Pretty UK seaside town known for one thing — but tourists are unaware it exists

A quaint and mostly chartless seaside municipality is location to fantastical humanities treasures dissimilar anyplace other successful the United Kingdom — and wintertime is the champion clip to find the glories

A beauteous UK seaside municipality has been named arsenic the champion spot to spell fossil hunting, but hardly immoderate Brits cognize the determination exists.

Despite not being known by 70 per cent of the population, Walton-on-the-Naze, located successful Essex, is a quaint seaside edifice with sandy beaches, constrictive streets and a family-friendly atmosphere. The municipality is known for its affluent fossil finds, arsenic good arsenic stunning coastal scenery.

Dating backmost millions of years, Walton-on-the-Naze is location to the Red Crag formation, which has produced an abundance of Paleogene fossils, including a megalodon shark tooth, discovered successful 2023. Research by South Western Railway recovered the show to person a cleanable fossil find frequence people of 5 retired of five, offering a large determination for keen fossil hunters.

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Winter offers the perfect clip to scour the beaches, arsenic the wintertime tides uncover much of the prehistoric creatures successful the rocks. The bluish borderline of the municipality has a agelong of rapidly eroding cliffs, which is known arsenic The Naze. Here, fossiliferous clays and sands exposure grounds of prehistoric beingness from astir 54 cardinal years ago, and fossils hap commonly passim the cliff formations.

To get to the formation wherever The Naze tin beryllium found, determination is simply a cliff-top car parkland adjacent to the 18th Century Georgian lighthouse, The Naze Tower. From the car park, visitors tin caput down a bid of factual steps which takes you to the beach. Due to the rapidly eroding cliffs, overmuch of the coastline has a changeless proviso of escaped worldly connected the beach. This escaped worldly is often wherever you volition find fossils specified arsenic shark teeth and pyritised twigs.

To marque definite determination is capable formation to wonderment and fossils to find, you request to coordinate your sojourn with a falling oregon low-tide. In summation to shark teeth and pyritised twigs, bones from assorted water beingness and different pyritised entity person been recovered connected the beach.

Located conscionable supra the formation successful the car park, is the tract of the 86 ft octagonal Naze Tower. Currently utilized arsenic a assemblage dispersed crossed six floors, the operation was built successful 1720 and is people II* listed. A spiral staircase containing 111 steps runs up the mediate of the tower, and for those who ascent it but request a refreshment afterwards, determination is simply a beverage country serving assorted nutrient and drink.

The town, which is location to astir 6,000 people, has galore different places to research including The Naze Nature Discovery Centre, wherever visitors tin research a fossil sculpture fossil trail. Alternatively, adults mightiness bask the East Coast Distillery Tour, which offers escaped tours connected Saturdays oregon simply, a coastal locomotion to talking successful panoramic views.