Harwich Foreshore

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox SSSI

|image=Harwich Foreshore 4.jpg

|image_caption=

|name= Harwich Foreshore

|aos= Essex

|interest= Geological

|gridref={{gbmappingsmall|TM 263320}}

|area= 10.6 hectares

|notifydate=1986

|map=[http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=sssiIndex&query=HYPERLINK%3D%271003949%27 Magic Map]

}}

Harwich Foreshore is a {{convert|10.6|hectare|acre|adj=on}} geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Harwich in Essex.{{cite web|url= http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1003949.pdf|title= Harwich Foreshore citation|series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher= Natural England|access-date= 3 July 2016|archive-date= 3 March 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160303232817/http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1003949.pdf|url-status= dead}}{{cite web|url=http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=sssiIndex&query=HYPERLINK%3D%271003949%27 |title=Map of Harwich Foreshore|series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|access-date= 3 July 2016}} It is a Geological Conservation Review site.{{cite web|url= http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=4174&gcr=779 |title= Harwich (Tertiary Palaeobotany) |publisher=Joint Nature Conservation Committee|access-date= 3 July 2016}}

This site exposes bands of ash at the base of London clay from explosive volcanoes in Scotland during the Eocene epoch around 50 million years ago. It also has many London clay fossils from the Eocene rainforest, including mammals such as Hyracotherium, the earliest ancestor of the horse. The site is important in the history of geology as fossils have been collected there for over 300 years.{{cite web|url=http://www.essexfieldclub.org.uk/portal/p/Geology+Site+Account/s/Harwich+Foreshore+SSSI/o/Harwich+Foreshore+SSSI|title=Harwich Foreshore SSSI|publisher=The Essex Field Club|access-date= 4 July 2016}}

The site is a stretch of beach which is under water at high tide.