Leaders - Graham Ward & Bill George

London Clay:
London Clay stretches from Great Yarmouth, where it has been proved in boreholes to Wiltshire in the west and the Isle of Wight in the south. The deposit is about 50,000,000 years old and has a maximum thickness of 150m.The deposit underlies London and has been extensively bored through in the construction of the Underground tube lines. Sediments, which formed the London Clay, are representative of a fully marine environment at a depth of approximately 150m.

Maylandsea: 
This site is situated on the eastern bank of Lawling Creek and has yielded a vast number of crustacean remains. The exposure is at TL 907035, the low cliff running for a distance of about 225 metres and the actual foreshore platform being approximately 600 metres in length. Erosion has been quite rapid here in the last 25 years. A layer of large flattish septarian nodules is prominent at the southern end of the exposure. The 2 or 3m of London Clay exposed in the low cliff and foreshore here belongs to the middle of Division B about 30m above the base of the deposit.

The clay is possibly only a metre or so above the "Isselicrinus zone"; rolled specimens of which may be found in the beach gravel and which may be found in vast quantities on Northey and Osea Islands nearby.

The London Clay facies at Maylandsea represents the time of maximum depth of the London Clay sea. Deeper water species are found here that do not occur at Sheppey or elsewhere (Dineley & Metcalf 1999 pp 504, 508-90.

Shards of Romano- British pottery, mainly domestic cooking vessels, and teeth and bones may be found on the beach, no doubt washed from the soil at the top of the 2m or so high cliff. From time to time, Mesolithic and Neolithic flints including microliths and arrowheads may also be found on the beach.

Steeple:
The foreshore exposure of London Clay stretches from just below the shingle and gravel beach in front of the sea wall and low cliff of marsh clay down to low water mark. To the west the site is bounded by Mayland Creek which runs northwesterly. To the north Lawling Creek, which flows north easterly forms the boundary from its confluence with Mayland Creek. The eastern limit of the exposure is ill defined due to the variable amount of recent river mud and sand. The gently sloping platform is largely formed of weathered stiff brown London Clay with occasional patches of very weathered and largely disintegrated cement stone nodules. The nodules are flattish and do not exhibit the well-defined calcite lined septa of Sheppey specimens. The fossils listed below, appear to be concentrated both around the patches of nodules and among the gravel concentrations on the foreshore. They are most abundant at about TL 916043. The fauna would indicate that the London Clay here, as at Maylandsea may be assigned to the lower part of King’s (1970) sedimentary rhythm B. Cylindrical phosphatic nodules appear to be concentrated in certain areas particularly around TL 917042, while cement stones are quite common in front of the low cliff of marsh clay at TL 917043. The London Clay platform here has great potential.

It is of interest that Steeple nodules were being sold in the 1820s for making Roman cement at Sheerness. An agreement made 30th May 1828 between James Northwood and Robert Laver on the one part and Jeremiah Brown on the other part for the sale of clay nodules on Canney Farm shore survives at the Essex Record Office [D/DCm E11].

A series of recent deposits, which rest on the London Clay, fringe Mayland and Lawling Creeks from about TL 917041 to TL 914043. Peat and marsh clays are quite well exposed and a fine array of Mesolithic and Neolithic artifacts has been collected from the beach gravel. These include tanged-and-barbed arrowheads, flint knives and scrapers and a splendid quartzite mace head (Vincent & George 1980; Wilkinson & Murphy 1995).

Steeple Church:
The nearby parish church of St. Lawrence and All Saints, Steeple may be visited. The parish church previously stood 150 yards (about 137m) south of Steeple Hall where the churchyard is still enclosed. The new church was built in 1882 on a site 600 yards (about 548m) further east and incorporated much of the old building material. A great deal of cement stone may be seen in the external fabric of the church giving a most pleasing effect. Interestingly stems of the sea lily Isselicrinus subbasaltiformis (Miller 1821) may be seen in some of the cement stone nodules especially on the eastern wall of the chancel as well as the north and west walls. Several of the nodules are bored by the modern calcareous sponge Cliona celata (Grant) which indicates that some of the stone was originally collected from the beach.

Biotic List:

Maylandsea

Steeple

Pisces

Alopias crochardi Ward 1978    

X

Anomotodon sheppeyensis (Casier 1966)    

X

X

Burnhamia daviesi (Woodward 1889)Cappetta 1976   

X

X

Carcharias hopei (Agassiz 1843)

X

X

Dasayatis aff. wochadunensis Ward 1979  

X

Eutrichiurides winkleri Casier 1946

X

Galeorhinus minor (Agassiz 1843)

X

Heterodontus vincenti (Leriche 1905)

X

Hexanchus agassizi Cappetta 1976

X

Isistius trituratus (Winkler 1874)

X

Isurolamna affinis (Casier 1946) Cappetta 1976

X

"Lamna" inflata Leriche 1936

X

Myliobatis sp

X

X

Notorhynchus serratissimus (Agassiz 1844)

X

Odontaspis winkleri Leriche 1905

X

Otodus obliquus Agassiz 1836

X

X

Palaeohypotodus rutoti (Winkler 1874)

X

X

Physodon secundus (Winkler 1874)

X

Rhinoptera daviesi Woodward 1889

X

Rhinocephalus planiceps Casier 1936

X

Scombrid teeth

X

Scyliorhinus gilberti Casier 1936

X

Squalus minor (Leriche 1902)

X

Squalus smithii Herman 1982

X

Squalus sp.

X

Squatina prima (Winkler 1874)

X

Striatolamia macrota (Agassiz 1843 )

X

X

Weltonia burnhamensis Ward 1979

X

Crustacea

Macrura-Lobsters

Glyphea scabra (Bell 1857)

X

X

Homarus morrisi (Quayle 1987)

X

Hoploparia gammaroides (M’Coy 1849)

X

X

Linuparus scyllariformis (Bell 1857)

X

X

Brachyura- Crabs

Camplyostoma matutiforme (Bell 1857)

X

X

Cyclocorystes pulchellus (Bell 1857)

X

X 

Dromilites bucklandi (Milne-Edwards 1838)

X

X

Goniochele angulata (Bell 1857)

X

Londinmola williamsi Collins & Saward 2006

X

Mithracia libinoides (Bell 1857)

X

X

Panticarcinus maylandiensis Collins & Saward 2006

X

X

Portunites incerta (Bell 1857)

X

X

Xanthilites bowerbanki (Bell 1857)

X

X 

Cephlapoda

Nautiloid fragments including articulated beak

X

X

Brachiopoda

Terebratulina wardenensis Elliott 1938

X

Mollusca

Gastropoda

?Crenilabium elongatum 1824

X

Epitoniid

X

Euspira glaucinoides (J. Sowerby 1812)

X

Turricula teretrium (Edwards 1856)

X

Volutid

X

Bivalvia

Abra splendens (J. de C. Sowerby 1837)

X

Teredo sp.

X

Scaphopoda

"Dentalium" sp

X

X

Echinodermata

Isselicrinus subbasaltiformis (Miller 1821)

X

X

Teichaster stokesi (Forbes 1848)

X

X

Foraminifera

Nodosaria sp.

X

Coelenterata

Paracyathus crassus Edwards & Haime 1850

X

Plantae

Indeterminate seed fragment

X

Pyritised wood fragments

X

X

References:
Collins, J.S.H. & Saward, J. 2006. Three new genera and species of crabs from the Lower Eocene London Clay of Essex, England. Bulletin of the Mizunami Fossil Museum. No. 33 (2006). P. 67-76. 1 plate, 1 table.

Dineley, D.L. & Metcalf S.J. 1999. Fossil Fishes of Great Britain.
Geological Conservation Review Series.

George, B. 2002. Essex Field Club and Essex Rock & Mineral Society trip to Maylandsea and Steeple, Essex. Sunday August 12^th 200l. Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 38 May 2002 pages 17-20.

George, W.H. & Vincent, S.W. 1977 A foreshore exposure of London Clay at Steeple, Essex Tertiary Research vol. 1(4) pp. 105-107.

George, W.H. & Vincent, S.W. 1982 An exposure of London Clay at Maylandsea (Lawling Creek), Essex Tertiary Research vol. 4(2) pp. 39-41.

King, C. 1981 The Stratigraphy of the London Clay and associated Deposits Tertiary Research Special Paper No.6.

Vincent, S.W. & George, W.H. 1980. Some Mesolithic Sites along the Rivers Blackwater and Crouch, Essex. 43 pages.

Wilkinson, T.J. & Murphy, P.L, 1995 Archaeology of the Essex coast, Volume 1: the Hullbridge Survey,  East Anglian Archaeology 71, Chelmsford

Bill George (020 8594 6817 william-george@lineone.net) 12th August 2008