by The news that an 11-year-old girl, Ruby Reynolds, found an important fossil proves that anyone can make historical discoveries if they are willing to get out there and look. Dean Lomax, a palaeontologist from the University of Manchester, identified the fossilized bone, which was found on a Somerset beach in 2020, as that of a species of giant marine reptile whose science was new. Ruby, now 15, helped name the prehistoric creature Severnensis Ichthyotitan, or, “The giant fish lizard of the Severn”. The species may reach a length of 82 feet.
It has some of the best beaches for fossil hunting in Britain. The 96 mile long Jurassic coast of Dorset and Devon, the Isle of Wight (known as “Dinosaur Island”) and the Yorkshire coast are major places. Quarries – when safely accessible – are like fossil amphitheaters; Its layers of rock peeled back to reveal a prehistoric treasure.
Here, we’ve dug up five of Britain’s best fossil-hunting sites.
Compton Bay, Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is “one of the best places to find dinosaur fossils in the UK”, says Professor Paul Barrett, a dinosaur researcher at the Natural History Museum in London. Around 130 million years ago, this island was a floating swamp where herbivorous dinosaurs hunted.
Twenty species of fossil dinosaurs have been discovered, and counting. For such a small area (147 square miles), the diversity of dinosaurs is the best in Europe. You may find the remains of later animals – such as the hornless rhinoceros – as well as flint tools from prehistoric human inhabitants.
The southwest of the island, with the oldest Cretaceous rocks, is the best spot for fossil hunting.
Compton Bay, owned by the National Trust, is a beautiful sandy beach backed by low grass-topped cliffs with cliff top parking and beach access via steps. An ice cream van is your only option for food or drinks. At the bottom of the steps, turn left and 380 yards further on you find boulders with three-toed ornithopod footprints. You may need an expert to point them out.
The National Trust offers hour-long guided fossil walks with a local operator, Wight Coast Fossils, at (£5/£3) – you may find fragments of fossilized dinosaur bones or teeth (wightcoastfossils. co.uk).
The best find? The skeleton of the polacanthus, an armor-plated dinosaur found in 1979. It can be seen in the Natural History Museum in London.
Crack, Fife
Rocks here belong to the Carboniferous period, 335 million years ago. There are fossilized tracks that look like a four-wheel drive on the foreshore boulders. These are huge centipede trails, up to two meters long. Paleontologists know such finds as ichnofossils or “trace fossils”, the term given to fossils that are not bodily remains but marks left behind by animals. Smaller fossils you might bring home include tree bark, roots and coprolite – fossil (shark) poo. You may need a geologist’s hammer to open pebbles. Wear protective goggles.
Crail Harbor Gallery and Tea Room is a characterful cafe with sea views (01333 451896; crailharbourgallery.co.uk).
The UK Fossil Hunters Association occasionally runs guided fossil walks at Crail and elsewhere around the UK (ukafh)
The best find? Hard to beat those giant centipede track marks.
Boggle Hole, Yorkshire
A mile’s walk south of Robin Hood’s Bay on the Cleveland Way path, a pond descends to a building just yards from the former smugglers’ den. This is the Boggle Hole Youth Hostel with its cozy Quarterdeck cafe and outdoor seating where you can view your Jurassic ammonite finds on the beach. Asterocera obtusum species. Ichnfossils can also be seen in a terrace of Redcar mudstone, including Thalassinoides, the fossilized holes of crustaceans, looking like intricate railway maps. These are for viewing only; do not attempt to drop material from the cliff.
Like all fossil hunting spots, Boggle Hole is best explored after storms, which not only loosen new material from the cliffs but also wash sand from the shale beds.
YHA Boggle Hole sometimes organizes guided fossil walks (£5 per person) for family groups during school holidays (01629 592700; yha.org.uk). Email bogglehole@yha.org.uk to request it.
Yorkshire Coast Rocks leads fossil safaris at Boggle Hole and elsewhere on the Yorkshire coast. A three to four hour private safari with a scientist costs from £165 for up to six people. Alternatively, join one of their public walks for £24 for adults and £12 for children (07816 278287; www.yorkshirecoast.rocks).
The best find? New dinosaur footprints – stegosaurus, theropods and sauropods – were revealed near Whitby this year.
Lyme Regis, Dorset
With its tilted strata, meaning you walk a million years in a mile, the Jurassic cliffs of Lyme Regis were the birthplace of paleontology in the 19th century with many of Mary Anning’s fossil discoveries. Britain’s most complete dinosaur, a scelidosaurus, was also found here. Soft cliffs with storm flames are always depositing treasures that are easy to find on the beach, such as ammonites, belemnites and gryphaea, or “devil’s toenails”, a type of extinct oyster species.
Rubbish from the town’s historic dump, which was in use from Victorian times until the 1970s, is also littering the beach. Perhaps surprisingly, it helps to find human detritus in fossil hunting. Heavy items such as old penknives and nails are washed together by tides and here, too, you’ll find dense fossils in iron pyrite – small shiny jewels of ammonites “fool’s gold”.
Afterwards, head into town and up the hill to the Alexandra Hotel for al fresco cream tea with harbor views (01297 442010; hotelalexandra.co.uk).
Lyme Regis Museum leads three-hour fossil hunting walks costing £14.75 for adults and £8.75 for children (01297 443370; lymeregismuseum.co.uk).
The annual Lyme Regis fossil festival takes place on 8-9 June with talks, walks, films, boat trips and more (fossilfestival.com).
The best find? There are many contenders, but this year marks 200 years since Mary Anning described the first complete skeleton of a plesiosaur.
Upper Gilwern Quarry, Mid Wales
On private land on the edge of the Brecans, this former quarry offers guaranteed finds of Ordovician trilobites of the genus Ogyginus (they look like giant beetles), up to 469 million years old. A local extinction event, perhaps a volcanic eruption raining down ash, probably killed and preserved thousands of creatures on a breeding site in a shallow sea.
Guests staying in the landowners’ accommodation have more or less exclusive access to the quarry (educational groups sometimes visit). A shepherd’s hut on site has far reaching views. Another option is two “tree houses” that sleep seven people each, located 10 minutes by car. Your party gets half a day of fossil hunting at the quarry included with your visit.
The Hundred House Inn is 10 minutes away with open fires and reasonably priced food (01982 570 446).
Upper Gilwern Quarry Hut (07741 068 402; uppergilwernquarryhut.co.uk) and Rhiwwood Tree Houses (07741 068 402; rhiwwoodtreehouses.co.uk).
The best find? Erne, it would be a trilobite.
