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Blue Anchor to Lilstock Coast SSSI

Geology of SomersetSites of Special Scientific Interest in SomersetSites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1971
Blue Anchor Bay geograph.org.uk 1069571
Blue Anchor Bay geograph.org.uk 1069571

Blue Anchor to Lilstock Coast SSSI (grid reference ST033435 to grid reference ST195462) is a 742.8 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Blue Anchor and Lilstock in Somerset, notified in 1971. It provides an outstanding series of sections through the Early Jurassic Lower Lias, spanning the Hettangian and Pliensbachian Stages and named the "Lilstock Formation". This sequence and the good Rhaetian succession beneath are repeatedly affected by faulting, making it of interest to geologists and fossil hunters. It also displays coastal geomorphology which demonstrates a particularly well-developed series of intertidal shore platforms varying in width from about 200-600m. The cliff and beach are rich in reptile remains, including complete skeletons. Lilstock also yields ammonites, shells and fish remains. A unique specimen of an ichthyosaur, named Excalibosaurus costini McGowan, 1986 in which the lower jaw is shorter than the upper was found in the Lower Jurassic Sinemurian Stage, Lower Lias beds on the foreshore at Lilstock and is now in the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. The Triassic cliffs have geological interest for the variety of fossils. The coloured alabaster found in the cliffs gave rise to the name of the colour "Watchet Blue". It is on the West Somerset Coast Path.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Blue Anchor to Lilstock Coast SSSI (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Blue Anchor to Lilstock Coast SSSI
Blue Anchor Bay Road,

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N 51.181 ° E -3.3993 °
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Hoburne Holiday Park

Blue Anchor Bay Road
TA24 6JT
England, United Kingdom
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hoburne.com

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Blue Anchor Bay geograph.org.uk 1069571
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Blue Anchor
Blue Anchor

Blue Anchor is a seaside village, in the parish of Old Cleeve, close to Carhampton in Somerset, England. The village takes its name from a 17th-century inn; the bay, Blue Anchor Bay, was previously known as Cleeve Bay. The bay and inn were the subjects of a watercolour by J. M. W. Turner in 1818, now in the Lady Lever Gallery, Port Sunlight. The village marks one end of the Blue Anchor to Lilstock Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest along which the Triassic cliffs have geological interest for the variety of fossils. The coloured alabaster found in the cliffs gave rise to the name of the colour "Watchet Blue". The village lies on the route of the West Somerset Coast Path and Celtic Way Exmoor Option. Blue Anchor railway station is a station on the West Somerset Railway, a heritage railway in Somerset. It is situated in the village and houses the museum of the West Somerset Steam Railway Trust. Within the village is the only example of an updraught brick kiln known to have survived in Somerset. It was built around 1830, supplied by small vessels carrying limestone to the small culm landing, and is now used as a garage. The kiln is thought to have been used until the 1870s when the large-scale production of bricks in Bridgwater rendered small brickyards uneconomic. Marshwood farmhouse dates from the late 15th century and was originally a manor house or grange. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building. Coincidentally there is another Blue Anchor Inn directly north across the Bristol Channel in East Aberthaw, The Vale of Glamorgan.