Jurassic Coastline

Lyme Regis and the six mile stretch of coastline either side of the town are world famous for fossils. The reason for their abundance here is due to the type and combination of rocks. 195 million-year-old clay and limestone belonging to the Lower Jurassic period, topped by younger sandstone rocks, gives rise to continual landslips which release new fossils on to the beaches.

It was on these beaches that one of Lyme’s most famous citizens, Mary Anning (1799-1847), discovered the first ichthyosaur to be found in England and she was just twelve years old at the time! Later, as one of the first professional fossil collectors, she discovered locally a plesiosaur and a pterosaurus!

Complete ichthyosaurs are still found in the vicinity by experts, but you may be lucky enough to find pieces of fossilised bone such as vertebrae in the beach shingle. The spiral shaped ammonite (extinct member of the mollusc family) are more common although it does take a practised eye, lots of patience and a little luck to find good examples. You are more likely to find fools gold pyritised ammonites (between the size of a 5p and a 10p coin), the bullet shaped belemnite, or trace ammonites in the large boulders - those at Monmouth Beach seen at low tide are particularly impressive, some being as much as one metre across. Excellent examples of local fossils can be seen at the Philpot Museum, the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre and the many shops and exhibition centres in the town.

REMEMBER - CHECK TIDE TABLES AND KEEP AWAY FROM THE CLIFFS, LANDSLIPS AND MUDFLOWS. THEY CAN BE VERY DANGEROUS.