Monument record BRH 090 - Sandy Lane Pit, Barham SSI

This locality shows the best development of the unique early middle-Pleistocene succession present in the area, spanning the Beestonian-Anglian Stages. A palaeosol ('fossil' soil horizon), considered to have a composite origin dating from both the Cromerian and early Anglian Stages, is developed on Kesgrave Sands and Gravels, thought to have been deposited by a former river (a proto-Thames) during the Beestonian Stage. The palaeosol is overlain in turn by a loess, out-wash sands and gravels, and glacial till – all correlated with the Anglian Cold Stage. The importance of the site lies in the well-developed palaeosol (representing a former land surface), and the stratigraphical interpretation of the sequence; both of which are subjects of current controversy. (S1).