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Visit Our Centre

EFC Centre at Wat Tyler Country ParkOur centre is available for visits on a pre-booked basis on Wednesdays between 10am - 4pm. The Club’s activities and displays are also usually open to the public on the first Saturday of the month 11am - 4pm.

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About the Essex Field Club
Essex Field Club
registered charity
no 1113963
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Geology Site Account

A-Z Geological Site Index

Gallions Reach (temporary excavation), BECKTON, London Borough of Newham, TQ444814, Historical site only

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Site category: London Clay, Claygate or Bagshot Beds

Temporary exposure of fossiliferous deposits. Further excavations in the vicinity could yield further fossils.

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Site description

Excavations for No. 9 gas holder at Beckton Gas Works in 1890 yielded a number of fossils. Beneath about 8 metres (25 feet) of clay peat and gravel, which was formed in the last 10,000 years, the excavation encountered bedrock consisting of a 30 centimetre (one foot) thick layer of hard sandstone that, in places, was full of fossil shells. Probably belonging to the Oldhaven Beds (now part of the Harwich Formation), this sandstone is about 55 million years old and is found at the base of the London Clay in East London and south Essex. There is a record that twelve separate species of shellfish were identified in this layer at the time of the excavation. Below this, down to the floor of the gas holder, were layers of silt, sand and shelly clay from the underlying Woolwich Formation.

 

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Reference: Woodward 1922 (p.28)

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