Offerton Fossils and Fossil Collecting
Your Cheshire Geological Guide and Geology Info

Offerton is superb for fossil ferns and roots and trunks. These can be found in a small river cutting. The specimens are very well preserved. The 'brownish' leaves are much more clearer to see here than most other 'carboniferous plant' locations.

Fossils from Offerton is highly productive and are some of the most well preserved plants that can be found in current accessible UK exposures.

(Not Suitable for Children)

To get to the banks where plants can be found, these are are other side of a small stream, this is often too deep for children to cross and it can be easy to slip back into the water again.

Deep in the woods, this small exposure can be very hard to find, but you will need to follow the footpath through and into the woods and try to look for a stream. You will have to descend down a small but steep hill and at the bottom, you will see the banks with cliff faces.

Stream Bank

The stream at Offerton has cut through the Carboniferous shale and good exposures can be found in two small but fairly tall cliff sections.

Other Similar Locations to Offerton

If you are interested in collecting plant remains from the Carboniferous, try Little Haven, Newhay Quarry in Lancashire, Besom Hill in Lancashire, or Nelton Haven in wales, Radstock and Writhlington in Avon, which is an superb location, but you could also try Whitehaven in Cumbria which is very similar or try Jurassic plant remains from Yorkshire, Scalby Ness, Hayburn Wyke, Filey, Cloughton Wyke and Gristhorpe Bay. In Scotland, you can also try Joppa Shore, Anstruther, East Wemyss, or Crail.