The limestone reefs and sandstone beds east of Scremerston reveal a varied Carboniferous coast. Around Sea House and Saltpan Rocks, crinoids, corals, brachiopods, plant remains and burrows record repeated changes between shallow seas, sediment-rich shorelines and rooted coastal ground.
FIND FREQUENCY: ♦♦♦ – Crinoid fragments and other marine fossils can be seen in suitable reefs and weathered blocks; plant and trace fossils occur in particular sandstone beds.
CHILDREN: ♦♦♦♦ – The southern sandy approach can suit supervised families. The steeper northern access, slippery reefs and cliff-backed shore are less suitable for young children.
ACCESS: ♦♦♦♦♦ – Road access is close to the coast, with a short footpath approach at the northern start and an easier southern approach where currently open. Check parking and path conditions.
TYPE – Tilted limestone reefs, shale and sandstone on the foreshore, with loose cobbles and blocks. The named southern Skerrs form a separate, longer extension.
DIRECTIONS
♦ From Scremerston village, take the road beside the church east towards the coast. Follow the road left at the farm and then take the next right. Use the lawful railway crossing, obeying its signals and any closure notices; never walk along or cross the railway elsewhere.
♦ Beyond the crossing, the original approach starts near the bend where the road turns right. Park only where current signs and the road layout permit, without blocking agricultural access, passing places or the crossing.
♦ At the bend, take the established footpath north-west for about 250 m towards the coast. Use a currently open, safe path down where the slope eases; do not climb a cliff face or force a descent if erosion has made the route unsafe.
♦ The main guide covers a few hundred metres either side of the Sea House access. A second approach is reached by continuing south along the road for about 500 m towards the sandy beach and rock ledges near Saltpan Rocks and Cocklawburn. Use the public access actually open on the day.
♦ The main access reference is 55.73883°N, 1.96464°W, near Sea House. Plan a falling-tide visit and a return route before stepping onto the reefs. Near, Middle and Far Skerr are a distinct southern extension, not all within the short main visit.
FOSSIL HUNTING
The limestone is the best starting point for marine fossils. Look at naturally weathered surfaces and loose, rounded cobbles without breaking the reefs. Crinoid stems appear as discs, rings and segmented rods, sometimes packed closely enough to make the rock visibly crinoidal. Corals may show radiating partitions in a rounded section or a cluster of small branching tubes. Brachiopods have paired shells but differ from ordinary bivalves in their symmetry. A hand lens and side lighting help separate fossil structure from pale calcite veins and weathering marks.
At Cargie’s Kiln, the Oxford Limestone contains crinoid remains and rolled nodules with algal coatings, especially around its shale partings. The historical fauna includes large productid brachiopods and solitary corals, but the limestone is not equally fossil-rich throughout. A rounded coated nodule is not automatically a coral. The shale above Oxford has an older record of Eomarginifera; its uncertain historical species qualifier is retained in the detailed account rather than used as a confident label for a visitor’s shell.
The Eelwell Limestone around Sea House and Saltpan Rocks is a particularly useful marine horizon. Published records include Gigantoproductus brachiopods and branching Siphonodendron junceum, with a spiriferid-rich surface near the top. Natural abrasion can expose striking sections through shells on bedding planes. Elsewhere the same limestone is brown, cavity-rich and partly dolomitised, so its fossils may be less distinct. Photograph colonies and shell-rich surfaces in place; removing an attached specimen would damage both the fossil and its geological setting.
The Acre, or Three Yard, Limestone farther along the core shore contains crinoids, corals, brachiopods, gastropods and small algal nodules. Fossil-rich beds can weather into hollows between more resistant layers. View these from firm ground, without digging into the shale or levering blocks from the reef. A loose cobble may have travelled along the shore, so record its exact find position while keeping its original bed uncertain unless the connection is clear.
Sandstones add a different kind of evidence. Rootlets and larger rooting structures record vegetation on the former land surface; Stigmaria is documented in the published cycle-2 log, and a rooting impression is illustrated in the photographs. Ripple marks and cross-bedding record water movement, whereas burrows preserve animal activity within the sediment. Follow the pattern across a bedding surface before naming it. Repeated grooves, weathering and bedding structures can resemble tracks, so the shape of one isolated mark is rarely enough for a secure identification.
The longer southern extension at the Skerrs has its own trace-fossil records. Sandstone below the Sandbanks Limestone contains beaded traces historically called Eione moniliforme, and a lower horizon has U-shaped Diplocraterion burrows. Zoophycos occurs on Middle Skerr limestone surfaces. These records belong to those named beds farther south; they are not a promise that every trace photographed near the main access is the same fossil. Photograph the whole surface, its scale and its relation to the surrounding beds.
Contact the landowner to check collecting permission before removing loose material, and establish whether Natural England consent is also needed for the proposed activity. The main shore lies within Lindisfarne SSSI. An observational visit needs no hammering or digging: leave attached fossils, rooted surfaces and unusual trace-bearing slabs in place. Photograph an exceptional find with a scale and seek specialist advice before disturbing or preparing it. Keep clear of birds feeding or roosting on the shore and follow any temporary protection notices.
Significant discoveries, geological research and conservation milestones at Scremerston.
1897 – The district coastal geology surveyed
Gunn’s Geological Survey memoir established a framework for the Berwick coast, including the limestone succession represented along this shore. This is a survey milestone, not the discovery date of every fossil bed.
1926 – Local limestone and coal correlations revised
Fowler’s district memoir developed the mapping and correlation framework used by later field guides. Historical names remain tied to their stated coastal stations rather than carried over as unquestioned modern equivalents.
1954 – Lindisfarne SSSI first notified
The protected site was first notified in 1954. Its geological interests include the Spittal shore succession, alongside extensive coastal habitats and wildlife.
1964 – North-east Northumberland structures analysed
Shiells examined regional structures and relationships between major folds and smaller deformation. The work contributed to the interpretation of the folded coastal limestone succession.
1981 – Spittal limestone ages studied using foraminifera
Strank studied the coastal sections and their microfaunal correlations. Cózar and Somerville’s later account discusses the Spittal Upper Bath-House Wood, Shotto Wood and Eelwell results. These historical interpretations have broader section scope and are distinct from the 2020 revisions.
10 March 1989 – Revised SSSI notification recorded
The official Lindisfarne citation records notification to the Secretary of State on this date. Designation protects the site’s scientific interests and does not itself grant permission to remove fossils.
1991 – Trace-fossil distribution investigated
The later Geological Conservation Review cites Lees’s study of trace-fossil assemblages on Spittal Shore when discussing the Sandbanks limestone and underlying sandstone records. This broader research includes the separate southern trace-bearing continuation, without establishing new collecting points in the core guide.
1992 – Seven limestone cycles and tidal influence analysed
Reynolds investigated the Oxford-to-Eelwell cycles and their sedimentary environments. The published cycle-2 channel and surrounding beds document tidal and storm-related processes without making every cycle the same thickness.
1997 – Sea House deformation interpreted in a larger fold system
As summarised in the Geological Conservation Review, Roper related the Sea House minor folds and thrusts to the synclinal member of a monoclinal pair. The interpretation supported eastward vergence of the larger Berwick Monocline and a role for basement contrasts.
2011 – The Eelwell member and type area formalised
The BGS framework identified Cargie’s Plantation to Saltpan Rocks as an Eelwell Limestone Member type area. Its exact coordinates distinguish this shore from Seahouses village despite the printed locality label.
2020 – Coastal limestone correlations refined with microfossils
Cózar and Somerville compared foraminiferal assemblages from the Northumberland coastal sections, including Spittal. Revised Budle and Bath-House Wood relationships and higher limestone correlations remain separate from older local naming schemes.
GEOLOGY
The main Sea House–Saltpan Rocks shore exposes the Alston Formation of the Yoredale Group, principally of Brigantian age within the Viséan. The village name does not identify the formation: the older Scremerston Formation and its coal-bearing exposures farther north are outside the core locality described here. Limestone markers, their intervening clastic beds and later deformation provide a much more reliable guide to the rocks than the place name alone.
Repeated marine flooding produced the Oxford, Barrasford, Colwell, Bath-House Wood, Shotto Wood, Eelwell and Acre limestones. Between these marine intervals, mud and sand accumulated as sediment reached the coast and water became shallower. Rooted substrates and coal record episodes when plants colonised the surface and peat formed. The result is a cyclic succession, but not a set of identical repetitions: individual beds change laterally, some are thin or impersistent, and channel erosion removes parts of earlier deposits.
Reynolds’s study distinguished seven Oxford-to-Eelwell cycles with total cycle thicknesses ranging from 8 to 36 m. Those are whole-cycle values, not measurements for each named limestone. A channel sandstone in cycle 2, above Barrasford and below Colwell, is 5 m thick. Its basal heterolithic metre, larger central cross-sets and upper current reversals support an interpretation involving tidal influence. Finer laminated beds, rippled sandstones, rooted and nodular intervals and thin coals surround the channel. The detailed account retains that published log separately because its precise visitor station is unresolved.
The main limestones have their own local measurements: Oxford is reported as 5 m, Eelwell as 8 m and Acre as 4.5 m. The Eelwell’s type area runs from Cargie’s Plantation to Saltpan Rocks in the BGS framework. Parts of the limestone are dolomitised, producing brown weathering and small cavities that can obscure the marine fauna. The 30 cm Acre Coal lies below a sandstone-rich interval and is distinct from a very thin, impersistent coal immediately beneath the Acre Limestone. Keeping those separate prevents the sequence from being compressed into a misleading single coal-and-limestone pair.
Folds and faults complicate the outcrop pattern. Near Sea House, the Eelwell includes an overfold and associated thrusting; a cliff thrust offsets the Acre Coal by about 1 m vertically. The reefs therefore expose repeated and tilted beds rather than a simple horizontal layer cake. The observed local fold geometry and later interpretations of the larger Berwick Monocline operate at different scales. Neither the amount of fault movement nor a fold’s size is a sedimentary bed thickness.
Farther south, Near, Middle and Far Skerr expose the Sandbanks, or Four Fathom, Limestone and its underlying trace-bearing sandstones. That separate continuation includes an 8.5 m limestone measurement, shale partings, solitary corals and chert near the member top. Still farther south, the historical Great or Dryburn Limestone account conflicts with the newer statement that the member is no longer visible on the shore at Cheswick Black Rocks. That off-guide comparison is retained with its uncertainty, rather than advertised as an exposed fossil bed on the short Sea House route. Revised microfossil correlations are likewise kept separate from older local limestone names and cycle numbering.
Detailed geology: Sea House and Saltpan Rocks, the separate cycle-2 log, southern Skerrs and bounded historical comparisons.
The main locality is the Sea House and Cargie’s Plantation shore east of Scremerston, with the second access towards Saltpan Rocks and Cocklawburn. Ravens Nest/Cuddy’s Cove is a separately labelled northern extension; the Skerrs and Cheswick Black Rocks are southern extensions or comparisons. Huds Head, the Dun and Woodend limestones, Doupster Oil Shale and northern Spittal tetrapod surfaces lie beyond this guide’s core and are not merged into its fossil list.
YOREDALE GROUP
Alston Formation
The limestone-bearing succession belongs to the Alston Formation, principally Brigantian in the main coastal section. The older Scremerston Formation cannot be assigned from the village name. The account below follows named local horizons upwards, with explicit breaks for separately published logs and more distant stations. Historical Lower Limestone Group terminology and older local limestone names are retained only with their source scope.
Northern extension: Ravens Nest and Cuddy’s Cove, NU 019 498. This interval lies below the main Oxford marker and is not a measured sequence at the Sea House access.
Pre-Oxford sandstone, siltstone and mudstone. The older excursion describes about 70 m of alternating clastic beds, dipping 40–50° east. Minor folds occur in shale and haematite coatings redden some grains. The GCR’s approximately 60 m upper Lower Limestone Group interval has a different stated scope, so the two figures are not averaged or forced into agreement.
Historically correlated but unexposed horizons. The older Ravens Nest account states that the Greenses Coal and the historically named Beadnell Limestone, normally one cycle below Oxford, are not exposed there. TC-zone spores had nevertheless been obtained from the coal horizon. This is a historical correlation record, not a presently visible collecting bed; the limestone name does not identify Beadnell village’s Red Brae exposure.
Core succession: Cargie’s Kiln to Sea House. The following Oxford-to-Eelwell framework contains seven cycles numbered by Reynolds, with total cycle thicknesses ranging from 8 to 36 m. That range does not supply a separate thickness for each limestone or seven complete measured values.
Oxford Limestone — 5 m. Limestone posts are separated by shale partings. Crinoid stems, rolled algal nodules and reddish Girvanella-type coatings are recorded, especially around the partings. Historical fossil records include Dibunophyllum bipartitum, Gigantoproductus and Latiproductus latissimus. Some parts are relatively poorly fossiliferous compared with richer beds elsewhere on the coast.
Shale above Oxford. The older source records Eomarginifera with an uncertain qualifier before the historical species name tissingtonensis. Its available text renders that qualifier as “d.”; an unverified expansion to “cf.” is not adopted here. The shale has no recovered numerical thickness.
Barrasford Limestone. This named marker lies above Oxford in the composite shore succession. Its individual local thickness is not supplied. The separately published cycle-2 log below provides useful fossil and sedimentary detail without establishing a new precise visitor coordinate.
Separate published log: Reynolds’s cycle 2, from Barrasford towards Colwell. GCR Figure 3.32 records the following packages in upward order. Its exact point on the visitor shore is unresolved. The graphic preserves qualitative interbeds, fossil symbols and soil horizons; only the channel and cross-set measurements explicitly printed in the accompanying account are numerical thickness evidence.
Lower fossil-bearing Barrasford interval. A thinner mixed sandy and muddy interval below the main limestone post carries brachiopod, crinoid and Siphonodendron symbols. Lateral lithological variation in the graphic does not establish a separately measured extra limestone.
Main Barrasford limestone post and upper surface. The main carbonate carries brachiopod and crinoid symbols, with Zoophycos at its uppermost part. These are additional observations on the Barrasford interval, not a new named member.
Lower laminated mudrock above Barrasford. Mudrock with a sandy component and plane-lamination symbols extends above the limestone to the first narrow bedded intercalation. No separate thickness is printed.
First narrow finely bedded intercalation. A discrete siltstone or sandstone interbed interrupts the lower mudrock. The diagram does not supply its own measured thickness.
Laminated interval between the narrow interbeds. Mudrock with a sandy component and plane lamination separates the two narrow intercalations.
Second narrow rippled intercalation. A second finely bedded intercalation carries a wave-ripple symbol and remains distinct from the lower one.
Mudrock above the second intercalation. A further muddy interval separates the narrow interbeds from the thicker upward-sandier package.
Lower ripple-rich heterolithic package. Closely interbedded siltstone and sandstone contain repeated wave-ripple symbols. This package lies below the large channel and is distinct from its measured basal metre.
Sandier upper heterolithic package. Separate sandstone beds and finer partings carry planar cross-bedding, wave-ripple and Skolithos symbols. The graphic supplies no individual sandstone-bed thicknesses.
Mudrock beneath the rooted package. A distinct finer interval separates the preceding heterolithic beds from the next coarsening-upward, rooted package.
Rooted and nodular coarsening-upward package. The lower fine-grained part contains siderite nodules and plane-lamination symbols, with rootlets upward. The sandier top has hummocky cross-stratification, Stigmaria and soil-fabric symbols. These observations place the rooting beneath the thin coal and channel, rather than in an unspecified sandstone anywhere on the shore.
Thin coal below the channel. A coal lies immediately beneath the large cross-bedded channel sandstone. It has no separate printed thickness and is older than the Acre Coal.
Channel basal fill — 1 m within a 5 m channel. The whole channel sandstone is 5 m thick. Its basal metre comprises rippled sandstone and mudstone, passing laterally into trough cross-bedded sandstone. The basal value is a component of the total, not an additional metre to be added above it.
Central channel fill. Cross-sets reach 50 cm and indicate southward flow. The 50 cm figure is the size of cross-sets, not the total thickness of this central interval.
Upper channel fill. Medium-scale cross-sets record north-westward flow opposed to southward or south-eastward directions. These reversals support the published tidal interpretation. No separate upper-fill thickness is supplied.
Nodular and rippled beds above the channel. A finer coarsening-upward interval above the sandstone carries nodule and wave-ripple symbols. It forms part of the upper cycle rather than an extension of the measured channel thickness.
Rooted cap and coal below Colwell. The sandy cap contains roots and plant material. A very thin coal lies at its top immediately below Colwell and the base of cycle 3. This is distinct from the lower cycle-2 coal beneath the channel.
Return to the composite core succession above cycle 2. The following named markers and graphical soil/coal horizons come from the wider shore column. Their exact visitor points and individual thicknesses are not established by the diagram alone.
Colwell Limestone. The named carbonate marks the next cycle above Barrasford. Older Colwell/Budle equivalences and the revised microfaunal scheme discussed below are not interchangeable without qualification.
Lower Bath-House Wood Limestone. A distinct limestone above Colwell in the older composite column. No separate local measurement is supplied.
Coal below the lower Upper Bath-House Wood interval. The Figure 3.30 composite column places a thin coal at the top of cycle 4, immediately below the lower of the two Upper Bath-House Wood limestone intervals. It is separate from the cycle-2 and Acre coals.
Upper Bath-House Wood: lower limestone interval. The lower of the two carbonate intervals appears separately in the local column. Berwick’s north-bank leaf thicknesses are not transferred to this shore.
Rooted substrate and coal between the Upper Bath-House Wood limestones. Cycle 5 includes a rooted seat-earth capped by coal between the two limestone intervals. Both the soil horizon and coal are retained without an invented numerical thickness.
Upper Bath-House Wood: upper limestone interval. The second carbonate interval is individually shown in the composite log. Its local thickness is not supplied.
Rooted sandstone below Shotto Wood. In cycle 6, mudrock passes upwards into sandstone with a rooted seat-earth horizon beneath the Shotto Wood cycle. This additional soil-bearing interval has no printed separate thickness.
Shotto Wood Limestone. The named marine limestone lies below Eelwell in the composite succession. The source provides its stratigraphic position without an individual local thickness.
Eelwell Limestone Member: Sea House and Saltpan Rocks
Eelwell Limestone — 8 m locally. Parts of the limestone weather brown and are converted to cavity-rich dolomite. The fauna includes large Gigantoproductus and branching Siphonodendron junceum; older accounts also record Syringopora, broadly named Lithostrotion and cyathaxonoid corals. Those historical groupings are not treated as a new modern species revision. A west-facing overfold and associated thrusting repeat the beds near Sea House.
Formal member and type-area scope. The BGS framework identifies the shore from Cargie’s Plantation, NU 024 495, to Saltpan Rocks, NU 025 490, as an Eelwell type area. Its printed “Seahouses” label is interpreted with those coordinates, not as Seahouses village farther south. The framework’s 5–10 m member range is regional and does not replace the independently published 8 m local value.
Spiriferid-rich upper Eelwell surface. Natural polishing exposes sections through a rich brachiopod fauna on the upper bedding planes. This is a distinctive fossil horizon, without a separately measured thickness.
Unnamed thin limestone between Eelwell and Acre Coal. Both the YGS shore diagram and GCR composite column show this additional carbonate. It has no recovered local name or exact thickness and is retained separately from the better-known members.
Seat-earth beneath Acre Coal. Dark rooted substrate underlies the coal in the older account. No separate thickness is supplied.
Acre Coal — 30 cm. This sulphurous coal lies above the Eelwell interval. A cliff thrust offsets it by about 1 m vertically; that is a structural displacement, not the coal thickness.
Dark grey shale above Acre Coal. The coal is overlain by dark shale. The roof shale is distinct from its underlying seat-earth and from the sandstone higher in the interval.
Cross-bedded sandstone above Acre Coal. Medium- to large-scale lenticular cross-sets occur in the sandstone above the coal interval. Its total local thickness is not supplied.
Climbing-ripple and rooted beds above the cross-bedded sandstone. Climbing ripples and an overlying rootlet bed record later sediment accumulation and vegetation. These features remain separate from the large cross-set package even though individual thicknesses are unavailable.
Very thin coal immediately below Acre Limestone. A separate impersistent sulphurous seam lies directly beneath the limestone. Its thickness is not measured, and it is not the 30 cm Acre Coal lower in the succession.
Three Yard Limestone Member (Acre): southern core reef
Acre Limestone — 4.5 m. The marine limestone contains crinoids, corals, brachiopods, gastropods and small algal nodules, with local cavity-rich dolomitisation. The older account also reports the historical name Saccaminopsis carteri; its original spelling is retained without treating its old assignment as a verified modern algal identification.
Separate southern extension: Near, Middle and Far Skerr. These reefs extend beyond the short core route. Their measurements and fossils are not assigned to the Sea House access. The following underlying sandstone horizons and Sandbanks limestone belong to this separately named continuation.
Lower sandstone with U-shaped burrows. The Diplocraterion horizon shows paired or dumbbell-like bedding-plane depressions and U-shaped sections in joints. Traces are approximately 10 cm long on the bedding surface; this is a fossil dimension rather than sandstone thickness.
Higher beaded-burrow sandstone below Sandbanks. Beaded traces were recorded historically as Eione moniliforme, a name treated in later work as Neoeione moniliformis. Not every beaded mark can be assigned that ichnospecies from appearance alone. This horizon remains distinct from the lower U-burrow bed.
Four Fathom Limestone Member (Sandbanks): Skerrs extension
Sandbanks Limestone — 8.5 m at the Skerrs. Numerous limestone posts are divided by shale partings, with brachiopod layers and solitary corals. The newer excursion uses Aulophyllum fungites, while the GCR records Aulophyllum pachyendothecum; these differing historical determinations are kept explicit alongside Palaeosmilia murchisoni. An older straight-shelled cephalopod report, called Orthoceras and exceeding 1 m, is a historical record rather than a verified modern genus assignment or likely visitor find. A syncline lies between Near and Middle Skerr, followed by an anticline between Middle and Far Skerr.
Middle Skerr trace-bearing bedding planes. Zoophycos occurs on limestone bedding surfaces. These sediment-working structures are not shells or plant roots.
Chert-bearing upper Sandbanks at Far Skerr. Brown chert nodules characterise the upper part of the member at this farther southern reef. No separate thickness of the chert-bearing interval is supplied.
Off-guide southern comparisons. These observations continue beyond the Skerrs towards Cheswick and do not promise accessible exposures on the main visit.
Unnamed brown-weathering limestone south of the Skerrs. A separate thin limestone forms a younger reef. It has no numerical local thickness or confirmed member assignment in the account.
Cheswick Black Rocks sandstone. Coarse cross-bedded sandstone lies beneath the Great Limestone interval. The newer excursion explicitly states that the Great Limestone itself cannot now be seen on the shore there.
Great Limestone Member (Dryburn): historical off-guide comparison
Historical Great Limestone account. The older excursion gives a 10 m limestone approximately 30 m above Sandbanks and associates it with the Black Rocks area and former quarrying. The newer non-visibility statement prevents those historical figures from being presented as a currently exposed coastal measured log. The higher Great Limestone is Pendleian, unlike the principally Brigantian core shore.
Structure at different scales. The observed Sea House overfold and thrusts are local structures. The GCR separately summarises Roper’s 1997 interpretation of the minor folds and thrusts as the synclinal member of a monoclinal fold pair, supporting eastward vergence of the larger Berwick Monocline and a role for basement strength and density contrasts. This interpretation does not reverse the directly described facing direction of the local Eelwell overfold.
Microfossils and revised correlations: section-level evidence. Cózar and Somerville’s 2020 study uses thin-section microfauna to compare Beadnell, Spittal and other Northumberland sections. Its combined assemblages cannot be treated as a species list for every named beach bed. The sample-to-place supplement was not available for this account, so individual sample codes below remain attached to the published combined result rather than a guessed visitor station.
Oxford Limestone: combined Spittal–Beadnell record. The paper explicitly states that samples were productive in both sections. The combined assemblage includes Neoarchaediscus, Archaediscus at the angulatus stage, Howchinia gibba, rare H. longa, Falsocalcifolium punctatum and transitional Endothyranopsis crassa–E. sphaerica. The interpretation is upper early Brigantian, assemblage 6. This does not place every taxon in an individually identified Cargie’s Kiln bed.
Budle Limestone: revised Beadnell correlation. The 2020 paper identifies Budle as the third limestone above Oxford in its Beadnell section, records Asteroarchaediscus pustulus and correlates it with Lower Bath-House Wood at Spittal. This differs from older Colwell/Budle equivalences. Its scheme is retained separately rather than relabelling each old mapped bed.
Middle Bath-House Wood: separately named regional interval. The coastal study records Asteroarchaediscus bashkiricus and an unnamed new Praeostaffellina form. The exact sample station remains unresolved here; Middle Bath-House Wood is not assumed to mean one of the older Upper Bath-House Wood leaves.
Upper Bath-House Wood: combined coastal samples. The account records Archaediscus transitional from angulatus to tenuis stage and “Millerella” tortula, with sample Pc3606 illustrated. No exact Sea House bed occurrence is inferred solely from the combined heading.
Shotto Wood: combined coastal samples. Janischewskina brigantiensis and Eostaffella mirifica, including illustrated sample Pc3607, support a late Brigantian assemblage 7 interpretation. Their precise local sample position is not established in this guide.
Eelwell: revised regional correlation. The study correlates Eelwell with the Five Yard Limestone rather than relying on the older Scar equivalence. Combined coastal records include Endothyranopsis sphaerica, Climacammina, Janischewskina typica, “Millerella” tortula, Eostaffella mirifica, an unnamed Praeostaffellina, Biseriella parva, Endothyranopsis plana and Howchinia with umbilical structures. Illustrated samples Pc3572, Pc3578, Pc3583 and Pc3568 are not assigned to Sea House without the missing sample matrix.
Acre: combined Spittal, Beadnell and Boulmer evidence. Neoarchaediscus postrugosus, Eostaffellina decurta, Eostaffellina ex gr. paraprotvae, Eostaffella ex gr. pseudostruvei, Calcifolium okense, Eostaffellina ? sp. and Endothyranopsis sphaerica support the Three Yard correlation and assemblage 8. Samples Pc3556 and Pc3587 are illustrated, but the pooled result is not a complete species list for each of the three sections.
Sandbanks: combined coastal evidence. The Four Fathom correlation and assemblage 9 interpretation use Eostaffellina paraprotvae, Eostaffella pseudostruvei, Archaediscus at tenuis stage, Eostaffellina decurta and Eostaffella ex gr. pseudostruvei. Illustrated samples Pc3560 and Pc3590 are retained at combined-study scope, without assigning them to a particular Skerr.
References.
Turner and Scrutton, Carboniferous rocks around Berwick-upon-Tweed, locality 7 and Figure 3.3.
Earlier Berwick excursion, southern stations and historical nomenclature.
Cossey and colleagues, British Lower Carboniferous Stratigraphy, Spittal Shore, pp. 158–164, Figures 3.30 and 3.32; includes the later accounts of Reynolds (1992), Lees (1991) and Roper (1997).
British Geological Survey, Carboniferous lithostratigraphical framework, Eelwell Member and type-area coordinates.
Cózar and Somerville (2020), coastal foraminiferal biostratigraphy, sections 3.4.2–3.4.7 and the historical account of Strank (1981).
SAFETY
Check local tide and swell information and explore on a falling tide. The northern cliff-backed shore can cut off your return, and the easier southern beach is not a guarantee against tidal isolation. Leave reefs before water fills the channels around them.
Stay well clear of unstable cliff faces, overhangs and recent falls. Do not climb down a precipitous slope to reach a particular bed. Wet limestone, seaweed, shale and rounded cobbles can all be slippery; keep children close and avoid wave-washed ledges.
Use only the lawful railway crossing and established coastal access. Obey signals, closure notices and bird-protection signs. Tell someone your route and expected return time, carry a charged phone and allow enough daylight for the return.
EQUIPMENT
Bring sturdy footwear, tide information, a hand lens, a camera, a small scale and a notebook. Side lighting and close photographs can reveal shell sections, coral structure and burrow patterns without damaging the exposure.
If taking loose material has been authorised, use soft wrapping and a rigid box, keeping heavy limestone separate from fragile shale. A pick is not appropriate for digging into the protected shale beds; observation and photography do not require extraction tools.
CLEANING AND TREATING
Photograph and label any authorised specimen before cleaning, recording the exact shore position and whether it came from a known bed or was loose. Let damp shale dry slowly with full support. Remove loose dirt gently with a soft brush and stop if the fossil surface flakes or fine detail begins to lift.
Calcitic fossils and their limestone matrix can break together. Avoid household acids, bleach, varnish and forceful scraping. Do not routinely soak fragile shale. Leave an unusually complete coral, shell or trace fossil unprepared until a specialist has advised on identification and conservation.
IDENTIFY YOUR FINDS
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FURTHER READING
Turner and Scrutton: Spittal shore, Sea House and the Skerrs
Earlier Berwick coastal excursion and historical limestone terminology
JNCC Geological Conservation Review: British Lower Carboniferous Stratigraphy
BGS Carboniferous framework: Eelwell Limestone Member and its type area
Cózar and Somerville: coastal limestone microfossils and revised correlations
Natural England: Lindisfarne SSSI
ACCESS RIGHTS
The checked Sea House guide point and Cargie’s Plantation shore lie within Lindisfarne SSSI, whose protected interests include the geology of Spittal shore. Check the official map for the precise exposure. The SSSI and Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve do not automatically have the same boundary; follow the notices applicable where you are.
Walking access does not itself grant permission to take fossils. Contact the landowner about removal and check with Natural England where the proposed activity may require consent. No current general permission for casual removal has been established for this guide. Observe and photograph fossils, leave bedrock and attached specimens undisturbed, and follow current access and shorebird-protection notices.
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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