Peacehaven’s Late Cretaceous chalk yields echinoids, molluscs and occasional fish remains, with beach scour controlling exposure. Fossils occur on the rocky foreshore and in loose blocks, while flint bands and marl seams reveal how the beds change between Bastion Steps and Friars Bay.
FIND FREQUENCY: ♦♦♦ – Scour can reveal chalk fossils; beach cover and preservation vary.
CHILDREN: ♦♦ – Rocky ground, tides and cliff falls make this unsuitable for young children.
ACCESS: ♦♦♦ – Bastion Steps involve 188 steps and a substantial climb back. Check current signs and closures.
TYPE: Chalk foreshore and loose blocks; leave giant ammonites and in-situ features intact.
DIRECTIONS
♦ From the A259, head towards the eastern side of Peacehaven. The council identifies Bastion Steps at the end of Steyning Avenue, BN10 8LS.
♦ Bastion Steps have 188 steps. Use them only when open, follow signs and allow for the climb on your return. The old Seaview Road/Friars Bay approach is a separate route.
♦ Check local parking restrictions; do not park on the grass or assume residential streets provide unrestricted parking.
♦ Original guide reference: TQ 42642 00294 – 50.78467°N, 0.02212°E. This reference is retained separately from the council’s Bastion Steps address.
FOSSIL HUNTING
Peacehaven offers two different fossil-hunting experiences: observing fossils still embedded in the chalk platform, and examining loose chalk and flint on the beach. Scouring can reveal clean rock that was previously hidden by sand and shingle, so the same stretch may look very different on successive visits. Begin by looking at what is actually exposed rather than expecting a familiar photograph to identify a permanently visible collecting spot. Where the shore is covered, carefully inspecting a small area of loose pebbles can be more useful than searching an algae-covered platform.
Echinocorys is a characteristic find, including forms traditionally called Echinocorys cincta. Compare the rounded upper surface, flatter underside and the position of the openings when enough of the test survives. Size and a domed profile alone do not establish the species: the genus varies considerably through the local succession, and many beach examples are worn, incomplete or distorted. Larger specimens can come from higher beds and reach the beach in fallen material. Their position in the shingle is therefore not a reliable guide to their original horizon.
Small echinoids deserve a separate search. The local illustrated record includes flint internal moulds of Offaster, some only about a centimetre across, and Conulus. They can blend almost completely into the shingle. Examine rounded pebbles for a consistent body shape, a flatter base and traces of the characteristic five-part arrangement; rotate them in the light rather than relying on colour. A flint mould represents the inside of the original test and may lack its detailed outer surface. Do not force a species identification when those diagnostic features have been lost.
In chalk, Offaster pilula occurs in fossil-rich bands rather than evenly through every block. BGS records the lower productive belt with Echinocorys on the platform west of Bastion Steps. This helps explain why one piece can contain several small echinoids while adjacent material appears barren. Examine already weathered block surfaces first, and retain matrix around fragile specimens. Keep finds from chalk separate from loose flint moulds in your notes, because they preserve different evidence and may have different transport histories.
Other Peacehaven finds reward looking for different patterns. In Neithea, ribs radiate outwards across the shell, giving a fan-like appearance even to a partial valve. The starfish Crateraster is represented by separate ossicles, the small shaped plates that fitted together along the animal’s margin; look for a regular joint face and surface detail rather than a star-shaped fossil. Its marginal plates lack the conspicuous recessed rim found in some other Chalk starfish. The solitary coral Parasmilia has a cup with thin internal partitions, or septa: a well-preserved exposed top shows these directed towards the centre. Fish remains are another occasional possibility. Preserve possible scales, teeth or bone in the surrounding chalk and photograph them before preparation.
The giant Parapuzosia ammonites are outstanding features to see in place. Look for a broad coiled form standing above the surrounding platform; differential erosion can leave a low pedestal rather than a neat, easily recognised spiral. The council identifies the stretch between Bastion Steps and Friars Bay Steps and asks visitors not to hammer or remove the fossils. Use photographs with a scale and a location note. Follow current site guidance for loose material, avoid excavation of the platform and never approach an unstable cliff or fresh fall in pursuit of a better specimen.
A chronological record of fossil discoveries and geological research at Peacehaven.
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
Peacehaven exposes Newhaven Chalk and lower Culver Chalk of the White Chalk Subgroup. Marls, flints and sponge-rich layers divide the white chalk into recognisable horizons; Peacehaven, Meeching and Bastion Steps are informal packages within Newhaven Chalk.
The visible pattern of seams reflects contrasts within the chalk rather than a stack of identical white beds. Branching flints in the Peacehaven package preserve the shapes of burrow systems; higher up, the Meeching marl pair is associated with iron-stained sponge-rich layers. Telscombe Marl 1 contains reworked pieces of chalk, and the Arundel Sponge Bed forms another intermittent red-stained marker. The Castle Hill Marls mark the approach to the lower Culver Chalk, whose numbered flints differ in size, shape and spacing.
The eastern Friars Bay exposure adds a separate view of lower Newhaven Chalk. Here the Brighton Marl, rounded-nodule Friars Bay flints and successive marl markers can be followed through the local folded structure. Friars Bay Marl 1 is laminated and rich in inoceramid shell debris; higher markers include the Rottingdean pair and Roedean triple marls. These lithological and fossil contrasts make useful geological markers, but their occurrence farther east does not mean that all are visible below the Bastion Steps section. The changing dip and beach cover determine which parts of the succession emerge at shore level.
At Bastion Steps, the lower Peacehaven beds dip below cliff level. The Friars Bay anticline and adjacent syncline bring different horizons into view farther east. These distinct exposures must not be combined into a single measured local cliff face.
The basal Culver succession belongs to the Tarrant Chalk Member, with Castle Hill Flints 1–9 shown in the Bastion Steps section. Thin periglacial cover overlies the Chalk; it is distinct from the Palaeogene cap at Castle Hill, Newhaven.
Detailed geology and stratigraphy of Peacehaven.
Peacehaven’s defended cliff and shore, including the eastern Friars Bay exposure and Bastion Steps section. Portobello/Telscombe is a separate western context, not a substitute exact section.
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.
Eastern Friars Bay lower exposure. Lower Newhaven Chalk around the anticline includes Splash Point and Old Nore strata: Brighton Marl, Friars Bay flints/marls and markers up to the Roedean triple marls. These are lower strata exposed separately around the anticline, rather than a complete lower succession visible beneath the Bastion Steps face.
Friars Bay Brighton Marl. The lower local section includes the conspicuous Brighton Marl, marking the transition from Splash Point into Old Nore beds.
Friars Bay flint markers. The local GCR prose identifies the Friars Bay Flints as rounded, laterally traceable nodular seams; individual numbered thicknesses are not given.
Friars Bay marl succession. The local lower Newhaven sequence includes the Friars Bay marls, with the first a laminated shell-debris-rich seam. The measured figures distinguish the subsequent numbered markers.
Friars Bay Rottingdean marls. The lower local succession rises through the conspicuous Rottingdean pair below the Roedean set.
Friars Bay Roedean triple marls. The three Roedean marls form the upper part of the lower Friars Bay succession explicitly described in the GCR account.
Friars Bay Marl 1. The lowest numbered marl is the laminated, inoceramid-debris-rich marker in the lower Newhaven succession.
Friars Bay Marl 2. The second named marl lies above the lower Friars Bay flint pair in the correlated local marker scheme.
Friars Bay Marl 3. The third named marl succeeds Marl 2 below the younger Old Nore marl sequence.
Friars Bay Flint 1. The lower of the two numbered rounded-nodule flint seams in the local correlation.
Friars Bay Flint 2. The upper separately numbered flint seam, distinguishable from the more widely scattered horn-like flints at lower levels.
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.
The Friars Bay anticline and neighbouring syncline raise and lower marker beds along the coast. At Bastion Steps, lower Peacehaven beds dip below cliff level; the broader coastal succession is therefore distributed between separate exposures.
Small Offaster pilula occur in loose chalk, while wave-worn Echinocorys and large ammonites including Parapuzosia have been recorded on the platform.
At Bastion Steps a thin periglacial cover overlies the Chalk; this differs from the Palaeogene cap at Castle Hill.
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.
Castle Hill Flint 1. Numbered flint marker in the Bastion Steps Tarrant Chalk succession. Its local individual thickness is not stated.
Castle Hill Flint 2. Numbered flint marker in the Bastion Steps Tarrant Chalk succession. Its local individual thickness is not stated.
Castle Hill Flint 3. Numbered flint marker in the Bastion Steps Tarrant Chalk succession. Its local individual thickness is not stated.
Castle Hill Flint 4. Numbered flint marker in the Bastion Steps Tarrant Chalk succession. Its local individual thickness is not stated.
Castle Hill Flint 5. Numbered flint marker in the Bastion Steps Tarrant Chalk succession. Its local individual thickness is not stated.
Castle Hill Flint 6. Numbered flint marker in the Bastion Steps Tarrant Chalk succession. Its local individual thickness is not stated.
Castle Hill Flint 7. Numbered flint marker in the Bastion Steps Tarrant Chalk succession. Its local individual thickness is not stated.
Castle Hill Flint 8. Numbered flint marker in the Bastion Steps Tarrant Chalk succession. Its local individual thickness is not stated.
Castle Hill Flint 9. Numbered flint marker in the Bastion Steps Tarrant Chalk succession. Its local individual thickness is not stated.
References
SAFETY
Check tides before setting out and plan to return before the sea reaches the cliff base. The rocky foreshore can be slippery, and cliff falls are frequent enough to require a wide margin from the cliffs.
Allow for 188 steps on the return to the cliff top. Obey barriers and closures, and do not seek shelter beneath an overhang.
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 and the climb back up the steps.
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
Follow Peacehaven Town Council’s guidance, including its request not to hammer or remove the giant ammonites between Bastion Steps and Friars Bay. Respect protected geological exposures, current signs and access restrictions; designation alone is not a blanket permission to collect.
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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