The following sites have been selected to represent the different aspects of geology and landscape in the district. Not all sites have something to see; many are solely of historical interest as a record of an important or interesting discovery.
Some sites are not strictly geological but have a geological connection. Geological sites are therefore defined in their widest sense and include, for example, buildings, walls, wells, spas, springs, graves, boreholes, plaques, landslips and viewpoints.
This is not a complete list of geological sites in the district. Others will be added and descriptions expanded as further research is carried out.
Important note:
Not all of the sites here described are accessible. Some sites are on private land and can only be viewed from footpaths that pass through or alongside the site. Inclusion of a site on this list does not, therefore, imply any right of access. Please remember not to trespass on private land.
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs)
No geological SSSIs have been notified in the district.
Local Geological Sites (LoGS)
Click the links below to read and download the district report and LoGS citations for Braintree District Council
Braintree District Council – Report on Local Geological Sites – March 2025
BraG1 – Alphamstone Churchyard boulders
Alphamstone churchyard contains a remarkable number of large boulders, some over a metre long. There is even a boulder inside the church. These stones were probably carried to the site by the ancestral Thames river that flowed across the area more than half a million years ago. The abundance of sarsens here suggests that a former Pagan stone circle may have existed on this site, all the stones being transported here by man. The stones may be partly responsible for the name of the village.
BraG2 – Bradwell Gravel Quarry
Bradwell Quarry is a working gravel quarry with fine sections through Kesgrave Sands and Gravels (Thames gravel) and boulder clay (till). The quarry has been the source of a large number of fossils from the till during successive organised visits by members of the Essex Rock and Mineral Society, mostly during the 1990s.
BraG3 – Brick Kiln Hill Brickworks Pit, Castle Hedingham
One of the pits of the former Brick Kiln Hill Brickworks still exists as a area of woodland north of the lane leading west from Castle Hedingham. The pit has low vertical cliffs of iron-stained sand which is part of the Kesgrave Formation, laid down by an ancestor of the River Thames when it flowed through this area over 450,000 years ago. The sections can just be seen from the lane but the pit is private property and permission to access is required from the land owner. The pit is used as a circuit for mountain bike users.
BraG4 – Bulmer Brickworks Pit, Bulmer Tye
London Clay (Harwich Formation) is worked here for making traditional, hand-made red bricks, mostly for the renovation of historic buildings. The sandy clay in the small pit contains a layer of claystone nodules and seams of volcanic ash. This is the only inland exposure of this horizon in the London Clay
BraG5 – Coleman’s Farm Gravel Quarry, Little Braxted
Colemans Farm Quarry is a working gravel quarry. The quarry works gravels that are associated with the terraces of the river Blackwater. The gravels in this area can provide important evidence of the evolution of this major Essex river.
BraG6 – Edgar’s Farm Boulders, Lamarsh
Two fine sarsen stones standing by the roadside at the farm entrance. They are at least one metre long.
BraG7 – St Germanus Church, Faulkbourne
The church building makes extensive use of local tufa for dressings.
BraG8 – Ferriers Farm Pit (Bures Pit)
Former gravel pit with exposures of sand gravel laid down by a former course of the Thames. Pit closed and was recently used for off-road motorsport.
BraG9 – Finchingfield Boulder
A large boulder of basalt, about 85 centimetres (nearly 3 feet) long, can be seen on the pavement on the left hand side of The Causeway, when travelling north out of the village.
(BraPG10) – Foxborough Pit – downgraded as of Historic interest only
BraG11 – Friars Farm Boundary Stone, Black Notley
A large sarsen stone that is described by English Heritage as a rare survival of a named and dated boundary stone dating back to the 17th century.
(BraPG12) – Glemsford Picnic Site – downgraded to a General Geological Site
BraG13 – Goldingham Hall Chalk Pit, Bulmer
Disused and overgrown chalk pit, formerly with exposures of Upper Chalk, Thanet Beds and Anglian till (boulder clay). It takes the form of a large, steep-sided, wooded amphitheatre. Most geological exposures are now obscured except for some chalk visible on the western side adjacent to a small, modern limekiln.
BraG14 – Great Yeldham Brickworks Pit (site of)
Site of nineteenth century brickworks (closed in 1920) where significant amounts of ice age mammalian fossils were found.
BraG15 – Hill Farm Sarsens, Gestingthorpe
Several sarsen stones (the largest 160cm x 110cm x 60cm) are situated on the private entrance drive to Hill Farm.
BraG16 – Moat Farm Sarsen Stone, Gestingthorpe
A very fine mamillated sarsen stone 1.2 metres by 1 metre (4 feet by 3 feet) in size sits near the road junction outside Moat Farm.
BraG17 – Nether Hall Farm Sarsen Stone, Gestingthope
A large number of sarsen stones, the largest some 2.4 metres (8 feet) long. This may be the largest sarsen stone in North Essex today.
BraG18 – Nether House Farm Sarsen Stones, Wickham St Paul
Two fine sarsen stones either side of the entrance to Nether House Farm.
BraG19 – Ovington Hall Sarsen Stone, Ovington
Large sarsen stones that formed in the local Lower Tertiary deposits are characteristic of this area of north Essex, This is one of the largest.
(BraPG20) – Ridgewell Sarsen Stones – no longer in situ and whereabouts unknown
BraG21 – Sandy Lane Chalk Quarry, Ballingdon
A large disused quarry with fine exposures of Upper Chalk, Thanet Sand and Reading Beds.
BraG22 – Spains Hall Sarsen Stone, Finchingfield
A large sarsen boulder (1.9 metres x 0.9 metres x 0.3 metres in size), lies adjacent to a wall surrounding cottages in the grounds of Spains Hall Farm.
BraG23 – Stonebridge Hill Sarsen Stone, Halstead
A conspicuous sarsen (1.4 metres long) sits in front of Parley Beams Farm at Stonebridge Hill on the main road into Halstead. The upper surface of the stone contains holes that may have originally been rootlets at the time of the stone’s formation.
BraG24 – Twinstead Sarsen Stone
A large sarsen stone (150cm x 70cm x 30cm) with a mamillated surface is situated just outside the churchyard. It was found under the old church when it was demolished in the late 19th century. A smaller sarsen can be seen on the other side of the track.
BraG25 – White Notley Puddingstone
By a cottage gate is a splendid, colourful boulder of Hertfordshire puddingstone (110cm x 65cm x45cm). This boulder has been referred to in articles and books more often than any other puddingstone in Essex.
BraG26 – Wickham Hall Farm Sarsen Stones, Wickham St Paul
By the road, at the entrance to Wickham Hall Farm near All Saints Church, are several sarsen stones (the largest 180cm x 140cm x 60cm in size).
BraG27 – Alphamstone Gravel Pits
Disused pits west of the village formerly showed 6 metres of Thames gravel (Bures Gravel) and 6 metres of chalky boulder clay. The gravel has an abundance of far-travelled exotic pebbles.
Other Sites of Geological Interest
Grave of John Ray, Black Notley
John Ray (1627-1705), Essex naturalist, contributed greatly to the advance of geology, particularly with his observations on the origin of fossils. He is buried in Black Notley Churchyard. A statue of John Ray can be seen outside Braintree Museum.
Churchyard wall, Bocking (TL 757 257)
The wall surrounding the churchyard contains numerous erratic boulders including two boulders of basalt.
Hunnable’s Gravel Pit (site of), Braintree (TL 746 228)
This former gravel pit in River Brain terrace gravel is now a grassed sunken playing field. The pit produced mammoth bones and other fossils during its working life. The site is next to the busy B1256 road (Pods Brook Road). The pit is named after F.A.Hunnable and Son, sand and gravel merchants. The steep, grassed sides of the pit can still be seen but nothing of the geology is now visible.
St. Andrews Church, Colne Engaine (TL 5850 2304)
The hilltop church of St. Andrews is one of the best churches in Essex for the variety of local stones in its external walls, including septaria and glacial erratic cobbles.
Brain Valley Tufa Springs, Faulkbourne.
In the valley of the River Brain north-west of Witham there are deposits of calcareous tufa that have been formed over thousands of years by springs issuing from the Kesgrave Sands and Gravels. In places it is sufficiently hard to have been used as a local building stone when it is known as travertine. It has been used for the dressings of St. Germanus Church in Faulkbourne.
Gestingthorpe Crossroads Boulders (TL 811 388)
Two sarsen stones by the crossroads, the largest 1.2 metres long.
Glemsford Picnic Site (Essex side of border). (TL 8319 4640)
The Glemsford Picnic Site is on the Essex side of the Suffolk border and situated above one of the most striking drift-filled channels, or buried ‘tunnel valleys’ in East Anglia. Carved by sub-glacial meltwater under intense hydrostatic pressure, the valley is now completely filled with drift (glacial sand, gravel and clay) and there is no trace of it at the surface. The buried valley floor beneath your feet here plunges to well below sea level; the thickness of drift beneath the present valley floor being 143 metres (470 feet). The picnic site provides an excellent opportunity to inform visitors about this remarkable geological feature. The site is next to the flooded gravel pits of Glemsford Pits SSSI.
Gosfield Pits Nature Reserve. (TL 786 296)
Former sand and gravel pits now a nature reserve owned and managed by the parish council. Minor exposures of Kesgrave Sand and Gravel (pre-diversion Thames).
Witham Spa (site of) (TL 8114 1537)
Witham briefly enjoyed a period as an affluent spa town in the 18th century and was very popular with visitors who came to drink the spring water, which had supposed curative properties. It is commemorated by the name of Spa Road and several houses such as Spa Place, a listed building that was built for the physician.
