West Weare is the best location on Isle of Portland for fossil hunting. While most of the island consists of Portland Stone, this location is Kimmeridge Clay. Most of this clay on the Isle of Portland is covered, but, here, it can be found slipped between the debris of the quarry. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
The Wren’s Nest National Nature Reserve is an area of nature reserve to the northeast of Dudley in the West Midlands. It was designated as a National Nature Reserve in 1956 because of its exceptional geological and paleontological features of Silurian age. It is also a SSSI. Silurian, Disused Quarry, 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: ♦♦♦♦
At Stockdale Quarry, Ordovician slates yield a variety of fauna including trilobites, corals, graptolites, brachiopods, bivalves and gastropods. This disused quarry is situated at the top of a large hill. Ordovician, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦
The fossils found at Hodgson How Quarry can be seen in the local Keswick Museum, where there are some superb and unusual species of graptolites. These are common in the beds at this disused quarry. In fact, this is one of the best graptolite locations in the Lake District. .Ordovician, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦
Situated just outside Trefil, the highest village in Wales, this is a former limestone quarry, which once supplied the Sirhowy Ironworks and contains the remains of a Carboniferous coral reef.Carboniferous, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦
On the edge of the Brecon Beacons, Upper Gilwern Hill is a site long known for its well-preserved and complete trilobites. The hill is made up of rocks from the Lower and Middle Ordovician, and the privately owned quarry is accessible to parties staying at the onsite Shepherd’s Hut self catering accommodation. The trilobite fossils here are plentiful and the chances of finding a good number is very high. Ordovician, Private Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
This disused quarry is situated along the main A470 through the Brecon Beacons. The quarry also contains a waterfall, which keeps the faces clean. There is strictly a no hammering allowed, due to SSSI rules and because the site falls within the Brecon Beacons National Park. However, loose material can be collected from, especially at the base of the waterfall and from the stream running through the quarry. Devonian, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦
Surrounding the massive working limestone quarry just outside Halkyn are many smaller disused workings and old piles of waste material. In places, good quality brachiopods, corals and crinoidal limestone can be found.Carboniferous, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦
Fossils can be found in many places, most fossils are found on the beach or in quarries but many have been found in some very unusual places. Below is a list of places that you could find fossils. Please note some places such as quarries and farm fields need permission before you can enter, other places where fossils form part of the construction such as sea defences and walls, should not even be attempted. Damaging other peoples property is not only illegal, but morally wrong.
