; the historical “2-inch” and “4-inch” names are not uniform measured thicknesses.
Peacehaven Beds. A package of chalk, marl seams and large branching, Thalassinoides-shaped flints. It is an informal bed package within Newhaven Chalk, not a formal member.
Peacehaven Marl. The upper boundary of the package marks a change in the Echinocorys assemblage; the overlying interval is the informal Meeching Beds.
Meeching Beds and flints. Chalk with characteristic flint bands and changing echinoid forms. Bed names retain their local field usefulness as informal subdivisions.
Meeching pair of marls and sponge beds. Two conspicuous marls, associated with red iron-stained sponge-rich layers, define the next break and the base of the informal Bastion Steps Beds.
Tavern Flints. Scattered mixed-size nodules, some tubular, lie below Telscombe Marl 1.
Telscombe Marl 1. Contains reworked chalk intraclasts. The historical fossil scheme records smaller Offaster pilula below and larger forms called Offaster pilula planatus above.
Telscombe Marls 2–4. Complete the four-marl marker set above Marl 1. Their separate local thicknesses are not supplied by the published account.
Arundel Sponge Bed. An intermittent, red iron-stained sponge-rich layer above the Telscombe marl group.
Castle Hill Marls. Highest marls marking the local Newhaven/Culver boundary. They are weak at Castle Hill; lateral equivalence with Pepperbox marls elsewhere does not justify importing an external boundary log.
Culver Chalk Formation
Late Cretaceous, early Campanian in the local preserved section. Only its lower part survives here.
Tarrant Chalk Member
Tarrant Chalk is the basal member of Culver Chalk. Spetisbury Chalk Member is not exposed in this coastal succession.
Castle Hill Flints. The numbered flint bands differ in nodule shape, size and spacing. At Newhaven, seven to eleven bands survive beneath the erosional Palaeogene cap; Bastion Steps displays numbered bands 1–9 in the GCR figure. Those are local preserved counts, not formation thicknesses.
Sliding laminae between flints. Pale pinch-and-swell layers record small-scale sliding. Correlative marl seams occur elsewhere; the local sliding structures are distinct from those separate measured marl sections.
Culver Chalk is preserved beneath the Palaeogene cap at Castle Hill, as documented in the local GCR photographs and section.
Small Offaster pilula occur in loose chalk, while wave-worn Echinocorys and large ammonites including Parapuzosia have been recorded on the platform.
A Palaeogene erosion surface and cap occur above Culver Chalk at Castle Hill. They are younger cover, not a Chalk member. The local GCR account describes the cap without assigning an exact formation here.
Historic papers defined the Santonian–Campanian boundary by the disappearance of Marsupites testudinarius. That is a historical zonal convention rather than the current globally ratified boundary definition.
References
SAFETY
Plan for a falling tide and an early return. Tidal cut-off, slippery weed and boulders can make the shore difficult, and cliffs can shed material without warning. Keep well away from cliff bases and overhangs.
Tell someone your route and return time, since phone reception may fail. Observe all current closures and do not treat access to one part of the coast as evidence that another is open.
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.
Loose chalk fossils can be fragile. A soft brush and careful packing are more useful than levering specimens from the platform; do not hammer cliffs or in-situ features.
CLEANING AND TREATING
Allow wet specimens to dry slowly at room temperature, then begin with gentle dry brushing. Support thin shells and exposed echinoid tests rather than scrubbing them or trying to force away attached chalk.
Avoid acids, bleach and routine varnish. Hard chalk or flint preparation can damage the fossil as easily as the matrix; stop if the surface is flaking and seek specialist advice. Keep potentially important specimens unprepared.
IDENTIFY YOUR FINDS
Need help identifying a fossil? Share clear photos, where you found it and its size with the community.
FURTHER READING
Flints in the Late Cretaceous Chalk of NW Europe
Mortimore, Wood and Gallois (2001), Newhaven to Brighton, British Upper Cretaceous Stratigraphy
BGS Lexicon: Newhaven Chalk Formation
BGS Lexicon: Tarrant Chalk Member
ACCESS RIGHTS
The original guide identifies protected coastal geology. Check current access and collecting requirements before visiting, and leave in-situ features and giant platform ammonites intact. The sandy port-beach closure does not establish a closure of the whole western coastline.
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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