In a short note about the Stutton Brickearth, Suffolk on the northern bank of the River
Stour (Spencer 1953 p.26) the cliff section at Wrabness is briefly mentioned and the
formerly common occurrence of elephant bones etc. noted with the observation that due
to the little erosion then taking place they were now rarely encountered although an os
lunare, probably of an elephant had recently been discovered at the extreme western end
of the cliff. Nearly ten years later Sparks and West (1964 p.422) visited Wrabness, Essex
and Harkstead, Suffolk looking for sites to compare with Stutton, but failed to find any
shelly sections. Wymer (1985 p.236) mentioned this site and added that material in
Colchester Museum included mammoth, elephant, bos, bison, red deer, horse,
hippopotamus and whale. The whale bone is presumably derived from the Red Crag.
This section was examined as part of the Hullbridge Survey by Wilkinson and Murphy
(1988 pp.22-23). They found several flint flakes but were not sure of the context.
Recent Field Work
Recent collecting at this site has confirmed much of the information detailed above (see
map).
Map of Wrabness Scale 1: 10000
Key:-
A = Shelly Brickearth
B = Bones in Cliff
C = Bones on Foreshore
D = Dedged Heap
E = Fine Sand and Gravel
F = Fault in "London Clay" Cliff
Very shelly brickearth is exposed on the beach and upper foreshore at TM 16333189 just
to the north east of the Balhaven Saltmarsh SSSI. Samples of this shelly material have
been collected for processing. It contains fragile freshwater molluscs and micro-
mammalian teeth. The low cliff at TM 16383196 has yielded an elephant vertebra, which
is currently being conserved by Graham Ward; a right elephant astragalus and a large
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 21, Mav 1997