Lossiemouth East Quarry SSSI Traditional Cache

Lossiemouth East Quarry is a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) is a prominent cliff feature of the Lossiemouth townscape that lies between Prospect Terrace and Quarry Road to the west of the Old Harbour. This is a cache 35mm film canister cache with NO PEN.

Lossiemouth East Quarry is a large section of yellow and grey sandstones of the “Lossiemouth Sandstone Formation”. The quarry was worked from the 1790’s and was used to produce stone for local building, including Branderburgh.

It was designated a SSSI during a Geological Conservation Review (GCR) that was completed in 1989. The fossils were originally thought to be fish remains and tortoise tracks but after much debate amongst the Victorian scientists as to the date of these fossils, they were eventually recognised as reptiles from the Triassic period. Lossiemouth East Quarry is one of Britain's most important vertebrate fossil localities, yielding eighty fossils of eight different species from the Triassic Period (225 million years ago). Of the six types of fossils discovered, five are unique to Lossiemouth, including Saltopus, Britain’s oldest dinosaur, the fossils of which are on display at the Natural History Museum in London.

Stagonolepis: : A herbivore shaped rather like a crocodile 2.7m long. It had extensive armour around its body and possessed powerful digging limbs. It may have grubbed for plant roots or invertebrates with its shovel-like snout.

Erpetosuchus : A small omnivore with a body length of about 60cm and had crocodilian characters.

Ornithosuchus: Medium to large sized carnivore of up to 3.5m in length This carnivore had sharp dagger-like teeth and was probably used its large back legs for running and the smaller fore limbs for grasping, but could use all four for walking.

Saltopus : Small carnivore of around 60cm ong. It had a long tail and hind legs and would run and prey upon other animals, the tail being used for balance in rapid manoeuvring. The Saltopus is Elgin area’s only dinosaur and is Britain’s oldest.



Other fossil finds include:

Hyperodapedon gordoni : Discovered in 1858 this rhynchosaur is just over 1m in length and has a beak like snout for tearing off plant material.

Leptoplueron lacertinum : A small rodent like herbivore was possibly around 20cms long with a tail. It was first described in 185 by Richard Owen.

Scleromochlus taylori: This debate on the nature and appearance of this reptile still continue today, ideas ranging from something comparing to a flying squirrel to a hopping gerbil type creature.

Brachyrhinodon taylori : A tiny lizard looking omnivore of only 20cms.


The fossils were first collected in 1844 by quarrymen, who took the fossils to local experts. Patrick Duff, Elgin Town Clerk and geologist, Mr Martin a schoolmaster, Mr Alex Robertson and Rev Dr George Gordon were all involved in the early study and discovery of these fossils, with Victorian scientists, including the famous Swiss naturalist, Louis Agassiz, Professor Thomas Huxley and the Scottish geologists Charles Lyell and Roderick Murchison all involved in the debate as to their age.

This site is managed by the Moray Council who has given permission or this cache. Please do not attempt to collect fossils yourself as you could damage the scientific interest of the site. It is also extremely unlikely that you will find any fossils as any remaining will be buried deep within the sandstone accessible only with renewed quarrying.

Further information regarding Lossiemouth East Quarry SSSI can be found by contacting the Scottish Natural Heritage on 01343 541551 or by visiting http://www.snh.org.uk/snhi and choosing “Site Links” from the menu on the right hand side.

Further information on the fossils found in this and other SSSIs in the Elgin area can be found at Elgin Museum. Visit www.elginmuseum.org.uk for opening times and prices.

Thank you to Scottish Natural Heritage and Elgin Museum for their support and information. Images are courtesy of Elgin Museum.