Monmouth Beach, Lyme Regis, exposes classic Lower Jurassic Lias beds similar to those at Church Cliffs, making it one of the most iconic fossil sites on the Dorset coast. The foreshore regularly yields ammonites, bivalves and marine reptile remains, although success is heavily dependent on conditions. After storms and strong scouring, fresh material is revealed, often producing some of the best finds along the Jurassic Coast.Jurassic, Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
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White Nothe, between Ringstead and Lulworth Cove, is a dramatic and lesser-visited section of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. This steep headland exposes a mix of Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks, with landslips bringing fossil-bearing material onto the foreshore. Although challenging to access, it can yield ammonites and other marine fossils under the right conditions, making it a rewarding location for experienced collectors seeking quieter ground. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
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This varied Cretaceous site offers a refreshing contrast to Dorset’s more famous Jurassic locations, exposing a mix of Chalk, Greensand and underlying Wealden deposits. The foreshore and cliffs can yield a diverse range of fossils, including echinoids, bivalves, brachiopods and occasional ammonites from the Chalk, alongside rarer finds such as dinosaur bone fragments from the Wealden. With multiple formations represented, it provides a unique opportunity to collect across different Cretaceous environments in one location. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
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Visit Spyway Dinosaur Footprints near Langton Matravers to discover sauropod tracks, Early Cretaceous geology and the story of their discovery at the former Keates Quarry site. An outdoor National Trust attraction for viewing fossils in place; no collecting. Cretaceous, Visitor attraction — no fossil collecting
Pinhay Bay is a remote and geologically complex stretch of the East Devon coast, exposing rocks from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous within a single location. Less visited than nearby Lyme Regis, the bay can reward determined collectors with a wide range of fossils, including Blue Lias ammonites, Triassic bivalves, fish remains and Chalk echinoids, all scattered amongst landslips, fallen blocks and the rugged foreshore.Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
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Charton Bay is a remote and rewarding East Devon location, reached via a long walk from Lyme Regis, exposing a mix of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous deposits along a largely undisturbed stretch of coastline. This quiet beach yields a surprising range of fossils, including Blue Lias ammonites, Langport Member bivalves such as Plagiostoma, and Cretaceous echinoids, making it a fascinating spot for collectors willing to make the effort and explore beyond the more popular sites.Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
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Haven Cliff at Seaton is an actively eroding coastal site, where recent landslides have exposed fresh material from the Chalk and Upper Greensand. The foreshore and fallen blocks can yield a range of fossils, including echinoids, ammonites and bivalves, particularly after storms and at low tide. With regular cliff falls supplying new material, it can be a productive location for collectors willing to search carefully.Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
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Seaton Hole, at the western end of Seaton Bay, exposes fossil-bearing Upper Greensand and Chalk beneath White Cliff. Oysters, other bivalves and echinoids are useful finds to recognise in naturally weathered loose material, with rarer ammonites also recorded. Red Triassic mudstones below the Cretaceous rocks reveal a much older chapter of the coast’s history. Visit only when the tide and beach conditions leave a safe route well clear of the unstable cliffs. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Beer Head’s condensed Cenomanian limestones and younger flinty Chalk preserve a detailed record of changing Cretaceous seas. Echinoids, ammonites, brachiopods and other shells occur in different beds, while hardgrounds and reworked fossils reveal important gaps in deposition. This is a demanding coastal locality beneath high, unstable cliffs. The current Under Hooken path closure affects the old approach; use the open cliff-top route for views, and establish current safe, permitted access before planning any foreshore visit. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Hooken Cliff exposes fossil-rich Chalk and Upper Greensand east of Branscombe Mouth. Echinoids, shells, ammonites and microscopic fossils record changing Cretaceous seas, while the great landslip has displaced parts of the succession into spectacular coastal masses. Visitors may see fossils in weathered loose material, but unstable cliffs, tides and the current Under Hooken path closure make careful route planning essential. Published sections are scientific records, not promises of safe access or plentiful finds. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
The entire section of coast along Compton Bay provides a worthwhile day out, with opportunities to find pieces of dinosaur bone (mostly rolled) and possibly teeth; and to see the large number of dinosaur footprints scattered along the coast. This section is famous for the remains and footprints of dinosaurs, for which the Isle of Wight is famous. Both commonly occur on the foreshore. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
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Yaverland is one of the most famous fossil collecting locations on the Isle of Wight, renowned for its dinosaur remains, vertebrate fossils and classic Wealden exposures. However, despite its reputation, success here depends heavily on conditions. The site can often appear unproductive, particularly during the summer months when the foreshore is covered, but after winter storms and spring tides, fresh material is exposed and excellent finds can be made. Due to its popularity, the site is also heavily collected, meaning patience and persistence are essential. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
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Brook Bay is one of the Isle of Wight’s most famous dinosaur localities, where teeth, bone fragments, fossil wood and reptile remains are regularly found with careful searching. Most material is worn, but storms and beach scour can reveal fresh specimens. The bay is also renowned for its dinosaur footprints, preserved both in situ and as natural casts on the foreshore, making it a key site for dinosaur discoveries. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦📺 VIDEO
Brighstone Bay is renowned for dinosaur remains and plant-debris beds in the Early Cretaceous Wealden rocks. From Grange Chine towards Barnes High, colourful floodplain mudstones give way to lagoonal beds, offering important fossil horizons and a changing coastal landscape that rewards careful observation and accurate recording. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Bembridge Foreland is an important Isle of Wight fossil site, where the Bembridge Limestone and Bembridge Marls are exposed across the foreshore as a broad wave-cut platform and scattered rock outcrops. Best searched on a low tide, these beds are well known for their shelly fossils, especially gastropods and bivalves weathering from the limestone onto the shore. At foreshore level towards the south-west of the bay, the Bembridge Oyster Bed is regularly washed out and is the main source of the site’s vertebrate material, including turtle, crocodile and mammal remains.Eocene, Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
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Samphire Hoe provides a managed reserve and access to the natural shore west of the reclaimed ground. Its Chalk fossils and cliff succession are fascinating, but the reserve paths and the tidal beach have very different access conditions. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
The chalk shore around North Foreland, between Broadstairs and Joss Bay, offers a patient search among fossil-bearing flints and loose chalk. Large flint bands in the cliffs provide a striking record of the Late Cretaceous sea. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
The chalk coast south of Kingsdown has imposing cliffs, flint-covered shore and a succession of important geological markers. Loose flint fossils are often more rewarding than the vast quantities of fallen chalk, but the remote tidal shore is demanding. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
The East Cliff and Langdon coast at Dover exposes a classic Chalk succession and a varied marine fauna. Langdon Stairs’ tunnel-and-ladder route offers a demanding approach to the shore, where tides and falling rock require particular care. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
The shore from Holywell towards Cow Gap exposes fossiliferous Cretaceous chalk and an important Cenomanian–Turonian boundary section. Ammonites, bivalves and brachiopods occur in the rocks, but fossils in loose blocks may have fallen from higher beds. Tides, slippery ground and unstable cliffs make careful planning essential. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
The shore from Pett Level and Cliff End towards Fairlight Cove records Early Cretaceous rivers and muddy environments. Its Cliff End Bone Bed is important for fish, reptile and rare mammal remains. Fossils may occur in loose material, but unstable cliffs, soft ground and rapid tidal cut-off demand particular care. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Hastings’ Early Cretaceous sandstone and mudstone preserve plant remains, shells and vertebrate fossils along the shore east of Rock-a-Nore. The cliffs towards Ecclesbourne Glen also record river channels and dinosaur footprints. Beach access changes as the coast erodes: use only an open, signed route and never cross a safety barrier. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
The coast from Cow Gap to Beachy Head lighthouse exposes Gault, Upper Greensand and Chalk, with fossils from several parts of the Cretaceous succession. Slipped and changing exposures make provenance important. This demanding tidal shore is distinct from the Holywell–Cow Gap and Birling Gap guides. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Peacehaven’s Late Cretaceous chalk yields echinoids, molluscs and occasional fish remains, with beach scour controlling exposure. Fossils occur on the rocky foreshore and in loose blocks, while flint bands and marl seams reveal how the beds change between Bastion Steps and Friars Bay. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Birling Gap gives access to Seaford Chalk around the steps and a distinctive chalk dry valley. The Seven Sisters Flint Band and sponge-bearing beds help explain the local fossils. This guide concentrates on the immediate area, rather than treating the shore to Beachy Head or Cuckmere Haven as one safe walking route. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Seaford Head’s chalk foreshore is noted for echinoids, especially in the beds around Hope Gap, although many specimens are worn or incomplete. Its flints, marls and hardgrounds record a changing Late Cretaceous succession along the coast. Hope Gap steps are closed: the geological account is not a route to the shore. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Newhaven’s Late Cretaceous chalk contains small Offaster pilula and larger Echinocorys echinoids, with finds strongly dependent on beach conditions. The cliffs from Castle Hill towards Old Nore Point reveal marl seams and flint bands that help trace the succession. Large ammonites in the wave-cut platform should be photographed and left intact. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Cooden’s Early Cretaceous foreshore exposes fault-separated Tunbridge Wells Sand and Weald Clay when tides and beach scour permit. Plant material and ironstone-hosted fossils are characteristic interests, with important insect records and occasional vertebrate remains. Loose finds do not always reveal which formation they came from. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Danes Dyke’s flintless Chalk is known for sponges and beautifully preserved crinoid plates. The shore on either side of the wooded ravine crosses different parts of the Late Cretaceous succession, making loose beach blocks rewarding to examine when tides and conditions are suitable. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Bridlington’s North Beach becomes increasingly rocky towards Sewerby, where fossil-bearing Chalk blocks occur among the shingle. Sponges, shells and echinoids are the main attractions, while glacially transported material adds a different part of the area’s geological story. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Houghton Quarry is an abandoned quarry, formerly used to extract chalk for a cement works onsite (which is no longer there). Quarrying stopped about 40 years ago, but, due to its size and terracing, only parts are overgrown, leaving an enormous amount of clean chalk. A large amount of this consists of boulders of various sizes on the quarry floor, yielding many good fossils. Collecting is not allowed here. Cretaceous, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
West Runton brings together two very different fossil worlds: Cretaceous chalk on the shore and the much younger West Runton Freshwater Bed at the foot of the cliffs. The latter preserved a river-valley community of mammals, fish, freshwater shells and plants, including the celebrated steppe mammoth Mammuthus trogontherii. When sand has been washed away, the chalk platform reveals flints and marine fossils. Search loose beach material carefully, keep a record of each find and treat these scientifically important exposures with care. Tides, shifting sand and unstable cliffs determine what can safely be seen. Pleistocene, Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Hunstanton’s striped Cretaceous cliffs offer a clear introduction to Norfolk’s marine fossils. Brown Carstone, the thin Red Chalk and pale Ferriby Chalk form contrasting layers, with belemnites, brachiopods, bivalves and occasional ammonites preserved in their rocks. Weathered material on the beach gives collectors a chance to examine fossils without approaching the cliff face, while the harder beds reward patient observation rather than force. The sequence also records missing intervals of geological time, so its colours tell only part of the story. Plan your visit around low tide and keep well clear of unstable cliffs and recent falls. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Weybourne brings together Cretaceous Chalk, shell-rich Early Pleistocene sediments and glacial deposits in a compact but changeable coastal section. Belemnites and sea urchins occur in the chalk, while the overlying Wroxham Crag preserves marine shells and much smaller traces of land mammals washed into an ancient sea. The contrast makes this a rewarding place to study different fossil communities and the long gaps between them. Collecting is best approached as a patient search of loose beach material: the steep shingle shore, tides and unstable cliffs make access demanding, and high ledges must be left alone. Pleistocene, Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
At East Runton, ancient mammal remains occur beside evidence of powerful Ice Age deformation. Shelly Early Pleistocene deposits appear on the foreshore when sand is stripped away, while enormous glacially displaced chalk rafts rise within the cliffs towards Wood Hill. Loose belemnites, echinoids, bone fragments and occasional teeth make careful beach searching worthwhile, although exposure and preservation vary greatly. This is a different fossil assemblage from the famous Freshwater Bed at West Runton. Keep a precise record of where each specimen was found and explore only while the tide leaves a safe route back to East Runton Gap. Pleistocene, Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Sheringham’s western foreshore is a condition-dependent fossil locality, where waves sometimes uncover Cretaceous chalk beneath the beach near the lifeboat station. Echinoids, brachiopods, oysters and occasional fish remains have been reported, but sand, shingle and seaweed can hide the rock for long periods. The shoreline also reveals how much younger sediments and glacial activity have modified an older chalk landscape. A visit works best as a careful search of loose material during suitable low-tide conditions, with realistic expectations and time to return safely. Keep the lifeboat access clear and leave unstable cliffs and attached rock undisturbed. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦
Trimingham is noted for some of the youngest Chalk exposed onshore in Britain, brought within reach when Ice Age glaciers displaced and folded large masses of bedrock. Near Little Marl Point, soft Lower Maastrichtian chalk contains small oysters, belemnites and other marine fossils, while more extensive foreshore sections appear only when beach conditions allow. The familiar oyster-rich beds are just one part of a much richer historical succession. Visit for careful loose-beach collecting and geological observation, rather than excavation of the fragile exposures. Access, sand cover, tides and active cliff movement can all change what is safely visible. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
This site is dedicated to the fossils of the lower cretaceous Albian (Gault Clay and Folkestone Beds) in the county of Kent, south-east England. In particular the beautifully preserved faunas of the Gault Clay are […]
These pages are designed as a general guide for all those interested in the fascinating fossils of the British Chalk. Hopefully this will be a useful resource for academics and students alike, whilst at the […]
Ten kilometres northwest of Ballycastle in Co. Antrim is White Park Bay. Successive layers of rock yield Mesozoic fossils including ammonites, belemnites and Gryphaea. However, the cliffs and platforms are protected, but many loose blocks containing fossils and some washed out fossils can be found. The beach is also known as one of the few places in the world to have “singing sand” – when conditions are right, the extremely fine sand vibrates to make a humming noise. The location is also known as a historic manufacturing hub for flint axes and arrow heads, due to the abundance of flint nodules found in the cliffs, with artefacts dating back as far as 8,000 BC. The landscape also features passage tombs looking out over the sea, where, on a clear day, the coast of Scotland can be seen.Cretaceous, Jurassic, Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
