Geology Site Account

Site name: Loughton Station Borehole

Grid reference: TQ 4247 9567

Brief description of site:

Sunk between 1874 and 1876, the Loughton Station borehole was, at the time, one of the deepest in the London Basin. It was the second in Essex (after Harwich) to penetrate the entire thickness of the Chalk and pass through into the Upper Greensand and the Gault. It stopped at a depth of 330 metres, not far short of the hard 'Palaeozoic basement' rocks. The purpose of the borehole was to obtain a water supply for the area.

A full record of the borehole rocks has been published (Whitaker & Thresh 1916) and it is likely that most, if not all of the core has been preserved - presumably at the British Geological Survey headquarters in Keyworth near Nottingham.