Geology Site Account

Site name: Birchanger Interchange (M11 motorway cuttings)

Grid reference: TL 515 216

Brief description of site:

M11 motorway cuttings at the Birchanger Interchange yielded a number of fossils when the motorway was under construction in 1974. Historical site only.

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Details

Cuttings for the approach to the south of the interchange in 1974 (in Hertfordshire) yielded sharks teeth and fossil fruits from the lowest division of the London Clay. A similar fauna and flora occurred in cuttings and drainage trenches north of the course of Stane Street (in Essex). Fossil bones of birds and turtles were also reported. Mike Daniels reported the finding of 20 separate examples of fossil bird remains from woody pockets in the London Clay at the base of the section, probably representing hollows on the bed of the London Clay Sea.

The London Clay at Birchanger is thought to be a similar horizon to that exposed on the foreshore at Walton-on-the-Naze where Mike Daniels has found numerous bird fossils.