Fossils and Geology of St Margarets Bay, Kent. Fossil Collecting & Geological Guides

St Margarets Bay Fossils and Fossil Collecting
Your Kent Geological Guide and Geology Info

The picturesque bay at St. Margaret’s is eroded out of Conacian Upper Chalk. Fossils can be found in the cliffs, boulders and shingle both to the east and the west of the bay. The location is picturesque and there is a very nice pub to relax in after fossil hunting.

St Margarets Bay - Kent
Last updated: [28/01/08] last visited 2007

Cretaceous

Written by Joe Shimmin

(St Margarets Bay East, 2007)

Location Information

On a good day plenty of fossils will be found. These are more abundant in the chalk of the south-west side of the bay, but the north-east is still worth a look over for flint urchins and sponges.

(Suitable for Children)

The beach is easily accessible and fairly hazard free. There are some obstacles on either side of the bay, e.g. boulders on the west and (sometimes) slippery steps on the east, but with supervision, this is a location that is suitable for children.

Although the actual fossil hunting sites are easily accessible, the narrow road leading down to the bay is best suited to smaller vehicles. Camper vans etc. are not recommended.

Cliffs, boulders, wave-cut platform, shingle

Most fossils will be found eroding out of the wave-cut platform and chalk boulders at the base of the cliff. Also keep an eye out for flint urchins. Fossils are present in the cliffs, but should not be extracted for safety reasons.

ACCESS
RIGHTS

There is free access to both sides of the bay. Parking can be found in a pay and display car park.

Please follow our national fossil collecting code

Other Locations similar to St Margarets Bay

! IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTES !

It is possible to be cut off by the tide at this location, so make sure that you consult a tide timetable before you visit, and preferably start your hunt on a falling tide. Don’t hammer into the cliffs or collect from areas below unstable portions of the cliffs. A hard hat and shoes or boots with a good grip are advisable here to protect against any small falling debris and the chances of slipping over on seaweed covered rocks.

Stone Tumblers (Lapidary)

Microscopes

Test Sieves for Particle Analysis

Stone Tumblers are used for tumbling and polishing rough rock, stones and pebbles including those found on the beach and glass.

Whilst collecting fossils, on those days where you come back empty handed, you could collect rocks, stones and glass from the beach and tumble then at home.

These are all high quality machines to give a professional finish to your samples. The tumblers can be used with a variety of grits, most commonly Silicon Carbide Grit and Cerium Oxide. We have a wide range of rough rocks for sale too.

Microfossils are much easier to collect because they are so small that the vast majority of collections only concentrate on large finds. These small finds can simply be found by taking small samples of sands, crags, clays and soft rocks and examining them under a microscope.

We have a wide range of microscopes for sale, both for the study of fossils, but also educational and professional for use in the laboratory. We have Stereo microscopes, Compound Microscopes, Polarising Microscopes and Monocular Microscopes.

We have thousands of Test Sieves for Particle Analysis.

Endecotts Sieves: For accurate dependable results you can't buy a better test sieve than Endecotts. At every stage of manufacture each test sieve is individually inspected.

High Precision Tecan manufactures precision apertures as small as 3 microns for a wide array of applications such as filtering, sieving and nozzles. Its high-performance, ASTM/ISO compliant test sieves satisfy the most demanding fine particle grading requirements.

St Margarets Bay Fossils and Fossil Collecting Your Kent Geological Guide and Geology Info

St Margarets Bay Fossils and Fossil Collecting
Your Kent Geological Guide and Geology Info