Folkestone, The Bayle, Pleistocene Bone-Bed exposure at the Town Sewer, at the NW corner of The Bayle (1): Pleistocene beds of at c. 25-30m OD containing mammal bones and molluscan remains (1, 2, 3, 4). Bone-Bed first reported in mid-19th century (1), contains unusual association of warm-climate species (in particular, hippopotamus and straight-tusked elephant), alongside colder-climate species such as mammoth and elk, although the latter may be a misidentification of Megaloceros. Bone-bed is a gravelly marl with cobbles and small boulders c. 1m thick at the base of the sequence, overlain by c. 2m of whitish marl. Bones came mostly from the gravelly marl at the base of the sequence, but molluscs occur throughout. Full mammalian list includes mammoth, straight-tusked elephant, pig, aurochs, red deer, horse, elk and hyaena. Mollusc species include Helix nemoralis and Helix concinna. Reinvestigation of deposits in 1992 led to attribution to the Last (Ipswichian) Interglacial (5).

<1> Mackie SJ, 1851, On a deposit at Folkestone containing bones of mammalia (Article in serial). SKE29877.

<2> Falconer H, 1868, Notes on a collection of fossil bones discovered in a section of gravel in excavating the Folkestone Battery, pp564-569 (Article in serial). SKE29866.

<3> Evans J, 1897, The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments, of Great Britain., p543 (Monograph). SKE32244.

<4> Topley, W, 1875, The Geology of the Weald. , p163-5 (Monograph). SKE29894.

<5> Bridgland DR, Keen DH, Green CP, Bowen DQ, Sykes GA, 1995, Last Interglacial deposits at Folkestone, Kent (Article in serial). SKE29854.