Hull Geological Society

and the East Yorkshire RIGS Group

Conserving Regionally Important Geological Sites in East Yorkshire (Watsonian Vice County 61)

The East Yorkshire RIGS Group, formed in 1992, has compiled this list of Regionally Important Geological and Geomorphological Sites within (the Watsonian Vice County no. 61) East Yorkshire, England.
Remember to get permission from the landowner before visiting private sites and always behave in a safe and considerate manor.

The present list of Regionally Important Geological and Geomorphological Sites is:
Arras Road Chalk Pit - Turonian Coniacian Chalk; Kiplingcotes Marls, Arras Flint and Enthorpe Marls.
Atwick TA191513 - 12.64 ha elongated area of alluvium exposed in cliff section
Barmston Mere near Skipsea - early- to mid-Holocene record (added July 2000)
Bessingby Chalk Pit - Lower Campanian Chalk; former SSSI.
Bishop Wilton Chalk Pit - Cenomanian Turonian Chalk.
Bracken Quarry, Bainton - base of the Flamborough Chalk Formation.
Brandesburton Gravel Pits - Devensian sands and gravels.
Branmere near Aldbrough - late glacial deposits (added July 2000)
Brantingham Dale - dry valley.
Brigham Quarry - Devensian sands and gravels.
Burdale Quarry - Turonian Chalk; Beacon Hill Marl & North Ormsby Marl.
Cess Dell near Thorpe Garth - kettle hole (added July 2000)
Easington Cliffs - Tills and associated sediments. (added February 2011)
East Leys Pit - Lower Campanian Chalk.
Eppleworth Quarry - Coniacian Chalk; Eppleworth Flint and De La Pole Flint; also Quaternary till, loess and head deposits.
Fairy Stones, Burdale - chalk fault breccia.
Foxholes Chalk Pit - vertical Coniacian Chalk.
Goodmanham Channel - glacial overflow channel.
Goodmanham Black Band exposure - Cenomanian-Turonian boundary (added July 2000)
Gransmoor Quarry - Devensian Flandrian mere deposits filling a kettle hole.
Holme-on-Spalding-Moor Chruch - educational site - variety of building stones. (added February 2011)
Holme-on-Spalding-Moor Chruch Hill - Triassic inlier in Lake Humber deposits; possibly Anglian deposits also. (added February 2011)
Hornhill Top Quarry, near Bainton - top of the Burnham Chalk Formation.
Hornsea Mere - geomorpholgy - last of the Devensian Flandrian meres of Holderness. Public access.
Hornsea Old Mere - (added 1995)
Hotham Crossroads Pits - Rhaetian to Hettangian.
Humber Bridge Country Park - Turonian Chalk; Barton Marls; former SSSI.
Jarret's Ings near Brigham - late glacial to recent Holocene (added July 2000)
Kelsey Hill Gravel Pits (I & II) - late Devensian glacial outwash, yielding mammalian bones.
Keyingham Gravel Pits - (added 1995)
Kilnwick Percy Quarry - Turonian Chalk; Ulceby Marl & Ulceby Oyster Bed.
Kiplingcotes Nature Reserve - Turonian Chalk; Deepdale Marls. Public access. Do not climb on the scree. Permission to collect or do research required from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.
Kiplingcotes Station Quarry - Turonian Chalk; type section of Kiplingcotes Flints and Marls; site of large ammonites found by C W & E V Wright; former SSSI.
Knapton - Cenomanian chalk, Black Band Member, Turonian Chalk, Red Chalk, Speeton Clay, gravels and tilting. (Added December 2006).
Lambwath Mere near Withernwick - relatively complete Holocene record (added July 2000)
Langtoft East Chalk Pit - tilted Burnham Chalk Formation.
Langtoft West Chalk Pit - the junction between the Burnham Chalk Formation and the Flamborough Chalk Formation.
Little Weighton to Willerby railway cutting - Chalk (added 1998 - including a 50m boundary around the site)
Mappleton TA218448 - late glacial to early/mid holocene environmental history (added July 2000)
Mappleton Sea defences - boulders from Scandinavia forming a useful teaching resource (added July 2000) Coastal exposure, good public access.
Middleton on the Wolds Chalk Pit - Burnham Chalk Formation; type section of the Middleton Marl; used to be worked by hand; former SSSI.
Nafferton Grange Chalk Pit- Lower Campanian Chalk; youngest in situ exposed in Yorkshire.
Newbold Wold Chalk Pit - Turonian Chalk; Deepdale Marls and Beacon Hill Marl.
North Cave Wetlands - 100 acres of former gravel pits now owned by the Yorkshire Wuildlife Trust - Lowest Jurassic and possibly uppermost Triassic under Quaternary gravels. (added December 2003) Public access but you must keep to paths and out of restricted areas, permission to go off the paths can be requested from the Trust, Warden or Recorder.
North Grimston Quarries - Upper Jurassic - Corallian limestones: Malton Oolite and Urchin Dirt Beds.
Pocklington Beck - mid- to late-Holocene record (added July 2000)
Redcliff, North Ferriby - moraine and lacustrine sediments of Lake Humber, late Devensian. Public access but may be hazardous.
Routh Quarry - late-glacial/Holocene sequence (added July 2000)
Ruston Parva Chalk Pit - Lower Campanian Chalk.
Sand le Mere beach - late glacial to early-Holocene and sea level change (added July 2000)
Sands Top Quarry, North Newbald - Cave Oolite, Middle Jurassic, and karst features.
St. Austin's Stone, Drewton - chalk fault breccia.
Seaton TA161464 - Late-Devensian valley connecting Hornsea Mere to River Hull valley (added July 2000)
Skipsea Bail Mere TA158558- dry mere with pollen record of lake sediments from the late Devensian (ca. 12,000 BP)
Skipsea Low Mere - continuous pollen record for late-glacial, early- and mid-Holocene (added July 2000)
Snevver Scar - glacial drainage channel. (added 1995)
Sunderland Bottom - part of floodplain of the upper Keyingham valley (added July 2000)
Thixendale Grange - SE820608 - Quaternary deposits. (added February 2011)
Weaverthorpe East Pit - tilted Coniacian Chalk.
Willerby Railside Pit - Coniacian Chalk.
Willow Garth - (added 1995) Late glacial to early Flandrian pollen record.
Wold Newton Monument - brick obelisk at the site of meteorite impact of 13th December 1795; former SSSI.

Urban RIGS in Hull :-

Lloyds/TSB Bank on the corner of Chapel Street and Paragon Street - granite with Rapakivi structures; King William Statue and toilets in Market Place - various rocks; Methodist Hall - Tiberthwaite Tuff; Festival House fossils in an ironstone; HSBC Bank near the War Memorial - granite pillars, etc.; Williamsons Solicitors in Lowgate - Ashburton 'Marble'; Monument Buildings - Granite pillrs with xenoliths; the Police Station in Queen's Gardens - Tilberthwaite Tuff. All designated for their educational value on 8th May 2001. The cladding was removed from the police station in 2019 without consulatation.

Also two areas within Western Cemetery (Spring Bank, Hull) - one for the variety of rock types and monumental styles, the other to show the effects of weathering. These were added on 19th July 2004. [click here for sketch map]

The following sites are 9 geological SSSIs in the former county of North Humberside (which had different boundaries to the East Yorkshire Vice County):
Dimlington Cliff - Tills with interbedded sands and silts Coastal exposure, public access but may be hazardous.
Enthorpe Railway Cutting - Chalk, including the Turonian-Coniacian Boundary.
Drewton Lane Pits: Kettlethorpe Quarry and South Cave Station Quarry - Kellaways Sands and Kellaways Rock.
Everthorpe Quarry (a.k.a. Eastfield Quarry) - Cave Oolite.
Flamborough Head - from Reighton to Sewerby, including the type locality of the Speeton Clay, Speeton Shell Bed, a complete succession of the Chalk (up to the binodosus zone), including the type locality of the Flamborough Chalk Formation and the buried cliff. Coastal exposure, public access but may be hazardous.
Kelsey Hill Gravel Pits III, IV & V - Pleistocene deposits, type locality of the Kelsea Hill Gravels.
Melton Bottom Chalk Pit - type locality of the Welton Chalk Formation.
Millington Wood and Pastures - geomorphology and biology : karst landscape.
Rifle Butts Quarry - exposure of Jurassic-Cretaceous unconformity. Public access. No hammering or collecting.
Roos Bog - a complete late glacial and Flandrian sequence.
Withow Gap, Skipsea - mere deposits filling a hollow in the Skipsea Till. Coastal exposure, public access but may be hazardous.

Some other sites are SSSIs for non geological reasons, but are also of geological interest and may be listed as RIGS sites in the future.These include:
Flamborough Railway Cutting
Spurn Head to Salt Flat Ends Coastal exposure, public access but may be hazardous. Owned by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.
Wharram Quarry Nature Reserve

Some other sites are under consideration for RIGS status

West Heslerton - Speeton Clay and lower parts of the Chalk.
Harland Way - chalk pit, possible springline deposit

[The list of sites was compiled by Mike Horne, with the help of John Catt, Denise Leach, Kevin Page, Mick Stanley, Richard Middleton and members of the EYRIGS Group. 1994 updated 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2011]

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