Overview
Directions
- Approach Stone Edge Plantation from the A632 near the B5057 junction. The original guide describes a minor road on the plantation’s northern side, reached shortly beyond that junction when travelling from Matlock.
- Check current signs before stopping. The old statement that there was plentiful parking is not a current parking permission; leave junctions, gates and traffic visibility clear, and use another lawful space if necessary.
- The original route locates a gate and public footpath near the A632 junction. Follow the signed path and current access information. Its former instruction to leave the path and climb southwest into the workings should not be treated as a safe or permitted route.
- Do not enter mine openings, cross fences or approach depressions, old shafts and disturbed banks. If loose shale cannot be observed safely from a permitted position, do not seek a route through the dense plantation to reach it.
- Original UK Fossils reference: SK 34380 67744. This records the historical locality, not a surveyed safe entrance or an assurance that the workings are securely closed.
Location photographs
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Fossil Hunting
The original 2011 visit found occasional plant leaves and stem fragments in shale from old mine spoil. Preservation was generally poor, and much of the spoil had already broken down into small pieces. These are historical observations, not a guarantee that accessible material remains today.
A plant fragment may survive as a flattened impression or dark carbonaceous trace on a shale surface. Look for repeated ribs, an organised leaf outline or other consistent structures. Cracks, staining and mineral films can mimic organic shapes. Without diagnostic detail, retain a broad description such as plant stem or leaf fragment rather than a genus or species name.
Spoil has been moved from underground workings and tipped at the surface. It no longer preserves the original bed order, and material from different layers or workings can be mixed. A specimen’s position high or low on a spoil heap therefore does not establish its original stratigraphic level.
Several coal, fireclay and ganister workings are documented around the plantation. The guide point lies close to Sitwell Clay Mine, while separate Belperlawn workings occurred farther east. Proximity alone cannot identify the source of each shale fragment. Keep any genuinely known provenance separate from assumptions about the nearest mine.
Do not dig into spoil, uncover lower material, open old workings or split rock beside a shaft or unstable bank. The earlier recommendation to use a pick or spade is unsafe in this setting. Observe from the public path or another explicitly permitted safe position, and leave material untouched unless the landowner has authorised collection and a safe area has been established.
For any specimen already lawfully obtained, record the historical locality and that it came from loose spoil unless a bed is independently known. Retain both matching halves of an already separated slab where available. Good photographs and an honest provenance label are more valuable than an unsupported seam name.
Discoveries and milestones
Significant discoveries, geological research and conservation milestones at Stone Edge Plantation 2.
c. 1880; map dated 1882 – A nearby sandstone quarry is mapped
The Historic Environment Record identifies a quarry and crane on the first-edition 25-inch map, cited as 1882. This concerns the separate southwest sandstone quarry, not the shale-spoil mine.
c.1895 – Eastern plantation workings are abandoned
The Survey records the abandonment of Slatepitdale Mine workings around this date. Their section comprised a rock roof, Belperlawn coal and underlying fireclay.
1926 – Sitwell Clay Mine is abandoned
The historical record preserves a section of 3 in ganister over 4 ft 10 in fireclay at the Upper Band horizon. Its closeness to the guide point does not independently identify every spoil fragment.
1927 – Stone Edge Clay Pit is abandoned
The separate mine farther north worked 3.5 ft of fireclay beneath 1 ft of rock, also at the Upper Band horizon.
1967 – The Survey publishes the local mining records
The district memoir documents the distinct mines and horizons around Stone Edge Plantation, including their recorded sections and abandonment history.
1996 – The separate sandstone quarry is assessed for roofing stone
Hughes included Stone Edge Plantation Quarry in a study of South Pennine roofing-slate resources. This later assessment concerns Crawshaw Sandstone quarrying, not a new fossil discovery in the shale spoil.
Geology
The workings belong to the Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation within the Pennine Coal Measures Group. The local succession is traditionally described as Langsettian, in the lower Westphalian. Sand, mud, plant debris, coal and former soil horizons record changing conditions in the Carboniferous lowland landscape.
The shale described by the fossil guide is mine spoil, rather than natural scree. It has been excavated, moved and weathered, so there is no intact vertical section through the collecting material. The earlier blanket attribution to the Belperlawn seam cannot be confirmed for every loose piece.
Historical mine records distinguish Upper Band seatearth workings at Sitwell Clay Mine and Stone Edge Clay Pit from Belperlawn coal and fireclay workings in the eastern plantation. Those records describe different underground sections. Their measured layers should not be combined into a single stack beneath the guide point.
Fireclay and ganister commonly represent altered soil or rooting horizons associated with the Coal Measures, while shale can preserve transported or buried plant debris. Finding a stem impression does not by itself establish which of the local seams or seatearths supplied the spoil.
Traces of Forty-Yards ganister workings and Norton seatearth workings add to the area’s mining complexity. Some workings lack surviving detailed records. The separately quarried Crawshaw Sandstone to the southwest is another distinct site; its rock-face dimensions do not measure the shale spoil described here.
The detailed geology sets out the documented mine layers as historical context, with their original measurements and abandonment dates. It leaves the exact source seam of the fossil-bearing spoil unresolved rather than replacing one uncertain attribution with another.
Detailed geology and bed-by-bed succession
Detailed geology of loose spoil and separately recorded historical mine sections at Stone Edge Plantation.
The guide concerns loose plant-bearing mine spoil near the northern plantation workings. The recorded underground sections below belong to different mines and horizons. They are historical context, not a vertical log through the spoil, and their locations do not identify safe entrances or accessible workings.
PENNINE COAL MEASURES GROUP
Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation
The loose shale. The original visit records uncommon, poorly preserved plant leaves and stems in shale around former workings. Tipping and weathering have destroyed the original bed order. There is no measured in-situ section at the guide point, no demonstrated unique source seam for the loose material and no securely established genus-level plant list.
Sitwell Clay Mine: Upper Band seatearth. The Survey places this historical working close to the guide reference and records abandonment in 1926. Proximity makes it relevant to the site history, but it does not prove that every fossil-bearing shale fragment came from this mine. Its recorded section, from top to bottom, is:
Upper layer: ganister, 3 in. The mine worked a thin ganister layer over fireclay. The account does not record a coal above it in this particular section. This is a historical underground measurement, not an exposed spoil-bed thickness.
Lower layer: fireclay, 4 ft 10 in. The fireclay underlies the recorded ganister in the same Sitwell section. The two measurements form one mine record and should not be mixed with those from Stone Edge Clay Pit.
Stone Edge Clay Pit: a separate Upper Band working. This mine lay north of the guide point and was abandoned in 1927. Its separately recorded section comprises:
Roof: rock, 1 ft. The historical record describes rock above the worked fireclay, without a more detailed lithological identification in the quoted section.
Working layer: fireclay, 3.5 ft. This belongs to the Upper Band seatearth at Stone Edge Clay Pit. It is not an alternative measurement of the Sitwell fireclay or the thickness of material visible in the guide’s spoil.
Slatepitdale Mine: the Belperlawn horizon. Workings in the eastern part of the plantation were abandoned about 1895. This is a distinct seam lower in the local succession than Upper Band. The published section records:
Roof: rock, thickness unspecified. The Survey’s transcription names a rock roof but gives no thickness for it. The wider district relationship between Belperlawn and Crawshaw Sandstone varies, so an unnamed roof should not be assigned a precise sandstone bed without further evidence.
Coal: 15 in. The Belperlawn coal is recorded beneath the roof. This is a mine-section measurement, not proof that the loose plant shale was extracted with this coal.
Fireclay: 30 in. The recorded fireclay underlies the coal. It is distinct from the Upper Band seatearth worked by Sitwell and Stone Edge Clay Pit.
Forty-Yards ganister workings. The Survey traces the outcrop back into Stone Edge Plantation and describes ganister extending down the dip slope towards Sleigh Wood. The workings were overgrown and records were unavailable. They add another source of disturbed ground but do not demonstrate the origin of the guide’s fossil-bearing shale. The measured section farther south in Sleigh Wood is a different exposure.
Norton seatearth workings. Signs of shallow workings follow the crop between Stone Edge Plantation and Stubbing Court. The measured stream sections in Moorlawn Coppice and nearer Stubbing Court are elsewhere; their individual shale, coal, ganister and fireclay layers do not provide a log at the guide point.
The separate sandstone quarry. The Historic Environment Record describes former millstone and grindstone workings southwest of the shale-spoil locality, in Crawshaw Sandstone. Its reported faces of up to 20 m and the quarry with a crane shown on the first-edition map belong to that quarry. They are not measurements or evidence of the mine-spoil sequence.
What remains unresolved. The historical records establish several nearby working horizons but do not link an individual loose specimen to one of them. The name Belperlawn should therefore remain a documented local mining horizon rather than a blanket label for all spoil. No offsite Ambergate fossil assemblage, Norton stream log or sandstone-quarry face has been transferred into the guide succession.
References.
Smith, Rhys and Eden (1967): Chesterfield, Matlock and Mansfield memoir, historical mine records.
BGS Lexicon: Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation.
Derbyshire Historic Environment Record: the separate Stone Edge sandstone quarry.
Original UK Fossils field observations, inspected 2011.
Safety
Old mine ground is the principal hazard. Shafts, adits, subsidence hollows and weak covers may be hidden by leaves or vegetation. The original guide warned that some shaft covers in the district had been removed; their present condition is not known. Never assume that a depression or cover is safe to cross.
Stay on the public path and keep away from openings, spoil edges and steep disturbed banks. Do not enter underground workings, lift covers, move barriers or dig into heaps. If the route or ground condition is unclear, leave the area rather than exploring for a better exposure.
The wooded setting can conceal loose rock, roots and holes. Avoid strong winds, poor light and very wet ground, wear sturdy footwear and do not visit the workings alone. Keep children and dogs away from the mining area.
The A632 approach is a road environment as well as a walking route. Take care near the junction and do not stand where traffic visibility is restricted. Plan a safe parking and walking approach before leaving a vehicle.
Equipment
For observation from a permitted safe route, take a map, sturdy footwear, suitable clothing, a camera and a hand lens. A small scale can help record a visible plant impression without altering it.
Do not bring a pick, spade or collecting hammer with the intention of excavating spoil. The guide does not establish a safe digging area. For existing authorised specimens, paper wrapping and a rigid box protect fragile shale better than loose storage.
Cleaning And Treating
Fragile plant impressions can be lost through cleaning or splitting. Support a lawfully held slab on a flat surface and remove only loose dust with a very soft dry brush, avoiding delicate carbonaceous films.
Do not soak unknown shale or apply acids, bleach, varnish or forceful tools. Fine layers may swell or separate when wet. Let damp material dry gradually at room temperature and retain its label. Seek specialist advice before treating a crumbling or potentially important specimen.
Identify Your Finds
Need help identifying a fossil? Share clear photos, where you found it and its size with the community.
Further Reading
BGS memoir: Chesterfield, Matlock and Mansfield, including Stone Edge mine records
BGS Lexicon: Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation
Derbyshire Historic Environment Record: the separate Stone Edge sandstone quarry
Access Rights
Use the public footpath and comply with current signs and barriers. A right of way does not grant access to shafts, spoil heaps or other land away from the path, and it does not permit digging or removing fossils.
No current off-path collecting permission or safe-workings inspection has been established for this guide. Obtain the landowner’s agreement before any proposed off-path activity, and do not proceed where old mining hazards prevent a safe visit. The older “no restrictions” statement should not be relied upon.
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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