Ardwell Bay

Fossil Sites

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55.20° N 4.90° W

Ardwell Bay, South of Girvan is the best coastal location around Girvan for finding fossils. Graptolites are the most common find, with Orthocone fragments and trilobites also quite common. brachiopods can also be found. The rocks to split are easy to identify being black when weathered.

Highlights

Graptolites, Brachiopods, trilobites and orthocones

Era

Ordovician

Access

Ardwell Bay is along the A77, south of Girvan. Just round a sharp bend, you will see some houses, one of them is called ‘Ardwell House’. You can park just after or just before this in the small layby along the A77. You can gain easy access to the shore, and will see the flaggy rocks almost immediatly at the south end of the bay. Look for the rocks which are badly folded over, folded into a series of cascade folds and that appear very black, or dark grey.