Eype Mouth: Rockhounding in Dorset, Dorset

About Eype Mouth

Eype Mouth exposes Lower Jurassic rocks of the Dyrham Formation, Beacon Limestone and Bridport Sands (Pliensbachian to Toarcian). Ammonites including Amaltheus, Pleuroceras, Dactylioceras and Hildoceras weather out of fallen Beacon Limestone blocks on the foreshore, alongside belemnites, Gryphaea and brachiopods. The thin Eype Starfish Bed occasionally turns up in fallen blocks and yields the brittlestar Palaeocoma egertoni. The site is an SSSI on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage shore, so collecting is from loose foreshore material only, with no hammering of bedrock or cliffs. Rising tides can cut off sections of beach beneath the high, rockfall-prone cliffs.

UK Fossils: Eype →

Quick details

Access

Public area

Area

Dorset

County / council area

Dorset

Postcode

DT6 6AL

Coordinates

50.71640, -2.78600

Land & collecting status

Generally open to casual collecting

Public-tagged UK spots are usually beaches, foreshore, or long-worked collecting localities where picking up loose material is generally tolerated. Watch the tides, never dig into cliffs, and check local bylaws before you collect.

Rules differ across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Most UK land is private, beaches and foreshore generally tolerate casual pebble collecting, and SSSIs and scheduled monuments are protected. Check this site's status before you collect.

UK rockhounding rules & access guide →

Found at Eype Mouth

• Ammonite
• BelemniteEncyclopedia →