Saltburn’s Lower Jurassic cliffs and rocky foreshore yield belemnites, bivalves, brachiopods and ammonites. Search the loose beach material east of the beck, where fossils weather from several different rock units beneath Hunt Cliff; the harder sandstone and ironstone blocks can be difficult to prepare.
FIND FREQUENCY: ♦♦♦♦ – Belemnites and shell fossils are the most reliable finds; ammonites are less frequent and good starfish are exceptional.
CHILDREN: ♦♦♦ – Older children need close supervision on the boulder-strewn shore; stay well away from the cliffs.
ACCESS: ♦♦♦♦ – Seafront parking and facilities are close to the approach, but the collecting shore is uneven and tidal.
TYPE: Loose foreshore material below the Jurassic cliffs; avoid scree, cliff faces and intact exposure.
DIRECTIONS
♦ Reach Saltburn-by-the-Sea from the A 174 and follow signs through the town to the seafront. Pay-and-display parking is available at Cat Nab, close to the beck and the Ship Inn.
♦ From the seafront, use the bridge to cross the beck if approaching from the town side, then head east along the beach towards the cliffs. This guide covers the foreshore approached from Saltburn; it does not require a walk around Hunt Cliff to Skinningrove.
♦ Plan the visit around a falling tide and leave enough time to return by the same shore route. The Cleveland Way runs above the cliff but is not an escape route from the beach below.
♦ Check the car-park signs for current charges and restrictions, and follow any local closures or coastal warning notices. Toilets and cafés are available around the seafront; opening times vary.
FOSSIL HUNTING
Before taking even loose finds, check current restrictions and obtain the owner’s or manager’s agreement. If permission is unclear, photograph fossils and leave them in place. Begin with naturally loose stones and weathered blocks on the open foreshore east of Saltburn Beck. Different parts of the Jurassic cliff contribute different rocks: grey shale and nodules come from the Redcar Mudstone Formation, while tougher sandstone and ironstone arrive from higher beds. A fossil found loose on the beach therefore needs a description of its matrix as well as its find position; it cannot safely be assigned to a named bed simply because of where it was picked up.
Belemnite guards are a dependable starting point. Look for solid, tapering pieces and rounded cross-sections in weathered rock surfaces. Broken guards may expose a radiating calcite structure, while complete tips and delicate chambered parts need careful protection. Shell beds and blocks containing several belemnites or bivalves make useful association specimens; keeping a little surrounding rock is usually more informative than forcing every fossil free.
The historical Huntcliff sections record oysters, scallop-like bivalves, mussel-like shells and brachiopods as well as belemnites. Names used in the nineteenth-century logs include Pinna folium, Hippopodium ponderosum, Plicatula spinosa and Pecten aequivalvis. These are published historical identifications, rather than a promise that every name can be applied unchanged to modern finds. The brachiopod Rudirhynchia huntcliffensis is independently represented by Huntcliff specimens in the national geological collection. Examine weathered bedding surfaces for ribbed shells, small paired valves and slender calcareous tubes before deciding whether a block is worth keeping.
Ammonites occur in the shale and nodules as well as in harder material derived from the upper cliff. The old lower-cliff records include Ammonites jamesoni, A. brevispina and A. polymorphus; higher in the west-end section the authors recorded A. capricornus and A. fimbriatus. These historical names and broad zones predate the modern classification and do not define precise modern bed boundaries. Search for the curve of a whorl, ribbing or a partial impression on an already exposed surface, rather than breaking every round nodule: many concretions do not contain an identifiable ammonite.
Starfish and brittle-star material is scientifically significant but should be treated as an unusual find. A Huntcliff sun-star described in 1887 came from a detached slab containing a brittle-star arm, and its original bed was inferred from the fossil association and rock type. Preserve a suspected example in its slab, photograph its position and seek expert help before further splitting or cleaning. The soft material beneath one of the historic marker beds also yielded foraminifera and ostracods, adding a microscopic fauna to the larger fossils seen by ordinary beach collectors.
Significant fossil discoveries, geological research and mining history at Saltburn and Hunt Cliff.
1857 – Ironstone extraction gains a recorded lease
The earliest recorded lease for the Huntcliff ironstone workings dates from 1857, following quarrying during the 1840s and 1850s. The Main Seam reached the cliff edge, making its position and thickness central to the development of the local mining landscape.
c. 1872 – Underground workings develop beneath Huntcliff
A drift mine was opened after the earlier phase of coastal quarrying. Underground extraction provided further knowledge of the ironstone beneath Warsett Hill and left industrial remains above the coast.
1876 – Detailed Huntcliff fossil-bearing sections published
Two overlapping sections established a detailed record of the shale, limestone doggers, sandstone and shell-rich beds at Huntcliff, including a separately numbered west-end section. The work also recorded microscopic fossils from soft material beneath a distinctive double limestone bed, alongside the ammonites, belemnites and shell fossils used to interpret the succession.
1876 – Huntcliff in original species descriptions
Tate and Blake described Pseudoglyphæa hamifera from one very broken specimen in the Huntcliff Jamesoni beds, and recorded the new ostracod Cytherella crepidula from two Huntcliff capricornus specimens. Their new crinoid Pentacrinus interbrachiatus was also recorded from Huntcliff’s capricornus horizon and illustrated on plate III, figures 5 and 8. These are publication and original-description records; the text does not establish present repository accessions or a modern formal holotype designation for the material.
1876 – Saltburn microscopic new species
The monograph’s new foraminifera include Vaginulina anomala from five Saltburn examples and Othocerina rhomboidalis from four, both assigned to the historical capricornus horizon. Saltburn is also an original locality for the new Marginulina reversa, alongside Robin Hood’s Bay and Hob Hill. No separate Saltburn specimen count is supplied for that species.
1876 – shared original-description localities
Huntcliff appears in the original descriptions of Eucyclus cingendus, Littorina clevelandica, Chemnitzia citharella and Pleuromya mundula. The gastropod records concern the top of the capricornus package and/or the margaritatus beds, while P. mundula is recorded from margaritatus beds at both Huntcliff and Staithes. Each description includes more than one locality, so none by itself establishes an exclusive Huntcliff type locality.
1887 – An important Huntcliff sun-star is described
J. F. Blake published a specimen identified as Solaster Murchisoni, found by the Rev. G. Crewdson at the base of Huntcliff in a detached block that had fallen from above. An arm of Ophioderma Milleri on the same slab, together with the character of the rock, led Blake to infer an origin in the Star-fish Bed of the historical Capricornus Zone. The specimen was not recorded in place in an exposed bed.
1888 – The geological survey records local variation
Survey descriptions documented the fossil-rich shales at the foot of Huntcliff and the way they disappear beneath sea level towards Saltburn. Measurements from the mine also showed a thicker Main Seam at the southern end of the workings than at the northern end, preserving evidence of local variation in the ironstone.
1906 – Ironstone mining at Huntcliff ends
Closure of the mine brought the main period of ironstone extraction to an end. The surviving workings and transport remains became part of a coastal landscape in which the geology can be understood through both natural exposures and industrial history.
1917 – Saltburn’s supposed raised beach is reinterpreted
Observations at the supposed raised beach near Cat Nab overturned an earlier geological interpretation. The shell-bearing accumulation was recognised as a kitchen midden rather than evidence of a former natural shoreline, an important distinction when reconstructing sea-level history.
1975 – A Huntcliff bivalve becomes a named species
C. P. Palmer named Cardinia huntcliffensis from Huntcliff material in his revision of British Lower Jurassic Cardinia. The holotype, B.M.(N.H.) LL23952, and fourteen paratypes came from the historical “Margaritatus Sandstone”, assigned to the Margaritatus Zone. His illustrated holotype is a left-valve exterior, labelled from the Huntcliff “Sandy Series”. Huntcliff is therefore the species’ type locality, although this historical provenance does not establish an exact modern numbered bed or the date when the specimens were collected.
GEOLOGY
The Saltburn–Hunt Cliff shore exposes part of the Lias Group, deposited in the Early Jurassic sea that occupied the Cleveland Basin. It is a layered marine succession, not a single mass of Cleveland Ironstone. Redcar Mudstone forms the lower cliffs and rocky scars, with Staithes Sandstone above and Cleveland Ironstone in the upper cliff. The changing proportion of mud, sand and iron-rich sediment helps explain both the shape of the cliff and the different fossil-bearing blocks on the beach.
Grey shale and siltstone in the lower succession contain harder carbonate-rich and iron-rich concretions, traditionally called doggers, together with shell-rich layers. Softer rock wears away around the tougher bands and nodules, leaving uneven ledges and weed-covered scars. Sandier beds higher in the sequence record stronger current and storm influence in the marine basin. Their larger, more resistant fallen blocks make the foreshore rough underfoot and can preserve shells and other fossils within a very hard matrix.
The ironstone seams higher in Hunt Cliff belong to the Upper Pliensbachian Cleveland Ironstone Formation. These beds became economically important during nineteenth-century mining. Geological Survey records from Huntcliff Mine show the Main Seam thickening between the north and south ends of the workings, illustrating genuine local lateral variation. Mine measurements should not be confused with a complete accessible section on the present beach.
Ironstone does not make up the whole of the upper sequence. The formal Cleveland Ironstone Formation contains mudstone, siltstone and silty sandstone as well as the harder seams. Its characteristic iron minerals include siderite and berthierine, sometimes in tiny coated grains called ooids. Repeated changes between muddy sediment and iron-rich horizons record changes in the ancient seabed environment. A brown or rusty beach stone may be iron-rich, but its colour alone cannot identify a particular seam or formation.
The rocks change apparent height around the headland, and superficial glacial deposits increasingly conceal them towards Saltburn. Loose material below the cliff mixes fossils from several levels with modern beach sediment. Two detailed nineteenth-century sections preserve valuable records of the lower Jurassic beds at Huntcliff, including a specifically measured west-end section. They overlap and use historical ammonite zones; their individual measurements describe separate observations, rather than one continuous section that can be obtained by adding them together.
Detailed geology, historical measured sections and significant fossil horizons at Saltburn and Hunt Cliff.
This account concerns the foreshore approached from Saltburn, east of the beck beneath Hunt Cliff. Nineteenth-century descriptions of the wider Huntcliff outcrop are identified separately from the west-end measured section. Fossils in loose beach blocks may have come from different cliff heights. The historic logs are valuable records of the rocks, but shifting sand, erosion and rockfalls change what is visible today.
Lias Group
The marine bedrock belongs to the Early Jurassic Lias Group. The main Saltburn–Hunt Cliff succession is Pliensbachian, with the Redcar Mudstone Formation below the Staithes Sandstone and Cleveland Ironstone formations. It is not one uniform ironstone unit. Formation boundaries are lithological boundaries; the older Jamesoni and capricornus labels are historical ammonite-zone terms and cannot be used as automatic formation contacts.
Redcar Mudstone Formation
The lower cliff and foreshore contain shale and siltstone, carbonate-rich limestone doggers, iron-rich nodules and fossiliferous shell layers. Resistant concretions and bands stand out as ledges and scars as the softer mudrock erodes. The historical shale-and-dogger sections below describe this lower succession, including levels with ammonites, belemnites, bivalves, brachiopods and microscopic fossils.
Ironstone Shale Member: regional framework
The Ironstone Shale Member is the modern subdivision of the upper Redcar Mudstone Formation. The sources used here do not locate its lower boundary within either historical Huntcliff log. The Jamesoni-bed records cannot all be assigned to this member, and the Pyritous Shale–Ironstone Shale contact remains unlocated in these local sections.
Staithes Sandstone Formation
Higher in the cliff, silty sandstone and sandy siltstone are more resistant than the lower shale. The formation records a storm- and current-influenced marine setting, and its rocks are commonly bioturbated or preserve bedding structures. BGS defines its base at the Oyster Bed, a highly fossiliferous calcareous and ferruginous sandstone above the Redcar Mudstone, and its top at the transition into shaly mudstone with sideritic nodules of the Cleveland Ironstone Formation. These formal definitions do not identify a newly measured local thickness or justify transferring the numbered type-section beds from Staithes.
The historic starfish-bearing slab
Blake’s 1887 Huntcliff sun-star, described as Solaster murchisoni, came from a detached slab found by the Reverend G. Crewdson. An arm of the brittle star Ophioderma milleri occurred in the same block. The proposed association with the historical Star-fish Bed was inferred from the fossils and matrix, rather than observed in an undisturbed bed. This is a significant specimen record, but it does not establish a precise modern bed number for other loose starfish finds.
Cleveland Ironstone Formation
The upper-cliff formation is Upper Pliensbachian. Mudstone, siltstone and sandstone alternate with ironstone seams containing siderite and berthierine-rich ooids. The seams commonly cap small sedimentary cycles. Regional subdivision places the Penny Nab Member below the Kettleness Member; this framework is not a complete locally measured member-by-member thickness profile.
Penny Nab Member: regional lower division
This is the lower of the two formal Cleveland Ironstone members. The regional name helps place the succession beneath the Kettleness Member, while the detailed numbered Penny Nab type-section beds describe the separate Staithes locality. The local measurements documented below concern the Main Seam in the Huntcliff workings.
Kettleness Member: Main Seam context
The Main Seam belongs within the upper Cleveland Ironstone framework. At Huntcliff its outcrop reached the cliff edge and became the focus of ironstone extraction. Mine descriptions document lateral thickness variation, rather than a single value that applies to every beach block or cliff face.
Main Seam, Huntcliff Mine
The Geological Survey memoir gives 6 ft 3 in, about 1.91 m, at the north end of the workings and 8 ft 3 in, about 2.51 m, at the south end. These are separately located mine measurements. They demonstrate local thickening but are not the thickness of a complete accessible foreshore section or of the whole Cleveland Ironstone Formation.
Historical Huntcliff sections: separate from modern formation contacts
Tate and Blake’s historical ammonite-zone succession does not coincide with modern lithostratigraphic boundaries. They placed the old lithological Lower–Middle Lias division within their capricornus series. The two overlapping sections below are therefore presented independently of the modern formation and member headings; neither log establishes a precise modern contact.
The following are two separate historical Huntcliff logs, described from the top down. Their ammonite-zone and fossil names are those used by the original authors, rather than a modern bed-by-bed correlation. The numbered beds belong only to the west-end log and must not be confused with numbered beds at Staithes or other Yorkshire localities. The logs overlap and their thicknesses must not be added together.
Huntcliff Jamesoni-beds (Tate and Blake 1876, p. 83)
The first section describes the Huntcliff cliff and foreshore more broadly than the separately measured west-end section.
86 ft 3 in below the assumed capricornus-base, including 30 ft estimated on the shore; the overlying 34 ft 7 in and unmeasured hard shale are excluded from that total.
Hard shale in large blocks. Above the stated historical capricornus-base; no thickness printed.
Shale breaking into small pieces (20 ft).
Blue, crumbling shale (7 ft). Recorded fossils: Belemnites elegans, Pecten lunularis.
Limestone dogger (4 in).
Blue shale (7 ft 3 in). Immediately above the author’s assumed base of the capricornus-beds.
Double row of doggers (1 ft 6 in). Recorded fossils: Gresslya ovata, Lima eucharis. Immediately below the historical assumed capricornus-base.
Blue shale (10 ft 3 in). Recorded fossils: Belemnites charmouthensis.
Round doggers (3 in).
Shale (7 ft 8 in).
Dogger band (5 in).
Shale (3 ft 6 in).
Dogger (4 in).
Shale with a shell bed (2 ft 8 in). Recorded fossils: Belemnites elegans, Pinna folium, Plicatula spinosa.
Dogger (4 in).
Shale (2 ft 9 in).
Dogger (2½ in).
Shale (5 ft 2 in). Recorded fossils: Belemnites charmouthensis, Gryphaea obliquata.
Dogger (4 in).
Shale (1 ft 11 in). Recorded fossils: Belemnites, Pecten aequivalvis, Modiola scalprum, Gryphaea obliquata, Rhynchonella tetrahedra.
Flattened doggers (4 in). Recorded fossils: Unicardium cardioides, Pholadomya decorata.
Shale with scattered doggers (5 ft 7 in). Recorded fossils: Pinna folium, Hippopodium ponderosum.
Flattened doggers. No separate thickness printed.
Shale with scattered doggers and small elliptical/oval concretions (8 ft 8 in). Recorded fossils: Ammonites jamesoni, crustacean debris, shell masses. Concretions enclose crustacean debris and shell accumulations; other characteristic fossils are reported without being enumerated in this row.
Flattened doggers (4½ in). Recorded fossils: Belemnites.
Shale to the foot of the cliff (4 ft).
Shales and doggers on the foreshore down to low-water mark (30 ft (estimated)). Recorded fossils: Ammonites jamesoni, Ammonites brevispina, Ammonites polymorphus. Estimate based on exposed width and a dip of 2¼°. Not a directly measured vertical face.
Huntcliff west-end junction section (Tate and Blake 1876, pp. 92–94)
Explicitly west end of Huntcliff, approached eastwards from Saltburn. A separate partly overlapping section, not continuation of Log A.
Bed 1: Greenish sandy beds followed by blue hard shale with dogger bands and thick blocky shale (30 ft). Recorded fossils: Ammonites hybrida, Leda graphica, Limea acuticosta, Monotis inaequivalvis. The 30 ft bracket embraces the three lithological lines of Bed 1; these are not three separately measured beds.
Dogger band immediately below Bed 1. Recorded fossils: Chemnitzia blainvillei. No separate thickness printed; appears between numbered Beds 1 and 2.
Bed 2: Blue hard shale in large blocks with greenish shaly-sandstone bands (10 ft). Recorded fossils: Ammonites fimbriatus, Ammonites capricornus, Belemnites clavatus, Monotis inaequivalvis, Inoceramus ventricosus, Lima eucharis, Lima hermanni, Pecten lunularis, Pecten aequivalvis, Rhynchonella tetrahedra. Radiating selenite crystals occur in the partings.
Bed 3: Nodular band of argillaceous limestone (5 in).
Bed 4: Greyish-blue, slightly sandy hard shale in thick blocks (6 ft 4 in). Recorded fossils: Ammonites capricornus, Belemnites clavatus, Inoceramus ventricosus.
Bed 5: Nodular band of brown argillaceous limestone (5 in). Recorded fossils: Pecten lunularis.
Bed 6: Greyish-blue sandy shale (6 ft 3 in). Recorded fossils: Pecten aequivalvis.
Bed 7: Double argillaceous limestone bed in irregular broken masses (10 in). Prominent historic marker. Soft brash immediately beneath yielded all the locality’s foraminifera and “Entomostraca” in the 1876 account.
Bed 8: Blue shale containing pyritic argillaceous-limestone spheres and occasional lenticular doggers (9 ft). Recorded fossils: Ammonites fimbriatus, Ammonites capricornus, Belemnites clavatus, Belemnites elegans, Inoceramus ventricosus, Pholadomya beyrichi, Pecten priscus. The printed 9 ft bracket covers blue shale, spherical balls, further shale, occasional lenticular doggers and lower shale. The fossil list is aligned at the lower part of that composite interval; avoid treating each subline as 9 ft.
Bed 9: Lenticular argillaceous limestone masses and globular doggers (10 in). Recorded fossils: Belemnites clavatus, Inoceramus ventricosus. Cone-in-cone structure at the top in places. Historical assumed base of capricornus-beds follows beneath.
Blue shale with detached doggers 2 ft 6 in down (15 ft). Recorded fossils: Chemnitzia blainvillei, Actaeonina marginata, Belemnites elegans, wood. The 15 ft bracket includes upper shale, detached doggers with gastropods, and lower shale with belemnites and wood. Do not give each subline as 15 ft.
Large depressed, irregular doggers (5 in). Recorded fossils: Chemnitzia blainvillei.
Blue shale (5 ft 9 in). Recorded fossils: Pecten aequivalvis, Ditrypa circinata. The historical account uses the spelling Ditrypa.
Argillaceous limestone in a broken band or as doggers (4 in). Recorded fossils: Pecten priscus.
Blue shale (6 ft). Recorded fossils: wood.
Large depressed doggers (5 in).
Blue shale with detached doggers at depths of 3 ft and 2 ft 4 in (4 ft 9 in). Recorded fossils: Belemnites, wood. The bracket embraces shale and internal doggers.
Large depressed, widely spaced doggers (5 in). Recorded fossils: Chemnitzia blainvillei, Actaeonina marginata, Gresslya ovata, Gervillia erosa.
Blue shale with occasional doggers at depths of 3 ft and 2 ft 4 in (7 ft 8 in). Recorded fossils: Belemnites elegans, Pecten priscus, Pecten lunularis, Plicatula spinosa, Ditrypa circinata.
Widely spaced lenticular doggers (5 in).
Blue shale (6 ft).
Lenticular dogger (4 in).
Shale (5 ft). Recorded fossils: Belemnites.
Scattered doggers and blue shale (1 ft). Recorded fossils: Ammonites striatus, Belemnites elegans, Pecten priscus, Pentacrinus. The combined dogger-and-shale package is 1 ft thick.
Irregular dogger (4 in). Recorded fossils: Ammonites striatus.
Blue shale with shell masses. Recorded fossils: Ammonites jamesoni, Pinna folium. No thickness printed; the published list of fossils is incomplete.
Microscopic fossil horizon beneath west-end Bed 7
Tate and Blake record foraminifera and ostracods in the soft brash immediately beneath the distinctive double limestone bed. This is a specific historical collecting horizon in the west-end section; no equivalent modern numbered bed is established here. Identifying its microscopic fauna requires specialist examination, rather than assigning names from the appearance of a beach pebble.
Historical exposure and dip at Huntcliff
Tate and Blake’s 1876 account traces the fossil-bearing beds around the wider Huntcliff headland. Nodules containing Ammonites fimbriatus occur in the scars north of Skinningrove; the bed rises beneath the highest part of Huntcliff and descends along its north face towards sea level at the Saltburn end. The A. Jamesoni beds form low cliff and weed-covered tidal exposures. Their statement that A. Jamesoni reaches 9 ft into the cliff describes its recorded vertical occurrence, rather than a 9 ft-thick named bed.
Historical capricornus package and gradual lithological passage
For Huntcliff, Tate and Blake estimated about 160 ft for their historical Ammonites capricornus package. They described the passage from laminated Jamesoni shales through marly capricornus shales into the sandier margaritatus beds as gradual. Their preferred lithological division between Lower and Middle Lias would fall within the capricornus series. This historical package therefore cannot be treated as a measured thickness of the modern Redcar Mudstone or Staithes Sandstone Formation.
Historical capricornus cliff-face distribution
In the 1876 account, the capricornus beds form much of the Huntcliff face, descend towards Saltburn and disappear beneath boulder clay before the town. A bed with Ammonites fimbriatus at the base of the first corner of Huntcliff is identified as the base of that historical series.
Historical whole-section aggregate
Tate and Blake also described Huntcliff as exposing 323 ft of their Middle Lias beneath the “grey shales”. This is a whole-section historical aggregate, distinct from their 160 ft capricornus estimate and from the two shorter measured fossiliferous logs. It is not a modern formation thickness.
Barrow’s Huntcliff foot fauna
Barrow’s 1888 Geological Survey memoir records Ammonites Jamesoni, A. brevispina, Belemnites elegans, Pinna folium, Hippopodium ponderosum, Plicatula spinosa, Gryphæa obliquata in considerable numbers at the foot of Huntcliff. He describes these beds sinking below sea level towards Saltburn, with the higher strata largely hidden by boulder clay.
Barrow’s higher sandy beds and inland limits
Barrow traced his Sandy Series into the inaccessible cliff face at Huntcliff Mine, continuing towards the northern part of the headland before passing inland beneath drift. His nearby sections in Saltburn Gill and Skelton Beck, including the fossil-rich beds at Marske Mill, are separate inland exposures.
Historical catalogue scope
The following records come from Tate and Blake’s 1876 fossil catalogue. “Huntcliff” is the historical headland locality, while “Saltburn” identifies records listed under that broader locality name. Most entries have a named ammonite horizon rather than an exact collecting point or numbered bed. The species names and horizon labels below follow the historical source; they do not imply that every identification remains current or that every occurrence came from the present west-end beach.
Historical Jamesoni catalogue: ammonite
Ægoceras Jamesoni; Ægoceras brevispinum; Ægoceras Regnardi (three fragments); Ægoceras striatum (rare, at the top); Amaltheus trivialis; Amaltheus lynx (two examples); Phylloceras Loscombi (five examples).
Historical Jamesoni catalogue: belemnite
Belemnites elegans; Belemnites charmouthensis; Belemnites araris; Belemnites apicurvatus.
Historical Jamesoni catalogue: gastropod
Trochus Thetis; Eucyclus Guadryanus (two imperfect examples); Cerithium Slatteri; Chemnitzia carusensis; Chemnitzia Blainvillei; Actæonina marginata (obscure examples).
Historical Jamesoni catalogue: bivalve
Pecten substriatus; Pecten equivalvis; Pecten priscus; Lima Hermanni; Lima Eucharis; Limea acuticosta; Plicatula spinosa; Monotis inaequivalvis; Modiola numismalis (identifications expressly considered doubtful); Macrodon intermedius; Cucullæa Münsteri ?; Leda galathea; Astarte striato-sulcata; Cardita multicostata; Cardinia attenuata (three examples); Hippopodium ponderosum; Unicardium cardioides; Pholadomya decorata; Gresslya striata; Pleuromya ovata; Arcomya elongata; Pinna folium; Nucula cordata; Leda subovalis (one example); Leda Zieteni; Pleuromya costata.
Historical Jamesoni catalogue: brachiopod
Rhynchonella furcillata (three examples); Rhynchonella subconcinna (four Jamesoni examples collectively from Huntcliff and Peak; one doubtful capricornus example at Huntcliff); Rhynchonella rimosa (four examples collectively from Huntcliff and Coatham); Rhynchonella tetrahedra; Spiriferina oxyptera (22 examples collectively from Huntcliff, Saltburn and Coatham); Waldheimia sarthacensis; Rhynchonella variabilis.
Historical Jamesoni catalogue: crustacean
Pseudoglyphæa hamifera (one very broken specimen).
Historical Jamesoni catalogue: annelid tube
Serpula plicatilis; Ditrypa capitata; Ditrypa quinquesulcata; Ditrypa circinata.
Historical Jamesoni catalogue: echinoderm
Cidaris Edwardsii (a Jamesoni tooth and capricornus tests); Pentacrinus Millerii ?.
Historical Jamesoni catalogue: reptile
Plesiosaurus, species indeterminate (Huntcliff; a large isolated dorsal vertebra).
Historical capricornus catalogue: ammonite
Ægoceras Henleyi; Lytoceras fimbriatum; Ægoceras capricornum; Ægoceras defossum.
Historical capricornus catalogue: belemnite
Belemnites apicurvatus.
Historical capricornus catalogue: gastropod
Eucyclus undulatus; Eucyclus cingendus (one example at the top of the capricornus zone; also recorded in margaritatus); Chemnitzia Blainvillei; Chemnitzia citharella (top of capricornus and in margaritatus); Actæonina ilminsterensis; Actæonina marginata (obscure examples); Pleurotomaria foveolata.
Historical capricornus catalogue: bivalve
Anomia numismalis; Pecten lunularis; Pecten substriatus; Pecten equivalvis; Lima Hermanni; Limea acuticosta; Plicatula spinosa; Monotis inaequivalvis; Inoceramus ventricosus; Inoceramus substriatus; Modiola scalprum; Modiola numismalis (identifications expressly considered doubtful); Modiola Thiollierei (one example from each Huntcliff horizon); Macrodon intermedius; Cucullæa Münsteri ?; Leda galathea; Leda minor; Leda graphica; Astarte striato-sulcata; Hippopodium ponderosum; Pholadomya Beyrichii (two examples); Pleuromya ovata; Thracia Grotiani (one example; identification considered unsatisfactory); Pecten calvus.
Historical capricornus catalogue: brachiopod
Rhynchonella subconcinna (four Jamesoni examples collectively from Huntcliff and Peak; one doubtful capricornus example at Huntcliff); Rhynchonella plicatissima; Rhynchonella calcicosta; Rhynchonella variabilis.
Historical capricornus catalogue: ostracod
Cytherella crepidula (two examples).
Historical capricornus catalogue: annelid tube
Ditrypa circinata.
Historical capricornus catalogue: echinoderm
Cidaris Edwardsii (a Jamesoni tooth and capricornus tests); Luidia Murchisoni; Pentacrinus Millerii ?; Ophiolepis Murravii.
Historical capricornus catalogue: crinoid
Pentacrinus interbrachiatus.
Historical capricornus catalogue: reptile
Plesiosaurus, species indeterminate (near Saltburn; isolated elongated vertebra, about 3 in long, 2 in high and 1¾ in broad; no species determined).
Historical margaritatus catalogue: ammonite
Amaltheus margaritatus; Harpoceras Algovianum (Saltburn; rare in the combined locality list).
Historical margaritatus catalogue: belemnite
Belemnites Milleri.
Historical margaritatus catalogue: gastropod
Discohelix aratus (upper margaritatus; Huntcliff and Saltburn both listed); Eucyclus cingendus (one example at the top of the capricornus zone; also recorded in margaritatus); Littorina clevelandica (lower margaritatus beds); Chemnitzia Blainvillei; Chemnitzia nuda (lower margaritatus beds); Chemnitzia citharella (top of capricornus and in margaritatus); Actæonina ilminsterensis.
Historical margaritatus catalogue: bivalve
Anomia numismalis; Pecten lunularis; Pecten substriatus; Pecten equivalvis; Lima Hermanni; Lima Eucharis; Limea acuticosta; Monotis inaequivalvis; Modiola scalprum; Modiola Thiollierei (one example from each Huntcliff horizon); Modiola subcancellata (lower margaritatus beds); Leda galathea; Leda minor; Astarte striato-sulcata; Cardita multicostata; Cardinia antiqua (sandstones, not rare); Hippopodium ponderosum; Pholadomya ambigua; Gresslya Seebachii; Arcomya arcacea; Gervillia ærosa; Goniomya hybrida (Saltburn, upper margaritatus; many specimens in the combined locality list); Gresslya lunulata; Pleuromya costata; Pleuromya mundula.
Historical margaritatus catalogue: brachiopod
Terebratula punctata; Rhynchonella tetrahedra; Rhynchonella calcicosta.
Historical margaritatus catalogue: annelid tube
Serpula limax; Ditrypa quinquesulcata; Ditrypa circinata.
Historical margaritatus catalogue: echinoderm
Ophioderma Milleri.
Historical armatus catalogue: gastropod
Eucyclus imbricatus. This catalogue attribution does not identify an equivalent bed in either of the measured Huntcliff logs.
Saltburn capricornus microfossil catalogue
The Saltburn capricornus microfauna catalogued in 1876 includes Glandulina humilis; Lingulina tenera; Nodosaria raphanistrum; Nodosaria nitida (one example); Dentalina communis; Dentalina funiculosa; Dentalina nummulina (five examples); Vaginulina legumen (four examples); Vaginulina anomala (five examples); Cristellaria recta; Cristellaria crepidula; Cristellaria Bronnii; Cristellaria varians; Cristellaria rotulata; Frondicularia lignaria ? (four examples; doubtful identification); Frondicularia Terquemi; Othocerina hæringense; Othocerina rhomboidalis (four examples); Polymorphina fusiformis; Marginulina reversa. The west-end section says that all the local foraminifera and small crustaceans were obtained from soft brash beneath Bed 7. The individual catalogue entries themselves give Saltburn and the historical capricornus horizon, rather than repeating a bed number.
Historical names and qualified records
Some catalogue details are important when comparing the fossil lists. Macrodon intermedius is explicitly identified as the shell called Cucullæa Münsteri in Part I of the book; the separate catalogue entry Cucullæa Münsteri ? concerns a different, doubtful identification. The catalogue’s Pecten priscus entry lists Huntcliff in the Jamesoni horizon, although the west-end measured log also records it in capricornus beds. Lima Eucharis is likewise listed in the catalogue for Huntcliff’s Jamesoni and margaritatus horizons, with a separate capricornus occurrence in the measured log. These differences belong to the historical records themselves.
BGS Rudirhynchia specimen provenance
The BGS Palaeosaurus catalogue records Rudirhynchia huntcliffensis from “Huntcliff, near Saltburn, Yorkshire”, including specimen GSM 39472, which is explicitly not designated a type. The Huntcliff-labelled series comprises GSM 39471–39484 and Zd 1299–1305. The individual GSM 39472 record gives only the obsolete, undifferentiated Middle Lias unit, without an exact bed. The species’ holotype, GSM 28583, is catalogued from Staithes, with an older identification as R. calcicosta.
Historic shore preservation and fallen blocks
Tate and Blake described the Huntcliff scars as strewn with large sandstone blocks fallen from higher in the cliff. Near high-water mark, shell-rich indurated layers capped hummocks of shale and partly protected the softer material beneath. This historical account helps distinguish fossils in fallen sandstone blocks from those associated with the lower shale exposures.
Saltburn microfossil preservation
The Saltburn specimens illustrated as Cristellaria recta show a shelly coating that obscures the spiral part of the test; the authors illustrated this material on plate XVII, figure 24. Their four examples of Othocerina rhomboidalis included two shorter, square-sectioned tests and two longer, rhomboidal ones.
Historical Huntcliff ironstone working-face thickness
Tate and Blake measured a 7 ft 6 in working face at Huntcliff, a foot thinner than at Craghall mine, 1¼ miles to the south-east. They treated this as an exception to the regional change in seam thickness and offered no explanation for the local thinning. This is a historical working-face measurement, distinct from Barrow’s later measurements at the north and south ends of Huntcliff Mine.
Further historical Huntcliff bivalve records
The catalogue records Plicatula calva in the margaritatus horizon, marked rare in its three-locality list, and Monotis cygnipes in the margaritatus sandstones. Monotis calva is recorded from both the capricornus and margaritatus horizons at Huntcliff. The four specimens mentioned after its separate Hawsker record cannot be counted as four Huntcliff specimens.
Historically qualified Bairdia liassica record
Tate and Blake listed Bairdia liassica from Huntcliff’s historical capricornus horizon. They cautioned that the variable carapaces placed under this name might represent more than one species, and perhaps more than one genus. The catalogue gives no numbered bed or Huntcliff specimen count.
Historical inland Jet Shale near Warsett Hill
Barrow’s 1888 account traces the historical Jet Shale inland beneath drift before it reappears at Huntcliff. Masses of shale marked old workings around the foot of Warsett Hill, after which the southerly dip carried the bed beneath boulder clay again. In modern regional terminology the Jet Rock lies in the Toarcian Mulgrave Shale Member of the Whitby Mudstone Formation. This broader-headland and inland observation is separate from the west-end beach succession; it does not provide a measured foreshore bed or establish the regional Jet Rock fauna at the collecting shore.
Younger cover and modern beach material
Glacial till caps or obscures parts of the Jurassic succession towards Saltburn. Modern sand, shingle, scree and boulders mix material from different cliff levels. Neither is a formal member of the Lias Group. Near Cat Nab, the historical supposed raised beach was subsequently interpreted as a shell midden, so that deposit cannot be used uncritically as a natural sea-level marker.
References
Tate, R. and Blake, J. F. (1876), The Yorkshire Lias, local sections and historical fossil catalogue.
Barrow, G. (1888), The geology of North Cleveland, pp.10–13,24–26,29–30,33–34,71–72,76.
BGS Lexicon: Redcar Mudstone Formation
BGS Lexicon: Staithes Sandstone Formation
BGS Lexicon: Cleveland Ironstone Formation
Simms, M. J. et al. (2004), British Lower Jurassic Stratigraphy, GCR 30, Cleveland Basin introduction.
Blake, J. F. (1887), On a New Specimen of Solaster Murchisoni from the Yorkshire Lias, Geological Magazine 4(12),529–531.
BGS Palaeosaurus catalogue, Rudirhynchia huntcliffensis specimens.
Lamplugh, G. W. (1924), Kelsey Hill and Other Drift Problems, Hull Geological Society Transactions 6,38–41.
The North Riding of Yorkshire, Nature 104,4 (1919).
BGS Lexicon: Ironstone Shale Member.
BGS Lexicon: Mulgrave Shale Member
BGS Lexicon: Whitby Mudstone Formation
SAFETY
Check local tide times and sea conditions before setting out. The shore narrows beneath the cliffs and a rising tide can cut off the return to Saltburn. Turn back early and do not rely on scrambling up the cliff or rounding the headland as an escape.
Keep well clear of cliff faces, overhangs and scree. Rockfalls can occur without warning, and recently fallen material may lie within the fall zone. Wet shale, seaweed-covered scars and large unstable boulders all increase the risk of slips and trapped ankles.
Wear footwear with reliable grip, take a charged phone and tell someone when you expect to return. Keep children beside you and give nesting and resting birds plenty of space. If someone is in immediate danger at the coast, call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.
EQUIPMENT
Wear sturdy footwear and carry tide information, a phone, a hand lens, a camera and a small supply of wrapping material and rigid boxes. A scale and notebook help record loose finds. The hard rock is no reason to strike the cliff or remove intact beds; any permitted work on a small loose block needs eye protection and ample space from other visitors. Confirm permission before removing loose specimens; when it is unclear, use the camera and leave finds in place.
CLEANING AND TREATING
Keep fossils supported in their original matrix and let wet specimens dry slowly at room temperature. Start with a soft brush. Hard sandstone, ironstone and calcitic fossils often fracture together, so avoid forceful levering, acids, bleach or attempts to polish the surface. Store crumbly or pyritic shale dry and separately, and seek specialist advice if deterioration begins. Do not coat every fossil; reversible consolidation is only appropriate when the specimen actually needs it. Leave possible starfish, articulated material or unusual vertebrate remains unprepared for expert assessment.
IDENTIFY YOUR FINDS
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FURTHER READING
Tate, R. and Blake, J. F. (1876), The Yorkshire Lias, local sections and historical fossil catalogue.
Barrow, G. (1888), The geology of North Cleveland, pp.10–13,24–26,29–30,33–34,71–72,76.
BGS Lexicon: Redcar Mudstone Formation
BGS Lexicon: Staithes Sandstone Formation
BGS Lexicon: Cleveland Ironstone Formation
Tees Valley Wildlife Trust, Hunt Cliff reserve.
Blake, J. F. (1887), On a New Specimen of Solaster Murchisoni from the Yorkshire Lias, Geological Magazine 4(12),529–531.
ACCESS RIGHTS
The Saltburn–Skinningrove coast is recognised as a Local Geological Site, and Hunt Cliff includes a Tees Valley Wildlife Trust nature reserve. The reserve’s steep maritime cliff and grassland are not accessible; keep to the public shore or the established cliff-top path and avoid disturbing nesting birds.
Do not assume that public access includes permission to remove fossils. Check current restrictions and obtain the owner’s or manager’s agreement before taking even loose finds. If permission is unclear, photograph the fossil and leave it where it is. Do not dig into the cliff, climb scree or damage intact rock exposures. Intrusive collecting or organised sampling requires specific agreement. Follow local signs and current advice.
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