Peak Hill, Devon

Peak Hill cliff face with view to Sidmouth Beach

Peak Hill, or more correctly High Peak, is a hill which is partially eroded, thus resulting in a cliff face, on the English Channel coast directly to the west of Sidmouth, Devon, southern England. Its highest point is 156 metres (512 ft) above sea-level.

Geology

The cliff face of Peak Hill is part of the Jurassic Coast and contains three principal rock strata.

At the base, the Mercia Mudstone Group formation consists of beds of various mudstones, siltstones and sandstones. These were deposited about 200 million years ago in the hot dry climates of the Triassic Period. Within the cliffs a number of very rare fossils of Triassic fish, reptiles and amphibians have been found.

Above these Triassic formations, the deposits in the centre of the cliff face are layers of Upper Greensand, a Cretaceous rock formation that was deposited about 80 million years ago.

The top of Peak Hill is underlain by flint gravel that was probably left behind following the solution of an original cover of chalk during the early Paleogene period about 60 to 66 million years ago.

Bibliography

• The Jurassic Coast Trust (2003). A Walk Through Time, the Official Guide to the Jurassic Coast. Coastal Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9544845-0-7.