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Perryfield Quarry fossils and fossil collecting

Follow signs to the Isle of Portland from Weymouth and once you are on the island, you will drive through Fortuneswell, follow the road from here to Easton, take the Eastern Road towards the museum and continue down the eastern side of the Island.
There is car park just before Perryfield Quarry, you can park here, or enter the quarry if permission has been given.
Access to this quarry requires permission from the quarry owners, you will need to contact them prior to your trip to arrange such permission. You will require a hard hat, high visibility jacket and steel-toe-cap boots to enter.

GRID REF: 50.53860°N, 2.43302°W

Map of Dorset and Perryfield Quarry
ammonites, bivalves, oysters, trace fossils
Fossil Collecting at Perryfield Quarry


This working quarry (Perryfield Quarry) on Portland has a giant ammonite at the gates, ammonites can be found but most quarries sell these on and so do not allow collectors to collect these finds. However, trace fossils and mollusc's can be seen in the Basal Shell Bed.
Where is it

Low

Fossils at Perryfield Quarry are not common since the best fossils such as the ammonites are sold. However bivalves and trace fossils can be found.


Not for Children

Working quarries can be dangerious places and therefore children are not allowed at this location. Generally, most quarries will not allow anyone under the age of 16 to enter due to health and safety.


Good Access

The quarry is very easy to find, but you will need permission prior to your trip to enter Perryfield Quarry and collect.


Working Quarry

This is a working quarry, fossils can be found from the loose waste blocks which are not reserved for building stone.

Keep away from machinery and obtain permission before you enter.


Permission Required

You will need permission to enter this quarry, permission can be gained by contacting the quarry manager.

01305 820207

Portland Quarry, Bumpers Lane, Wakeham, Portland, Dorset, DT1 1HY

Common sense when collecting at all locations should be taken. With all quarry locations, you must follow strict health and safety requirements. These requirements are that you must wear a high visibility jacket and hard hat at all times. Steel toe-cap boots are required by most quarries.


Accommodation

Seaview

Family run bed & breakfast, comfortable non-smoking accommodation with tea & coffee making facilities and networked & wireless broadband in all rooms. Open all year. Private parking.

151 Weston Street, Portland, DT52DG
Tel: 01305 821573

If you would like to advertise on this page, please 'contact us'.
£10/Year or 'FREE' for return links from accommodation website pages.


Last updated:
last visited:


Written by:

11/03/08
2008

Alister and Alison Cruickshanks

Location Photos
        
Kimmeridge Clay and Portland Stone at Perryfield Quarry

Fossil Collecting
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As soon as you enter the quarry, you will see the giant ammonite below, these do occur at this quarry, but most are sold once they are found or are broken.

Bivalves (Laevitrigonia gibbosa, Myophorella incurva, Protocardia dissimilus, Camptonectes lamellosus and Pleuromya tellina) and trace fossils of worm burrows, are easily collected from the Basal Shell Bed along with several different species of gastropods. Near the top of the Portland sequence, is a layer of algal stools which can be up to half a metre in diametre.

Giant fossil ammonite from Perryfield Quarry
Giant fossil ammonite from Perryfield Quarry


Geology Guide
Jurassic, 145mya

The Portland Stone is well known all over the world as a building stone. The Isle of Portland has quarried this stone for many years and continues to do so today, Perryfield Quarry is a well known quarry on the Island and one which has been going for a considerable length of time. This quarry did close for a while, but re-opened due to the demand for the stone. The stone used in the building of 'Waterloo Bridge' came from this quarry.

The Purbeck Beds are now covered in rubble but once made the top most part of the quarry.....[more]

Cut blocks of Portland Stone at Perryfield Quarry

   



Geological Tools

Most of the fossils at Perryfield Quarry are found by in the hard Portland Stone. You will need a good quality hammer and chisel to get any fossils out. A Crack hammer is recommended at this location, you will also need a hard hat, high visibility vest and boots with steel toe-caps....[more]

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Other Locations similar to Perryfield Quarry

For other locations with Portland Stone, try Dancing Ledge, Freshwater Bay, Portland Bill, Church Ope Cove, or West Weare in Dorset


Stone Tumblers are used for tumbling and polishing rough rock, stones and pebbles including those found on the beach and glass.

Whilst collecting fossils, on those days where you come back empty handed, you could collect rocks, stones and glass from the beach and tumble then at home.

These are all high quality machines to give a professional finish to your samples. The tumblers can be used with a variety of grits, most commonly Silicon Carbide Grit and Cerium Oxide. We have a wide range of rough rocks for sale too.

Microfossils are much easier to collect because they are so small that the vast majority of collections only concentrate on large finds. These small finds can simply be found by taking small samples of sands, crags, clays and soft rocks and examining them under a microscope.

We have a wide range of microscopes for sale, both for the study of fossils, but also educational and professional for use in the laboratory. We have Stereo microscopes, Compound Microscopes, Polarising Microscopes and Monocular Microscopes.

We have thousands of Test Sieves for Particle Analysis.

Endecotts Sieves: For accurate dependable results you can't buy a better test sieve than Endecotts. At every stage of manufacture each test sieve is individually inspected.

High Precision Tecan manufactures precision apertures as small as 3 microns for a wide array of applications such as filtering, sieving and nozzles. Its high-performance, ASTM/ISO compliant test sieves satisfy the most demanding fine particle grading requirements.

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Rock and Fossil Magazine, Deposits
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