Discover the Dinosaurs of Folkestone! 

More than 100 million years ago, the island of Britain was much further south. The south-eastern corner of England sat roughly where Sardinia is in the Mediterranean today!  

Back then, this area was covered by shallow seas and lakes. At the edge of one of these areas of water was a sandy beach, right around the location of modern-day Folkestone. But the occupants of this sunny beach weren’t your average holidaymakers… they were dinosaurs! 

So how do we know that dinosaurs roamed on Folkestone beach all those years ago? Well, it’s from something they left behind, their footprints! Dr. Phil Hadland, a Cross-Channel Geopark Ambassador, discovered these footprints in rocks eroded by the sea near Folkestone Warren and the Harbour. The rocks that preserved the prints are known as the Folkestone Formation. 

These footprints are the most recent dinosaur footprints discovered in Britain. Their discovery has compelled scientists to reconsider aspects of what we ‘knew’ about our geology. Before Phil’s discovery, believed these rocks had always formed underwater. The footprints showed that, at least some of the time, the area was dry enough for dinosaurs to walk across. Phil and fellow Geopark Ambassador Steve Friedrich published their findings in the Proceedings of the Geologists Association. 

More discoveries

Since then, Phil and Steve have found many more footprints. Recently, Steve worked with Folkestone Museum to make a cast of one print. This footprint was made by an Ornithopod, a plant-eating dinosaur that mainly walked on two legs. 

What’s fascinating is what the print tells us about the surface the dinosaur walked on. In this case, the shape and nature of the print shows that the surface was wet and sticky — probably mud or sand just after the tide had gone out. 

Below are photos of the cast-making process. To see the finished cast, more footprints, fossils, and other pieces of Folkestone’s geological story, head to Folkestone Museum! 

Photo credits – Steve Friedrich