Lofts Farm Pit

Lofts Farm Pit
Site of Special Scientific Interest
LocationEssex
Grid referenceTL 864091
InterestGeological
Area4.5 hectares
Notification1994
Location mapMagic Map

Lofts Farm Pit is a 4.5-hectare (11-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Heybridge, a suburb of Maldon in Essex.[1][2] It is a Geological Conservation Review site.[3]

Many fossils have been found at the former gravel pit dating to the last Ice Age, 110,000 to 12,000 years ago. Finds included reindeer, woolly mammoth and woolly rhinoceros. They date to a period when what is now the North Sea was Doggerland, and the River Blackwater was a tributary of the Thames/Medway river.[4]

The site has been converted into a lake and there is no public access.

References

  1. ^ "Lofts Farm Pit citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  2. ^ "Map of Lofts Farm Pit". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  3. ^ "Great Totham (Lofts Farm Pit) (Quaternary of the Thames)". Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  4. ^ "Lofts Farm Pit SSSI, Great Totham". The Essex Field Club. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
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51°45′00″N 0°41′56″E / 51.75°N 0.699°E / 51.75; 0.699