Kingsdown fossils and fossil collecting
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 You can park either in the pay and display car park at the St Margaret’s Bay end of the section or on the road at the Kingsdown end of the section, at Oldstairs Bay.
 To start from St Margaret’s Bay, walk north to access the section. You can walk all the way to Kingsdown from here. When you get to Kingsdown you will have to walk around a large sea wall, which juts out across the foreshore, for a few hundred metres, before exiting the beach and turning around to walk back along the cliff top path to St Margaret's Bay.
To start from Kingsdown, park on the road at Oldstairs Bay. Walk out onto the foreshore and then south by skirting the sea wall which juts out across the foreshore. You can then walk the section all the way to St Margaret's Bay. To then return to Kingsdown, climb the steps up the cliff from the carpark, and head north along the cliff top path... (Cont...)
GRID REF: 51.18537°N, 1.40527°E
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Older Children
The walk between Kingsdown and St Margaret’s Bay is quite a long one and in places piles of chalk rubble need to be scrambled over. This location is not recommended for smaller children.
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Fair Access
Free on road parking can be found at Oldstairs Bay at Kingsdown to the north or in the pay and display car park at St Margaret’s Bay to the south. The section between the two places is fairly long and could prove difficult for some in parts.
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Cliff and foreshore
Some fossils can be seen in the chalk cliffs and extracted from the cliff falls below. However, most fossils are found on the foreshore, which is covered with flint pebbles eroded free of the chalk.
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Partly SSSI
At the start of the Kingsdown section you are restricted to a narrow path at the bottom of the cliffs. To your seaward side is an old firing range, which is fenced off and out of bounds. The strip of land below the cliffs here has SSSI status and should be treated accordingly. At the end of the path you cross a sea wall onto the beach proper and here the restrictions end.
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Kingsdown
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 |
Make sure you visit this location on a retreating tide. There is no way off of the beach between St Margaret’s Bay and Kingsdown, although in places the rock falls are piled up well above the high water mark. Please do not hammer into the cliff face to avoid causing rocks to fall on you! The foreshore can be slippery due to mud and weed. Parts of this section are remote. Mobile phones generally only pick up French reception here – make sure you tell someone where you are and what time you expect to be back. |
| Last updated: |
2010 |
| last visited: |
2009 |
| Written by: |
Joe Shimmin |
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With the huge abundance of chalk on the beach here you would be forgiven for thinking that fossils will be easy to find. Unfortunately this is not the case. The strata here are poorly fossiliferous, with the most common fossils by far being broken pieces of Inoceramus bivalve shells.
However, weathering out of the massive piles of chalk which are the result of cliff falls are large quantities of flints and these can have small fossils on their surfaces. Flint sponges and the occasional urchin can also be found on the foreshore. Keep your eyes peeled and you should find something!
Foreshore chalk at Kingsdown
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Cretaceous, 88mya |
At Kingsdown, the chalk is of Coniacian age. Similar to St Margarets Bay, but not as fossiliferous. The chalk is of the Seaford formation, and covers the Seven Sisters flint band, Belle Tout and Shoreham beds...[more]
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Other Locations similar to Kingsdown
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In Sussex, there are many excellent locations for collecting chalk fossils. Newhaven, Seaford, Eastbourne, Seven Sisters, Peacehaven and Beachy Head.
Kent also has some excellent locations, including Dumpton, Kingsgate, Birchington, Samphire Hoe, Pegwell Bay, Dover and St Margarets Bay.
You can also find middle chalk at Hookend Cliff, and Pinhay Bay in Devon, and at Hunstanton in Norfolk.
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Related Books |
Microscopes |
Test Sieves for Microfossils |
 Fossils of the Chalk
A fantastic book covering the chalk of the UK. This book covers most of the fossils that can be found in the chalk. It is a fully illustrated guide. This is the second edition of this popular book and is available from our own UK Fosils/UKGE Store.
All of our books have FREE UK Delivery, We have hundreds of geological books for sale.
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At Kingsdown, you can find Microfossils from the chalk. They are much easier to collect because they are so small that you only need a small amount of chalk sample. You then need to break it down in water and view using a microscope to view these.
Chalk is actually composed of fossil shells, so you only need a small amount of sample on your microscope.
We have a wide range of microscopes for sale, you will need a Stereo microscope for viewing microfossils.
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Test Sieves are used when searching for microfossils. We recommend that you use a test sieve with water at different levels. Test sieves for chalk fossils should be 300 microns, and 500 microns.
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 fully certificated to EU Standards. |
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