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Some fantastic places in North Yorkshire, A walk along the beach can turn up some good finds. I just chipped at loose rocks that i found on the beach which had fossils in, The cliffs there were very loose just like the ones in Penarth in Wales and i kept well away from the cliffs as i could see pieces falling, most fossils can be found in nodules or in loose rocks on the beach, I found a few pieces of Jet in a rock its fossilised monkey puzzle tree resin and is seen in rocks and the cliff face, it looks like a seam of black pitch. If setting out on a fossil hunt please dont hammer the cliffs which i saw a few people doing. All these i found in loose rocks that were on the foreshore that had fallen. The Amonite death bed i found in iron stone shale at Runswick Bay, This is easy to split as a gentle tap is all thats needed and it splits, you can peel the layers apart.

The area was known for iron stone an such an abandoned mine is still there at port Mulgrave, Again this is in a bad state as the tunnel is caving in, there are pics to be seen of this on the net as i did not want to chance going in there. Also Alum was mined in the area and Alum crystals can be seen on the cliffs as it washes out the rocks. This was used as a dye fixer in the textile industry, human urine was used to extract the alum by means of boiling it.

Alum and Ironstone mines. There is a way in the tunnel at P Mulgrave but please dont atempt it.

Alum Mine with Crystal deposits.

Alum deposits.

These cliffs are crumbling all the time as you hear little pieces coming down but there have been huge rock falls an in this weather these will be more common place, If one of those large boulders falls an your under that cliff you have no chance. When you get to the Old Nab you much watch the tide as there is no way off the beach when you leave Staithes until you get to P Mulgrave, I took a copy of the tide times an set off when it was going out. I would not trust those cliffs in these freezing tempratures, On the news tonight someone was killed fishing on the edge of a mud cliff that gave way at near Newbiggin by the sea in Northumberland.

This place is excellent for fossils and has a fantastic industrial past, Port Mulgrave cliffs still have the scars where Ironstone and Alum were mined.