Chapel Point fossils and fossil collecting |
Fairly Poor
Fossils are found in boulders which have been washed from the Holderness coastline. These are a mixture of Carboniferous, Jurassic and Cretaceous. However, unlike Holderness locations, the rocks here are limited.
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Suitable for Children
As with nearly all the beaches around Skegness, they are ideal for children. This location would have been rated a full 5-star, except that a few granite boulders along the beach as a coastal defence can be dangerious of climbed by children. |
Beach Boulders
Fossils are found in rocks and boulders along the beach. Most of these are found in the channel at low tide or around the concrete headland at Chapel Point.
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No Restrictions
There are no restrictions at this location, but you should always collect sensible and safely, please see our code of conduct below.
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Common sense when collecting at all locations should be taken. The beach at Chapel Point is an ideal places for children. It is extremly hard to get cut off by the tide here, and there are no cliffs to worry about. |
| Last updated: |
2011 |
| last visited: |
2011 |
| Written by: |
Alister and Alison Cruickshanks |
In North Yorkshire, Reighton Gap and Cayton Bay also have Boulder Clay, but the best place for Boulder Clay fossils is the whole coastline South of Bridlington to Easington, known as the Holderness Coastline.
Due to the rapid erosion along that part of the coast, access is always changing. But locations of Mappleton, Easington, Tunstall, Ulrome, Withernsea and Tunstall are accessible.
If you enjoy collecting from Boulder Clay why not try the Suffolk Coast. There are plenty of locations to visit including, Happisburgh, Pakefield, Gisleham Quarry, or Corton.
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A good eye is all you need, but a hammer will come in handy for splitting any large boulders.
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Lincolnshire is not a great place for fossils, and most of these are quarries. Yet, parts of the coastline especially around Skegness are some of the most popular tourist areas along the East Coast and home to Butlins. This area tends to be the most asked about for places to find fossils whilst staying in Skegness and inspite of the lack of cliffs or foreshore bedrock, fossils can indeed still be found, albeit not as common as other locations.
At Chapel Point, rocks can be found in both a channel at low tide and also around the concrete structure at the actual point. These rocks have come from Holderness, and moved by the process of Long Shore Drifts. Yet, they did not even originate from Holderness!
The fossils are erratic's, in other words, they do not come from the actual deposits that they are found in. The fossils were brought down during the last ice age, dragged from the North trapped in giant ice sheets and dumped along the Holderness Coastline.
You can find almost anything from the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks of Yorkshire and also a number of Carboniferous rocks. Fossils include ammonites, belemnites, echinoid's, corals and mollusc's. Whilst this makes it more exciting, you can never fully date these fossils as it is impossible to tell exactly what bed they are from and knowing that these rocks are still moving down from North to South today.
 Although you won't find any cliffs like this at Chapel Point, the photo is taken from along the Holderness Coastline, showing the type of deposits that the rocks came from. You can see erratics within the clay (the white chalk is very clear)
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Quarternary, (Erratics) |
There are no cliffs or bedrock at Chapel Point, instead rocks washed from along the Holderness Coastline (from Boulder Clay), are moved down the coast by Long Shore Drift, these tend to get dumped along certain parts of the Lincolnshire Coastline. Chapel Point is one of those places. Rocks of Jurassic and Cretaceous age can be seen at low tide along the foreshore and can contain various fossils.
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Coral Boulders and common along this coastline.
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Stone Tumblers |
Microscopes |
Geological Tools |
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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UKGE, market leaders in Geological Supplies and Geology Equipment. We supply retail, education, wholesale and trade in the UK, Europe and beyond.
With our wide range of geological hammers and geological picks as well as fossil tools, starter packs and geological chisels.
UKGE is your geological superstore, selling a wide range of field equipment, rocks, minerals, fossils, geological and even microscopy! |
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Chapel Point can be found at the north end of Chapel St Leonards along the minor coast road.
