5
referred to the remains as coming "from the lacustrine pleistocene bed exposed to the
action of the sea on the coast of Essex at Walton" (Owen 1846 p. 247) and writing about
mammoths "The village of Walton near Harwich is famous for the abundance of these
fossils, which lie along the base of the sea-cliffs" (Owen 1846 p.255). On the Geological
Survey 1" map (sheet 48 SE), surveyed by William Whitaker and published in 1876 "post
glacial loam" is shown overlying London Clay along the coast at Walton between about
TM 255215 and TM 260223. Whitaker (1877 pp. 17-18) briefly mentioned this loam or
brickearth. Lydekker catalogued the collection of mammalian remains from Walton in the
Natural Histoiy Museum. He lsited:- Crocuta crocuta (1855 I p. 73); Bos primigenius
(1885 II p. 6,10,12,15,17); Bison priscus (1885 II p. 25); Megaceros giganteus (1885 II p.
85, 88); Cervus elaphus (1885 II p. 96); Hippopotamus amphibius (1885 II p. 280, 282,
283, 284, 285); Equus caballus (1886 111 p. 80, 83, 85); Rhinoceros leptorhinus (1886 III
p. 107, 109); Rhinoceros megarhinus (1886 III p. 117); Palaeoloxodon antiquus (1886 IV
p. 129, 135) and Mammuthus primigenius (1886 IV p. 187, 202, 207, 208, 211). Sutcliffe
et al (1979 pp. 9-10) reviewed the material from Walton. They listed hippopotamus;
giant and red deer; ox or bison; narrow nosed-rhinoceros; straight-tusked elephant;
mammoth; horse and hyaena, but concluded with a plea as to the "whereabouts of the lost
interglacial site at Walton".
4) 1990s. On Friday 2nd August 1996 I visited Walton to take advantage of an
exceptionally low tide. I first paid a visit to the Heritage Centre housed in the Old Life
Boat House and was pleased to see on display more than twenty large pieces of bones,
which included two elephant teeth. These had been found in May and June 1995 during
the construction of the new East Terrace Breakwater which is almost opposite the
museum at TM 260223. As the tide went out I searched the foreshore from the pier to the
Terrace and was pleased to find at the eastern end of the Albion breakwater at TM
258218 a 30cm long fragment of a large limb bone and a small section of an elephant
tusk which would have been about 20cm in diameter. It would appear the deposit
containing the bones is still present but usually obscured by a thick cover of beach sand.
This deposit contains hippopotamus and is presumably of Ipswichian Age (sensu
Trafalgar Square). It would therefore be dated to stage 5e of the oxygen isotope record
and be about 125,000 years old.
Bibliography
Brown, A.F.J. 1972 Essex People 1750-1990 from their diaries, memoirs and letters.
Brown, J. 1845 On certain conditions and appearances of the strata on the coast of Essex near
Walton. Proceedings of the Geological Society Vol. IV pp. 523-524.
Brown, J. 1850 A list of Fossil Mammalia discovered in the County-of Essex. Manuscript in
Department of Palaeontology. Natural Histon' Museum. Undated but post
1846.
Camden, W. 1695 Britannia.
Kelham, R. 1810 Catalogue of the genuine, distinguished, and valuable Museum of the late H.
Menish M.D. of Chelmsford, Essex. (Copy at Bodleian Library Oxford).
Lydekker, R. 1885 Catalogue of the Fossil Mammalia in the British Museum. (Natural History).
Part I.
Lydekker. R, 1885 Catalogue of the Fossil Mammalia in the British Museum. (Natural History).
Part II.
Lydekker, R. 1886 Catalogue of the Fossil Mammalia in the British Museum. (Natural History).
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 20, February 1997