West Hoathly SSSI
Site of Special Scientific Interest in West Sussex, England, UK
West Hoathly SSSI is a 0.7-hectare (1.7-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Sharpthorne in West Sussex. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
Description
This working quarry exposes clays of the Wadhurst Clay Formation, which is part of the Wealden Group, dating to the Early Cretaceous between 140 and 100 million years ago. The site lies close to a postulated gap in the London-Brabant Massif through which the Boreal Sea is thought to have periodically flowed, and it is described by Natural England as "important for interpreting environmental conditions at the northwestern extremity of the Wadhurst Clay outcrop".
The site is private land with no public access.
The public source identifies “West Hoathly SSSI” as site of Special Scientific Interest in West Sussex, England, UK. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around West, Hoathly and SSSI.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “West Hoathly SSSI”, the useful work is to connect “site of Special Scientific Interest in West Sussex, England, UK” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7985401. Authority coordinates are 51.077, -0.038. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “West Hoathly SSSI” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.