Thorncombe Beacon and fossil collecting |
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 Thorncombe Beacon can be reached by following a narrow road along the shore, just opposite the Castle Inn in Childeock.
There is a small car park at Thorncombe, which is highly recommended. Thorncombe Beacon is on your left from the car park.
GRID REF: 50.71866°N, 2.80369°W
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Older Children Only
The foreshore at Thorncombe Beacon is very rocky. This site is only suitable for families with older children, as some of the boulders are extremely hard and large. Although you can find fossils on the foreshore, most have to be split from the rock using a geological hammer.
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Easy Access
Accessibility is excellent. There is a car park practically on the beach, with toilets and a pub next to it. However it can be a difficult walk when the beach between Seatown and Thorncombe Beacon Cliff is built up with pebbles.
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Foreshore, Cliffs
This is a foreshore and cliff location, so fossils can be found in both. However, the vast majority of fossils are found in rocks on the foreshore or by smashing blocks of the Dorset Junction Bed.
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No Hammering Cliff
This site is part of the Jurassic World Heritage Coastline. Please follow the Fossil Code of Conduct. Access is permitted SSSI -
NO HAMMERING THE CLIFF
This is 'Private Land', Access for digging is strictly forbidden.
Damage has already been caused to this heritage site by people using power tools. This is strictly against SSSI rules and any attempt to ignore these rules may result in prosecution. |
Common sense when collecting at all locations should be used and prior knowledge of tide times is essential. If walking from Seatown, double check tide times, because, once you are at Thorncombe Beacon, you cannot see how high the tide is just around the corner at Seatown. In addition, the tide often reaches the base of the cliff and it is easy to get cut off, once you are past the headland. For this reason, make sure you begin your return at low tide. |
Thorncombe Beacon
Tide Times
UK Tidal data is owned by Crown Copyright, and therefore sadly we are not allowed to display tide times without paying expensive annual contracts. However we sell them via our store, including FREE POSTAGE
Click here to buy a tide table |
Accommodation
Higher Spence
Farm Cottage, beautiful location 3 miles Charmouth. Double and Family rooms En Suite.
Contact: Christine Nutkins
Tel: UK (01297) 560556
Tel: International +441297 560556 Address: Higher Spence, Wootton, Fitzpaine, Charmouth, Dorset.
Email: higherspence@eurolink.ltd.net Website: (Typing "Higher Spence into your search engine)
Dorset coastal cottages
We are a holiday agent for 120 carefully selected and inspected cottages within 10 miles of Dorset's spectacular World Heritage Coast and Path. All are old, many are beamy and thatched, most have open fires or logburners plus central heating. Rents include electricity, gas etc. and all linen/towels.
Rentable by the week or 3 day Short Break all year round!!
Please call: 0800 9804070 for a Brochure or visit our website on www.dorsetcoastalcottages.com
Jennifer Owens Direct:
01305 851033 jen.o@dorsetcoastalcottages.com
If you would like to advertise on this page, please 'contact us'.
£10/Year or 'FREE' for return links from accommodation website pages. |
| Last updated: |
2008 |
| last visited: |
2004 |
| Written by: |
Alister and Alison Cruickshanks |
| Edited by: |
Jon Trevelyan |
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This is an SSSI, so no hammering is allowed on the cliff or bedrock. This site is part of the Jurassic World Heritage Coastline, so follow the Fossil Code of Conduct. This is also private land, so digging into the cliff or foreshore is strictly forbidden. Damage has already been caused to the heritage site by people using power tools. This is strictly against SSSI rules and any attempt to ignore them may result in prosecution.
To find fossils, you need to look for layered yellow rocks (these are from the Junction Bed). Split these open or, if they are too big, smash them up using lump hammers, then fine split using normal splitting hammers. They are normally full of fossils, including ammonites and shells. There are plenty of finds to be made. Starfish (Palaeocoma egertoni) can be found, together with a large number of ammonites (especially Amaltheus margaritatus and Lytoceras fimbriatum), belemnites, crinoids, brachiopods, bivalves, gastropods and trace fossils.
Keep an eye on the surface of weathered rocks - most of the starfish are found simply in rocks lying on the foreshore. Indeed, there are plenty of fossils to be found, so keep an eye open on all of the rocks, rather than simply splitting a few open.
If you are lucky, sometimes Greensand can slip and be exposed on the foreshore. If it is, it may be in the soft form (it turns hard when it is exposed to air). Fossils shells can be found in this and, in its soft form, these are very easy to extract...[more]
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Jurassic, 180-195mya |
At the base of the cliff at Thorncombe Beacon is the Eype Clay Member from the Lower Jurassic, in the middle of which are a number of nodules from the Eype Nodule Bed, although they are often covered by slippages. Thorncombe Beacon is 157m high. At the top is Upper Greensand and Gault from the Lower Cretaceous and below these are the Lower Jurassic Bridport Sands, Down Cliff Clay Member and the Thorncombe Sands Member. The Junction Bed (Beacon Limestone) where most of the ammonites come from is between the Down Cliff Clay and the Thorncombe Sands.
Under the Thorncombe Sands is the Down Cliff Sands Member, which rests on the Eype Clay with the Starfish Bed between the two. Starfish can be found here, but they are not common...[more]
Eype Clay at Thorncombe Beacon
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  Thorncombe Beacon is a location where you have to work for your finds. Take a good, strong heavy hammer to crack the Dorset Junction Bed rocks, together with safety goggles.
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Other Locations similar to Thorncombe Beacon
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Thorncombe Beacon is in a class of its own, the whole of the North Yorkshire Coast can be sumiarised in the rocks, technically most ammonites found in Yorkshire can be found here. The beds continue to Eype. If you enjoy this type of location, you could try nearby Osmington Mills.
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Stone Tumblers |
Microscopes |
Test Sieves for Microfossils |
If you are interested in fossil collecting, then you may also be interested in a stone tumbler (Lapidary). You can polish stones and rocks from the beach which
will look fantastic polished using a stone tumbler.
You can polish rough rock and beach glass whilst collecting fossils, on those days where you come back empty handed.
These are all high quality machines to give a professional finish to your samples. They can even be used for amber and fossils. |
At most locations, you can find microfossils. You only need a small sample of the sand. You then need to wash it in water and sieve using a test sieve. Once the sand is processed, you can then view the contents using a microscope.
We have a wide range of microscopes for sale, you will need a Stereomicroscope for viewing microfossils. The best one we sell is the IMXZ, but a basic microscope will be fine. Once you have found microfossils, you will need to store these microfossils.
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Test Sieves are used when searching for microfossils. Microfossils can be found in many locations, and all you need is a small amount of sample such as clays, sands and shales, or if you have acid, limestone, oolite or chalk.
Our UKGE Store sells Endecotts Test Sieves, which are the highest in accuracy and extremely durable and long lasting. These Test Sieves are fantastic for microfossils. Endecotts Test Sieves come in a variety of sizes, frame material and types, they are certificated to EU Standards. |
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