The beach south of Hornsea offers a changing mixture of fossil-bearing glacial erratics. Jurassic shells and ammonites, Cretaceous Chalk fossils and Carboniferous material may occur together because ice transported their parent rocks here long after the fossils formed. Erratics (Jurassic, Carboniferous, Cretaceous), Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Easington’s glacial cliffs and foreshore yield fossil-bearing erratics of several ages, with Jurassic shells and Carboniferous corals among the recorded finds. The shore also has scientifically important Pleistocene sediments, but beach cover, erosion and a muddy descent make both exposure and access changeable. Erratics (Jurassic, Carboniferous, Cretaceous), Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Withernsea’s beaches offer a mixture of fossil-bearing stones released from the glacial deposits of Holderness. Ammonites, oysters and corals occur as older fossils in transported rocks. The town provides practical beach access, although sea defences, changing sand levels and unstable cliffs make the collecting conditions very different from an exposed bedrock shore. Erratics (Jurassic, Carboniferous, Cretaceous), Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Tunstall and Sand-le-Mere are known for fossil-bearing glacial erratics, including material much older than the cliffs that contain it. The coast also records a complex Ice Age history, but erosion has seriously affected beach access; do not rely on the former route described in older guides. Erratics (Jurassic, Carboniferous, Cretaceous), Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Ulrome’s eroding clay coast releases a mixture of fossil-bearing glacial erratics, including rocks much older than the Ice Age deposits that contain them. Access is changeable: establish a safe, permitted route before visiting this exposed stretch near Skipsea. Erratics (Jurassic, Carboniferous, 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: ♦♦♦
