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Port Mulgrave
Port Mulgrave is one of the most productive fossil sites on the Yorkshire Coast, famed for its abundant ammonites and rich Jurassic marine fauna. Once a thriving ironstone mining harbour, the…
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Yorkshire
fossil locations
17 location guides
The Yorkshire Coast is one of the most popular areas in the UK for fossil hunting, with extensive exposures of Jurassic rocks similar to those found along the Dorset coast. These deposits yield a wide range of fossils, including ammonites, belemnites, and frequent marine reptile remains.
Well-known locations such as Whitby, Port Mulgrave, and Robin Hood’s Bay provide regular opportunities for collecting, with fossils often exposed along the foreshore and cliffs. The area is also notable for exceptionally preserved Jurassic plant remains.
Further south, the Cretaceous Speeton Clay at Speeton offers a different range of fossils, comparable to the Gault Clay of Folkestone, adding to the geological diversity of the Yorkshire coast.
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17 location guides
17 locations
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Robin Hoods Bay
Robin Hood’s Bay is one of the most geologically important sites on the Yorkshire Coast, known for its diverse ammonite fauna and extensive Jurassic exposures. While much of the central bay…
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Runswick Bay
Runswick Bay is a highly regarded Yorkshire Coast locality, known for its diverse ammonite fauna and productive foreshore exposures. Under the right conditions, the bay can yield a wide range of…
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Saltwick Bay
Saltwick Bay is one of the most productive sites on the Yorkshire Coast, well known for its abundant ammonites, reptile remains and marine fossils. The foreshore is rich in fossiliferous nodules,…
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Staithes
Staithes is a popular and accessible Yorkshire Coast locality, well known for its abundant and easily prepared ammonites. These are commonly found within nodules along the foreshore or weathering out from…
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Whitby
Whitby is one of the most iconic fossil localities on the Yorkshire coast, renowned for its rich Jurassic heritage and dramatic cliff scenery. While access to parts of the foreshore is…
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Cayton Bay
Cayton Bay exposes a varied, faulted Jurassic coast where ammonites, bivalves, gastropods and brachiopods occur in several different rock units. Its famous Tenants’ Cliff concretions preserve remarkable shells, while sand cover,…
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Crook Ness
Crook Ness opens onto the Burniston shore, where Middle Jurassic plant-bearing rocks and dinosaur tracks record rivers and vegetated floodplains. The Long Nab Member rewards careful observation, but fixed track surfaces,…
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Filey
Filey Brigg’s rocky promontory reveals Jurassic shell beds and striking fossil burrows in sandstone and limestone. Bivalves, brachiopods and occasional ammonites reward close observation, but tidal gullies, slippery platforms and unstable…
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Gristhorpe
Gristhorpe is renowned for delicate Jurassic plant fossils from the classic bed north of Yons Nab. The wider bay also exposes younger marine rocks with ammonites and shells, making precise locality…
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Hayburn Wyke
Hayburn Wyke is one of Yorkshire’s most important and rewarding plant fossil localities. This site exposes Middle Jurassic rocks that have yielded an exceptional diversity of fossil flora. The fine-grained sediments…
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Kettleness
Kettleness is one of the most productive fossil sites on the Yorkshire Coast, especially renowned for its abundant reptile remains, often found loose or within nodules along the foreshore. The site…
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Ravenscar
Ravenscar preserves an unusually complete Lower Jurassic marine succession, with ammonites, shell beds and conspicuous concretions beneath high cliffs. However, the golf-course-to-beach path is closed following landslip damage; the geology described…
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Reighton Gap
Reighton Gap is a useful stop along the Yorkshire coast, offering a mix of Kimmeridge Clay fossils and glacial erratics. When exposed, the clay can yield ammonites and marine shells, although…
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Sandsend
The coast north of Sandsend exposes Lower Jurassic shale, ammonites and named concretion bands beneath cliffs altered by historic alum working. Marine-reptile remains are documented but exceptional, while slippery rocks, tidal…
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Scalby Ness
Scalby Ness is known for Middle Jurassic plant fossils, including ginkgoalean foliage, in the Long Nab Member. Shale slabs and channel sandstones preserve different parts of this ancient vegetation, while tidal…
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Speeton Cliffs
Speeton Cliffs are one of the most important Lower Cretaceous sites in the UK, with the highly productive Speeton Clay yielding ammonites, fish, shells and crustaceans. Often compared to the famous…
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