Geology Site Account

Site name: Thurrock Museum Sarsen Stone

Grid reference: TQ 6153 7814

Brief description of site:

Sarsen stone in the grounds of Thurrock Museum.

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Summary of geological interest

The report of a visit by the Geologists Association to Globe Pit in Whitehall lane in September 1959 records the finding of a large sarsen stone, described as six feet long and four feet wide at the southern end of the pit. This stone, which is a fine example of a sarsen stone, is now in the grounds of the library and museum in Orsett Road. In 2005 the stone was situated on the paving round the side of the museum and out of sight to the public. The curator was trying to move it to the front of the building so that it could be incorporated into a proposed landscaping scheme.

Large sarsen stones are not only encountered by quarry workers and road builders. In 1869 the journal of the Geological Society of London reported that a very large sarsen many tons in weight was found in the gravel when excavating for a cellar near Grays Church. What became of it was not stated.

Thurrock Museum contains a number of interesting fossils from the local neighbourhood including the Boatman collection, a small but historically important Victorian fossil collection which was donated to the museum in 1964. Boatman was a jeweller and watchmaker in the old Grays High Street, south of the present railway crossing.