Rocks in the wrong place?

The picturesque fishing village of Beer on the East Devon coast nestles in a natural bay surrounded by high cliffs of white Chalk.  These rocks formed in shallow sub-tropical seas that covered East Devon and Dorset in the Cretaceous Period, over 70 million years ago.  Most of the Chalk has since been eroded, but at Beer a quirk of geology has preserved it.  This is because the Chalk rocks are folded and faulted downwards, level with the older rocks and thus were protected from the erosion that was to come later.  At Seaton, red Triassic rocks return and can be seen east of Seaton Hole.

Just behind the village of Beer there is a layer of Chalk known as Beer Stone, composed of densely packed, minute shell fragments.  This is a high quality masonry stone used in important buildings.  Quarried from underground since Roman times, the workings have created Beer Quarry Caves which cover an area equivalent to over 50 football pitches.  Guided tours are available.

Flint

The Chalk at Beer contains distinctive bands of flint.  Although best known as a material for prehistoric tools, flint's durability ahs meant that it has been used as a local building stone in Beer and surrounding villages.

Hooken Landslide

Historical and recent views of the Hooken landslide near Beer, East Devon.  The landslide occurred in 1789-90 and appears to have originated below sea-level.  The drawing was made by Daniel Dunster in 1840 and the erosion between then and the present day can be seen by comparing the two images.