Marks Tey Brickpit

{{Short description|Protected area in Essex, England}}

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

{{Infobox SSSI

|image=Marks Tey Brickpit 1.jpg

|image_caption=View of an area of the site which is now a field

|name= Marks Tey Brickpit

|aos= Essex

|interest= Geological

|gridref={{gbmappingsmall|TL 911243}}

|area= 29.5 hectares

|notifydate=1986

|map=[http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=sssiIndex&query=HYPERLINK%3D%271004027%27 Magic Map]

}}

Marks Tey Brickpit is a {{convert|29.5|hectare|acre|adj=on}} geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Marks Tey in Essex.{{cite web|url= http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1004027.pdf|title=Marks Tey Brickpit citation|series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|accessdate= 5 July 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=sssiIndex&query=HYPERLINK%3D%271004027%27 |title=Map of Marks Tey Brickpit|series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|accessdate= 5 July 2016}} It is a Geological Conservation Review site.{{cite web|url= http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=4174&gcr=618 |title= Marks Tey (Quaternary of East Anglia) |publisher=Joint Nature Conservation Committee|accessdate= 5 July 2016}}

This site has a record of pollen throughout the Hoxnian interglacial around 400,000 years ago, and this is the best vegetational record for any British interglacial site. Seasonal layers in lake sediments have made it possible to estimate the duration of the Hoxnian. Clay deposited in the lake is quarried at a brickworks on the site, and this exposes layers above the Hoxnian ones of a later colder period. There is also a Grade II listed early nineteenth-century bottle kiln and brick tile works on the site.{{cite web|url=http://www.essexfieldclub.org.uk/portal/p/Geology+Site+Account/s/Marks+Tey+Brick+Pit+SSSI/o/Marks+Tey+Brick+Pit+SSSI|title=Marks Tey Brick Pit SSSI|publisher=The Essex Field Club|accessdate= 5 July 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1266780|title=BOTTLE KILN AT MARKS TEY BRICK AND TILE WORKS|publisher=Historic England|accessdate= 5 July 2016}}

The site is overgrown apart from a small area used for brick making. It is private land with no public access, but a small area, which is now a field, can be seen from Marks Tey railway station car park.