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Geology field guides and walks

Disclaimer – details about parking and facilities may have changes since the author last visited these sites.

Note all sites are best visited on a falling tide. For some the tide is critical either to view the site or to avoid getting stranded. You are recommended to wear a hard hat when examining cliffs.

Summary -

 Speeton

Conservation status - SSSI

Parking – Cliff top at Reighton; Reighton Sands holiday park – permission needed & may be a fee; Speeton village

Facilities – none; toilets might be accessible at holiday park.

Access – grotty disused and slumped road from Reighton cliff top; steep tarmacked road from holiday camp; steep grassy path from Speeton village.

Walking distance – about 1km each way

Beach - sandy or pebbly; sometimes slippery mud exposed.

Hazards – keep away from mudflows; keep a close eye on the tide, you can get stranded.

Escape routes – steep grassy path to Speeton village from Speeton Beck; climb the cliffs the other side of Speeton beck to the holiday village. Climb above high tide and sit it out.

Safety and PPE – hard hat and sensible clothes. Wear wellies if it has been wet.

Geological highlights – Kimmeridge shale. The unique Lower Cretaceous Speeton Clay including fossil shrimps and uncoiled ammonites; coprolite bed; belemnite biostratigraphy. The Red Chalk Formation. The Ferriby Chalk Formation. The Black Band Member. The Speeton Shall Bed. Glacial boulder clay and erratics.

Lots to see but very prone to slumping causing exposures to change.

If you want to see the Red Chalk and you have started from Reighton it is best to head to Speeton Beck first and then work your way back (going down the Speeton Clay sequence.

Other interests there or nearby – wreck of ship on beach boiler exposed at low tide.

Extension – from Red Hole to the Black Band exposure. Very difficult going over large boulders. Wear boots with good ankle support. Tide is critical (you have only got a few hours) and there are no escape routes. There is a wrecked submarine to be seen half way.

More information - Friends of the Speeton Clay Website

Speeton Clay zonal belemnites

Speeton Clay zonal belemnites

Speeton beach

mudflow at Speeton

avaoid the mudflows at Speeton

Copyright - Mike Horne and Hull Geological Society 2022

Registered Educational Charity No. 229147

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