Dumpton fossils and fossil collecting

Park at the north-eastern end of Victoria Road, just before the King George VI memorial park.
There is a path down to the beach from the top of the cliff. Walk to the bottom and then left along the promenade to the end and then on to the beach.
There is plenty of free parking at the top of the cliff and a fairly short walk down to the beach via a slope and steps. Once on the beach walking is easy enough in most areas.
There are no restrictions at this location

GRID REF: 51.34902°N, 1.43967°E

Echinoids brachiopods, bivalves, sponges, belemnites, corals.

Fossils can be found in accumulations of flint and in the chalk foreshore and fallen boulders at Dumpton. They can also be seen in the cliffs. Finds are not particularly abundant but you should go home with something.

Low

The chalk at Dumpton is not especially fossiliferous. When the tide is out, however, there is plenty of chalk to look over on the foreshore where the wave cut platform is exposed. There has also been a cliff fall which can yield specimens.

Suitable for Children

This is a beach location frequented by families and dog walkers. Most of the beach is sandy, with areas of flint, and chalk exposed lower down. This location is very suitable for families.

Good Access

There is plenty of free parking at the top of the cliff and a fairly short walk down to the beach via a slope and steps. Once on the beach walking is easy enough in most areas.

Foreshore / Boulders

Fossils can be found in the chalk of the foreshore and also within boulders. The cliffs should be avoided however.

No Restrictions

There are no restrictions at this location, but please follow our own code of conduct for all locations.

Dumpton
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

Keep a safe distance from the cliffs. In some places weed on the foreshore make it slippery. It is possible to become cut off by the tide so make sure you collect on a retreating tide. Make sure someone knows where you have gone and what time you expect to be back.

Last updated:
last visited:

Written by:

19/08/08
2008

Joe Shimmin

Other Locations similar to Dumpton

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.

A good, sturdy bag and plenty of packing material, as well as a hammer and chisel are need at this location. Waterproof boots with a good grip will also come in handy.

Video: View of Dumpton


There are large accumulations of flint to look over for loose urchins. These are infrequent, but they are present. The foreshore and any chalk boulders should also be investigated. It is often worth breaking open blocks that have evidence of broken echinoids on their surfaces in case they contain better specimens inside. Along with echinoids brachiopods, bivalves, sponges, belemnites, corals and more can be found. Foreshore chalk at Dumpton

Cretaceous, 86mya

At Dumpton, the chalk is of Santonian and Coniacian age. It is the Seaford Chalk and includes the Haven Brow Member and the Cuckmere Member. There are several distinct bands within these which can be seen in the excellent exposures at Dumpton, these are the Whitaker's Three Inch Flint Band, the Bedwell's Columnar Flint Band, Rowe's Echinoid Band and the Barrois' Sponge Bed.

On the foreshore, a wave-cut platform with Paramoudra flints and Cladoceramus undulatoplicatus can be seen in beds below the Bedwell's Columnar Flint...[more]


Encrusting brachiopods on echinoid surface...[more] Echinoid spine on flint...[more]

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.

At Dumpton, 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.

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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