Steeplehouse Quarry fossils and fossil collecting
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Medium Low
This quarry has a low rating as it is now fairly overgrown, fossils can be hard to see in the weathered rocks, and the slabs with fossils in must not be touched. It is more of location to visit and examine, as part of the National Stone Centre Museum. However, crinoids can be collected from the quarry floor.
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Older Children
The main National Stone Centre and trail itself is quite child friendly, the quarries owned by the centre around the outside of the site are not for young children as they tend to be steep, and/or with overhanging and falling rocks. |
Good Access
Access to all of the quarries within the national stone centre is excellent, however, please note that you will need to walk alongside a mini-railway line, which sometimes is in use.
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Disused Quarry
This is a disused quarry, part of the National Stone Centre. Fossils from loose smaller rocks and scree can be collected from the quarry floor. |
SSSI - No Hammering
This quarry is owned by the National Stone Centre and has been left open for those to examine the geology of the site. A number of slabs have been left to show crinoids fossils exposed in the limestone. These MUST NOT be touched, and they should be left for others to enjoy. You can collect from the loose smaller rocks and scree around the quarry. |
There are two important safety issues. The light railway line is not used very often, but you should look out for trains at all times, in case it is being used. Although small, these mini-trains are quite heavy and powerful. Once in the quarry, take care of the deep step drops in the middle of the floor. You can easily slip down. |
| Last updated: |
2011 |
| last visited: |
2011 |
| Written by: |
Alister Cruickshanks |
 
West Quarry is an excellent location for corals, other similar locations for Carboniferous Corals are;Parkhouse Hill, Castleton, Monsal Dale, Steeplehouse Quarry in Derbyshire.
Portishead, Weston-Super-Mare in Avon. In South West Wales, you can also find Silurian Corals from Freshwater East, Marloes Sands. Mortimer Forest, Shadwell Quarry, Upper Millichope , Llanymynech Quarry, and Wenlock Quarry, Wenlock Edge in the Shropshire District. Along the South West Coast, you can also collect Devonian Corals from Torquay along Hopes Nose and Daddy Hole. In Scotland, you can also find corals at St Monans.
From South Wales, Carboniferous Corals can be found at Lydstep Headland, West Angle Bay and Manorbier Bay.
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This old quarry contains slabs full of crinoids/brachiopods and was once used for the extraction of these slabs for decorative paving. The rocks are weathered and can be hard to see, but you should find loose
crinoids/brachiopods or in smaller rocks around the quarry. Please DO NOT touch the large slabs which are used to demonstrate the once extracted fossiliferious slabs here. In the far right of the quarry, crinoids can be found abundantly in the quarry walls, and in the right hand north quarry wall, shells of Gigantoproductus can be seen.
What is of most interest in this quarry, is shark remains. The bedding plains of the large slabs are full of dermal tubercles of the shark-like fish, Petrodus patelliformis. These are hard to see and most are worn now, but they are 5-8mm and look a bit like squashed limpets! Tiny teeth from another shark Anachronistes fordi can also be found. Both of these shark remains are normally rare from the carboniferous, but are quite common here, suggesting that a shoal of fish here suffered mass mortality.
Large slab with crinoid pieces.
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Carboniferous, 330mya |
The carboniferous limestone is of the Eyam Limestone Formation (Dinantian age). The quarry was once used to extract the rich crinoids/brachiopod slabs used in decorative purposes, such as paving slabs. The Eyam Limestone Formation is a thinly bedded, dark grey, cherty, bioclastic limestone with fossiliferous beds of brachiopods, corals and crinoids and a few dark mudstone intercalations.....[more]
How life in the oceans would have looked at Steeplehouse Quarry 350mya
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Stone Tumblers |
Microscopes |
East Midlands Guide |
If you are interested in fossil collecting, then you may also be interested in a stone tumbler (Lapidary). You can polish stones and rocks from the beach which
will look fantastic polished using a stone tumbler.
You can polish rough rock and beach glass whilst collecting fossils, on those days where you come back empty handed.
These are all high quality machines to give a professional finish to your samples. They can even be used for amber and fossils. |
At most locations, you can find microfossils. You only need a small sample of the sand. You then need to wash it in water and sieve using a test sieve. Once the sand is processed, you can then view the contents using a microscope.
We have a wide range of microscopes for sale, you will need a Stereomicroscope for viewing microfossils. The best one we sell is the IMXZ, but a basic microscope will be fine. Once you have found microfossils, you will need to store these microfossils.
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 Locations of Geologicl interest and for collecting rocks, minerals and fossils in the East Midlands Area. Includes the Geological History of the area. Areas covered are Charnwood Forest, The Peak District & The Vale of Belvoir. 130 pages. £15.95.
Buy from UKGE |
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Head towards the National Stone centre, which is marked on maps and can be found between Matlock and Wirksworth. 
