Shanklin’s Lower Greensand cliffs and foreshore offer marine shells, moulds and occasional ammonites in iron-rich sands and concretions. The shore south towards Knock Cliff also has a history of rare dinosaur finds, while soft ground, falling cliffs and tidal cut-off demand careful planning.
FIND FREQUENCY: ♦♦♦ – Marine shells and moulds are more realistic targets than the very rare dinosaur remains.
CHILDREN: ♦♦♦ – Older children need close supervision; turn back before soft ground or a narrowing beach makes the route unsafe.
ACCESS: ♦♦♦♦ – The seafront provides an approach, but the natural shore beyond is tidal and can be difficult.
TYPE: – Loose foreshore fossils and weathered ferruginous sandstone blocks.
DIRECTIONS
♦ From Shanklin follow the seafront approach towards Hope Beach. Hope Road car park is listed by the council as a long-stay off-street car park. Hope Road car park postcode: PO37 6BG. Pay and observe the displayed conditions.
♦ Walk south along the seafront and continue onto the open shore only when the tide and beach conditions permit. Horse Ledge and the soft-cliff shore south of Shanklin are tidal collecting ground, not an extension of the all-weather promenade.
♦ Turn back before reaching soft mud, an impassable boulder barrier or a narrowing strip of beach below the cliffs. Return by the same safe route rather than trying to climb out through a chine.
♦ General locality reference: SZ 58870 82414.
FOSSIL HUNTING
Marine shells and their moulds are a more realistic target than dinosaur bone. Weathered blocks of ferruginous sandstone and the loose shore material can reveal bivalves, gastropods and occasional ammonites. Some shells have dissolved, leaving an impression or internal mould; forcing out what looks like a shell may destroy the useful surface.
Horse Ledge has a long history of palaeontological study. Its Urchin Bed is notable for echinoids together with brachiopods, bryozoans and molluscs. Ammonites including Parahoplites have helped correlate this part of the succession. Record the precise matrix and position rather than labelling every fossil simply “Greensand”.
Iron-rich concretions at Shanklin can be crowded with molluscan moulds. Their strongly cemented interiors contrast with the friable or wet sediment around them. This is not a reliable self-hardening process that will stabilise every fossil after collection. Select loose, manageable specimens and protect any delicate impression on the surface.
The older guide highlights dinosaur remains; current specialist walk descriptions treat these as very rare. They are incidental terrestrial material in a marine succession. The abundant Wealden dinosaur fauna recorded at Yaverland or Brighstone is not representative of expected finds at Shanklin.
The 2019 surface finds at Knock Cliff led to the 2020 description of Vectaerovenator inopinatus. Dinosaur remains are rare in these marine sands, but their scientific value can be considerable. Adhering matrix suggests the Ferruginous Sands, probably informal unit XIII; the exact bed was not directly observed.
Significant discoveries and research at Shanklin.
1836 – Early description of the Shanklin succession
Fitton described the strata around Shanklin and Small Hope Chines and recorded the structural break at Little Stairs, where John Herschel had recognised evidence for faulting.
1922 – Little Stairs faults explained for field readers
J. Cecil Hughes described displaced iron-stained bands at Little Stairs, using this accessible coastal example to explain how fault movement offsets strata.
1961 – Urchin Bed material used in taxonomic work
Raymond Casey’s Lower Greensand monograph established Geltena meyeri using a holotype from the Ferruginous Sands Urchin Bed at Shanklin, linking the locality’s shell fauna directly to systematic palaeontology.
2002 – Volcanic ash identified in the marine succession
Ruffell and colleagues described a thin upper Aptian bentonite south-west of Shanklin. Mineralogical and geochemical work identified the altered ash and assessed its stratigraphical significance.
2019 – Dinosaur vertebrae found at Knock Cliff
Surface finds at Knock Cliff included vertebrae retaining glauconitic sandstone matrix. Their matching preservation later supported interpretation as remains of one rare theropod individual; the exact source bed was not observed in place.
2020 – Vectaerovenator inopinatus described
Barker and colleagues named Vectaerovenator inopinatus. Matrix comparison favoured the Ferruginous Sands, especially informal unit XIII, with the Urchin Bed suggested as a possible source. The precise horizon remains uncertain.
GEOLOGY
The fossil-bearing cliffs belong principally to the Ferruginous Sands Formation of the Lower Greensand Group. Marine sand and muddier beds record changing currents, sediment supply and sea-floor conditions during the Aptian. Iron-rich cement locally makes resistant ledges and nodules, while less cemented beds erode much more readily.
The shore is affected by shallow folds and faults, including the Little Stairs fault complex. Consequently, walking along the beach does not simply reveal one unbroken vertical succession. Named units established on the south-western side of the island must be correlated cautiously here.
At the southern collecting stretch, the Urchin Bed and shell-rich concretions provide recognisable fossil horizons. A thin bentonite described near Shanklin records altered volcanic ash in the upper Aptian succession. The appearance of this horizon is a geological correlation tool, not a reason to excavate an unstable cliff.
Detailed geology and stratigraphy of Shanklin.
Hope Beach/Little Stairs–Shanklin shore and the southward collecting coast towards Horse Ledge and Knock Cliff. Luccombe is an adjacent southern reference, not silently the same locality.
LOWER GREENSAND GROUP
The Shanklin succession is a marine Lower Cretaceous sequence, younger than the Wealden dinosaur-bearing deposits elsewhere on the island.
Ferruginous Sands Formation
Alternating muddy sand and glauconitic sand are variably cemented. Bioturbation and concretion formation are important, with fossil preservation ranging from shell to internal and external moulds. The informal subdivision used for Chale Bay should not be presented here as a completely mapped sequence.
Knock Cliff unit XII — Old Walpen Chine
Barker and colleagues identify the upper Ferruginous Sands at Knock Cliff as local informal units XII–XIV. XII is the Old Walpen Chine unit. These are informal lithological subdivisions, not formal members and not a correlation carried across the Little Stairs faults.
Knock Cliff unit XIII — New Walpen Chine
Dark pebbly clay marks its base, passing into glauconitic fine-to-medium sandstone. The matrix of the Vectaerovenator vertebrae resembles this unit; the Urchin Bed atop Horse Ledge is a proposed source, not a proven specimen-by-specimen horizon.
Knock Cliff unit XIV
More argillaceous and pyritic greensand distinguishes this higher informal unit from the sandstone matrix adhering to the dinosaur remains. It belongs to the upper Ferruginous Sands, below Sandrock.
Horse Ledge and the Urchin Bed
A resistant, fossiliferous horizon at the southern part of Horse Ledge contains a varied marine fauna. Echinoids, branching bryozoans, brachiopods and molluscs accompany fragmentary Parahoplites. This is a locality-specific horizon, not a name for all ferruginous concretions.
Shanklin ferruginous concretion interval
Above the Urchin Bed, approximately 6.1 m of strata were described as containing abundant iron-rich concretions crowded with bivalve and gastropod moulds. The measurement belongs to that published interval, not the entire formation.
Upper Aptian bentonite
A bed less than 35 cm thick was described in the Ferruginous Sands south-west of Shanklin. Its smectite-rich composition and feldspar shards support an altered volcanic-ash origin. It lies within a succession affected by sediment reworking and interruptions in deposition.
Sandrock Formation — Knock Cliff
Fine-grained yellow and white sands overlie the Ferruginous Sands in the published Knock Cliff succession. This distinct matrix was considered less likely than unit XIII as the source of the surface-collected dinosaur vertebrae.
Monks Bay Sandstone Formation — Knock Cliff
The younger Albian succession includes gritty dark-brown sandstone above Sandrock. Its presence is geological context; it is not the inferred source of Vectaerovenator.
Little Stairs faults and gentle folding
Faults interrupt the low-angle coastal strata, and historical observers used displaced iron-stained bands to recognise them. Do not treat a change in cliff level across the faults as a new formation boundary.
Weathered cover and modern shore material
Weathered sand and superficial deposits cap parts of the cliff. Fallen blocks and reworked shore fossils must be kept distinct from specimens recorded in an intact bed.
References
Hopson, Wilkinson and Woods (2008), Lower Cretaceous stratigraphical framework
Hopson and Farrant (2015), Geology of the Isle of Wight
Melville and Freshney, The Hampshire Basin and adjoining areas
Fitton (1836), Observations on strata below the Chalk
Geologists’ Association, Isle of Wight geotrail itinerary catalogue
J. Cecil Hughes (1922), The Geological Story of the Isle of Wight
Ruffell et al. (2002), Fuller’s earth at Shanklin
Oxford Research Archive record for Ruffell et al. (2002)
Barker et al. (2020), Vectaerovenator inopinatus
SAFETY
Tall weak cliffs are susceptible to sudden falls. Keep well clear of their base, fresh debris cones and overhangs; the promenade’s engineered sections do not make the undefended shore beyond them safe.
Soft saturated sand and muddy deposits can trap footwear or feet. Avoid stepping onto a smooth wet surface to test it. Wellington boots are not protection from sinking mud. The sea may cut off the return route, especially southward towards the less accessible cliff sections.
EQUIPMENT
Take tide information, a charged phone, sturdy footwear, a hand lens, labels and small rigid containers with wrapping material. Choose loose specimens that can be lifted safely. Heavy tools are not a substitute for permission or safe access.
CLEANING AND TREATING
Support shells and moulds in their surrounding matrix and wrap pieces individually in rigid containers. Allow waterlogged material to dry slowly; rapid drying can crack weak cement and thin shell layers.
Clean only stable material with a soft brush. Test a small inconspicuous area before using water, and stop if grains or shell begin to loosen. Avoid heavy hammering of cemented nodules, household acid, bleach and routine varnish. Keep unusual bone, echinoids or scientific-looking assemblages unprepared for advice.
IDENTIFY YOUR FINDS
Need help identifying a fossil? Share clear photos, where you found it and its size with the community.
FURTHER READING
Jon Trevelyan (2022), Isle of Wight: Landscape and Geology review
Ruffell et al. (2002), Fuller’s earth at Shanklin
Casey (1961), The stratigraphical palaeontology of the Lower Greensand
Hopson, Wilkinson and Woods (2008), Lower Cretaceous stratigraphical framework
Melville and Freshney, The Hampshire Basin and adjoining areas
Isle of Wight Council, Shanklin parking
ACCESS RIGHTS
Use public seafront routes and follow current notices where the promenade meets the natural shore. Access to a beach does not authorise digging into cliffs or privately managed land. The Shanklin–Luccombe cliffs have important conservation interest; collecting should avoid damaging exposures, vegetation and coastal defences.
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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