Geology Site Account

Site name: Shelley Sarsen Stone

Grid reference: TL 554045

Brief description of site:

In the private garden of a thatched cottage on the Fyfield Road is a flat sarsen stone (130cm x 100cm) flush with the ground surface and difficult to spot. It is visible from the public footpath leading to Shelley Church.

Sarsen stones

Sarsens are extremely hard boulders of sandstone formed around 55 million years ago when the climate of Britain was hot and a layer of sand beneath the surface of the ground became cemented with quartz. They are thus very resistant to erosion and have survived the rigours of the Ice Age. They originated on the chalk downland north and west of Essex and were carried here by rivers and glaciers. After retreat of the ice they became concentrated in river valleys.

The formation of silcretes (which includes sarsens and puddingstones) has been the subject of recent scientific debate. Research has compared the conditions under which sarsens and puddingstones may have been formed with the present day climate in the Kalahari Desert and parts of Australia.