Benton, M.J. & Spencer, P.S. 1995. Fossil Reptiles of Great Britain. Geological Conservation Review Series No. 10, JNCC, Peterborough, ISBN 0 412 62040 5.
The original source material for these web pages has been made available by the JNCC under the Open Government Licence 3.0. Full details in the JNCC Open Data Policy
Shipton-on-Cherwell Quarry is the best source of Mid Jurassic crocodilians in Britain, and perhaps the best source of freshwater forms in the world. The site has also produced a range of bones of other species, including turtles and dinosaurs.
From the older portions of Shipton-on-Cherwell Quarry the earliest recorded find was a partial Steneosaurus skull collected in the early 19th century (Conybeare, 1821, p. 591), and this specimen (OXMFS J1401) was the first crocodile known from the British 'oolites'. Later finds of crocodilian and dinosaurian remains were described by Phillips (1871). The crocodiles were later redescribed by Phizackerley (1951). A stegosaur femur was made type of Lexovisaurus vetustus by Huene (1910c), and it was redescribed by Galton and Powell (1983) and by Galton (1985b). The quarry at about
There is a problem over the nomenclature of the seven or so quarries around the bend in the River Cherwell in this area
Richardson et al. (1946, p. 67) noted that Bletchington Station quarry was 'probably the original 'Gibraltar Quarry' and they refer to Phillips (1871, p. 247). However, Phillips (1871, p. 247) does not make clear whether the quarries at Enslow Bridge and Gibraltar were separate localities or part of one quarry, stating that the bones of Cetiosaurus came from 'the quarries at Gibraltar, near Enslow Bridge, and close to the railway station for Kirtlington and Bletchingdon'. Huene (1910c, p. 75) referred to two reptile quarries, that at Bletchington Station and one '300 m west of Bletchington Station on the other side of the river in the western valley wall'. This could be Quarry Bank or Gibraltar, about 300 m west of the station in the middle of the flood plain in the bend in the River Cherwell. McKerrow et al. (1969, p. 61) further complicated the issue by giving a map reference for a 'Gibraltar Quarry (477 185)'. The quarry at
The sequence at Shipton-on-Cherwell Quarry
| Thickness (m) | |
| Lower Cornbrash | |
| In field immediately above the quarry (also at top of section to the south; Arkell 1947a, p. 58) | |
| Forest Marble Formation | |
| 9. ('Wychwood Beds'). Clays, greenish grey dominant at N end; thinly laminated cross-bedded sand gradually replaces clays elsewhere (?=beds a-h of Odling 1913, p. 496) | 1.8–3 |
| 8. (Tipper Kemble Beds') Limestone, cross-bedded, hard, white, blue-hearted, coarsely oolitic, locally split up by thick lens of dark-blue, shaly clay. (?=beds i, j of Odling, 1913, p. 496) | c. 3 |
| White Limestone Formation | |
| Bladon Member | |
| 7. Upper Epithyris Bed (Coral — Epithyris Limestone) (='Fossiliferous Cream Cheese' Bed of Odling 1913, p. 496, and Arkell, 1931, p. 579; 'Cream Cheese Bed' of Barrow, 1908; Upper Epithyris Bed of Richardson et al., 1946, p. 66). Limestone, cross-bedded, hard, similar to 8. Abundant Epithyris, Modiola, etc. | 0.6–0.9 |
| ——— plane of erosion with a few pebbles ——— | |
| Beds 6–3: fimbriatus–waltoni Beds | |
| 6. (=Beds 2–4 of Odling, 1913, p.497). Marl, green, lignitiferous, black and shelly at base; 90 cm thick at N end, reducing to 15 cm band of white pellets at S end | 0.1–0.9 |
| 5. (=Beds 5 and 6 of Odling, 1913, p. 497). Limestone, greenish grey, argillaceous, weathering soft. Abundant Gervillia, Astarte. Expands N | 0.15–0.3 |
| 4. (=Beds 7 and 8 of Odling, 1913, p. 497). Clay, dark green with white pellets. Thins N 0.23–0.45 | |
| 3. Limestone, hard, unfossiliferous, thins N | 0–0.25 |
| 2. Oyster–Epithyris Marl (=Bed 9, first Terebratula bed of Odling, 1913, p. 497; Middle Epithyris Bed of Arkell 1931, p. 580, and Richardson et al., 1946, p. 66). | |
| Marl, brown, ferruginous. In places, rolled fragments of limestone and corals at base. Abundant Epithyris. | 0.23 |
| ——— plane of erosion——— | |
| Ardley Member | |
| 1. (=Beds 10–12 of Odling, 1913, p. 498). Limestones, creamy white, compact. In places the Epithyris Limestone (=Lower Epithyris Bed) is typically represented, while elsewhere it is absent. | seen c. 2.0 |
Odling (1913, p. 498) recorded a further 3 m of section in the old Gibraltar Quarry, down to a compact limestone below the Nerinea eudesii Beds (lower Ardley Member).
Problems of lithostratigraphy and disagreement over the placing of the Forest Marble/White Limestone boundary are discussed by Richardson et al. (1946), Arkell (1947a), Palmer (1973, 1979), Torrens (in Cope et al., 1980b, pp. 36–8) and Sumbler (1984). The main difficulty concerns the classification of beds which are, to an extent, transitional between the White Limestone and Forest Marble formations, and the confusion arising from different usage of the two formation names has been increased by the introduction of various subdivisions which have been used in different senses by different workers. The stratigraphic position of the transitional beds has recently been standardized by their inclusion in the Bladon Member of the White Limestone Formation (Sumbler, 1984).
Reptiles were found at three or four levels within the sequence: in the ?Ardley Member (?bed 1, or lower of Arkell, 1931; Richardson et al., 1946), in the fimbriatus–waltoni Beds, in the lowest unit and the top of the Forest Marble (Arkell, 1931; Richardson et al., 1946: beds 8 and 9), and in the Lower Cornbrash.
The most abundant remains appear to have come from the fimbriatus–waltoni Beds here and nearby. The bones excavated at Bletchington Station quarry between 1868 and 1870 lay 'on a freshly-bared surface of the Great Oolite… and covered by the laminated clay and thin oolitic bands which occupy the place assigned to the Bradford Clay of Wiltshire' (Phillips, 1871, p. 248). The bones clearly lay within clay bands above an oolitic limestone and, because of their size, they passed up into different thin clay and marl units. Phillips' detailed section (1871, p. 251) shows seven thin argillaceous and calcareous units that cannot be matched with sections recorded nearby in the railway cutting (Hull, 1859, p. 20; Phillips, 1860, p. 117, 1871, p. 154), nor at Shipton. Nevertheless, it may be concluded that all of these belong to the fimbriatus–waltoni Beds. This is confirmed by H.B. Woodward (1894, p. 154) and Arkell (1931, pp. 565, 566). Richardson et al. (1946, pp. 39, 65, 67, 70) and Palmer (1979, p. 221) note the occurrence of Cetiosaurus bones in these beds at several quarries.
De la Beche and Conybeare (1821, p. 591) recorded 'an undoubted species of crocodile, somewhat resembling the Gavial… in the upper beds of the Great Oolite, or in the Cornbrash… at Gibraltar, eight miles north of Oxford'. Phillips (1871, p. 251) later noted that 'heads of teleosaurs are not infrequent at Enslow Bridge, and in beds of Great Oolite below the strata containing 'ceteosaurus', and in summarizing an excursion to Enslow Bridge (Phillips, 1871, p. 239) he noted that 'the members were highly gratified to learn that during the morning a very fme skeleton of Teleosaurus had been found and the head was exposed to view. This quarry is in the Great Oolite, the lower and uppermost strata of which in Oxfordshire yield remains of Megalosaurus while in the middle beds we find 'Teleosaurus'. These probably refer to finds in the old Gibraltar/Shipton Quarry in or below the fimbriatus–waltoni Beds. Further, 'remains of Teleosaurus were obtained at Enslow Bridge (south of Kirtlington) a little below the 'Terebratula-bed' (H.B. Woodward 1894, p. 323), thus below bed 2 of Arkell's (1931) section, probably at Shipton. Teleosaurus occurs as low as the Upper Shipton Member at Lower Greenhill Quarry (Odling, 1913, p. 496, Bed 18).
The large Cetiosaurus femur obtained in 1848 from the railway cutting south of Bletchington Station was apparently 'assigned to the base of the Forest Marble' by Prestwich and another specimen was found 'within two feet of the Cornbrash' (H.B. Woodward, 1894, p. 323). These indicate horizons equivalent to beds 8 and 9 respectively in the section given above.
Galton and Powell (1983) and Galton (1985b) suggest that the holotype of the stegosaur Lexovisaurus? vetustus (a right femur) probably derived from the top of the Forest Marble, because of its eroded nature and the fact that bones are virtually unknown in the Cornbrash, but do occur in the lagoonal facies of the Forest Marble Formation. The bone, however, bears an example of the bivalve Meleagrinella echinata on its surface (P. Powell, pers. comm.), firm evidence of a Lower Cornbrash derivation. This relocation of the find is of little significance, since both the Lower Cornbrash and the top of the Forest Marble are within the Clydoniceras discus Subzone of the C. discus Zone (Late Bathonian, Mid Jurassic; Torrens, in Cope et al., 1980b, fig. 6a).
The bones from all levels at Shipton are generally well preserved, but disarticulated. Taphonomic information is only available for the Cetiosaurus find of 1868–70 at nearby Bletchington Station quarry. Phillips (1871, pp. 248–51) noted that the large bones were largely shattered (?by compression from the weight of the superincumbent sediment). The separate elements were disarticulated, but associated, remains of three individuals of different size being preserved within an area measuring 6 m by 6 m. Vertebrae and ribs were much broken and mixed in 'confused' groups. No cranial remains were found. Thus, as Phillips (1871, p. 249) realized, the animals had died elsewhere, 'the parts separated by decay; the massive limbs disjointed, and the bones displaced'. The bones were washed in, but have not suffered much wear.
The majority of the specimens labelled 'Enslow Bridge' or 'Gibraltar' appear to have come from the old Gibraltar Quarry which is now part of the Shipton-on-Cherwell cement works. Specimens from Bletchington Station Quarry are normally noted as 'Bletchington Station' or 'Kirtlington Station', and they are not listed here. Most specimens are labelled 'Great Oolite', and they probably came from beds 3–6 (fimbriatus–waltoni Beds) or lower.
Testudines
'turtle scute' OUM J17567.
Archosauria: Crocodylia: Thalattosuchia: Steneosauridae
Steneosaurus boutilieri J.A. Deslongchamps, 1869 OUM J1401–4, J1412, J1416–7
Steneosaurus brevidens (Phillips, 1871) BMNH R78–79, 44821
Steneosaurus aff. larteti Q.A. Deslongchamps, 1866) OUM J.1408–10
Steneosaurus megistorhynchus J.A. Deslongchamps, 1866 OUM J.1414–5
Steneosaurus meretrix Phizackerley, 1951 Type specimen: OUM J.29850. Also, OUM J.29851, J.1407
Steneosaurus sp. BGS(GSM) (old no.); OUM J.10590–1, J.29495; CAMSM J.21952–3
Teleosaurus subulidens Phillips, 1871 OUM J.13599–600
Archosauria: Crocodylia: Thalattosuchia: Metriorhynchidae
Metriorhynchus cf. geoffroyi Meyer, 1832 OUM J1418
Dinosauria: Saurischia: Theropoda: Megalosauridae
Megalosaurus bucklandi Meyer, 1832 OUM J.13598, J.29773, J.13882, J.29765
Dinosauria: Saurischia: Sauropoda: Cetiosauridae
?Cetiosaurus OUM J.29806
Dinosauria: Ornithischia: Ornithopoda
?Iguanodon OUM J.29805
Dinosauria: Ornithischia: Stegosauria:
Stegosauridae
Lexovisaurus? vetustus (Huene, 1910) Type specimen: OUM J.14000
The biostratigraphy is difficult to establish because of the general absence of ammonites here and in comparable units nearby. Three or four specimens of Tulites and Procerites have been recorded from Bletchington Station and Enslow Bridge, but they are either lost or stratigraphically unlocalized (Torrens, 1969b, p. 69, in Cope et al., 1980b, pp. 37–8). The stratigraphic units are assigned within the Late Bathonian as follows (Palmer, 1979; Torrens, in Cope et al., 1980b): Ardley Member (?lower hodsoni Zone), Bladon Member (?upper hodsoni–lower aspidoides Zones), Forest Marble Formation (?aspidoides–lower discus Zone), Lower Cornbrash (?upper discus Zone).
The reptiles from Shipton are generally large, with none of the 'lizards', pterosaurs, amphibians or mammals that are known from deposits of the same age at Kirtlington. This is probably the result of different collecting techniques, rather than any major habitat distinction. Nevertheless, the dominance by crocodilians is typical of most British Bathonian sites.
The long-snouted crocodilians Steneosaurus, Teleosaurus and Metriorhynchus are well known from several British Mid Jurassic sites from the Early Bathonian (e.g. New Park Quarry), the Mid Bathonian (Huntsman's Quarry; Stonesfield) and the Late Bathonian (e.g. Kirtlington, Oxfordshire). These forms were revised by Phizackerley (1951), but Steel (1973), in a recent review, was unable to clarify their complex taxonomy. The distinctions between the species, and the assignment of valid species to different genera, have yet to be assessed in an overview. In other words, the total of seven species from Shipton is almost certainly an overestimate and it is not clear to which genus each should be ascribed. Nevertheless, the Shipton specimens are largely skulls and lower jaws, which are taxonomically and functionally important elements, and these should be of extreme importance when a review is undertaken. The importance is heightened by the fact that the type specimens of most of the species erected by Deslongchamps and French authors, from the 'Fullers Earth' and 'Great Oolite' of Normandy, were destroyed in 1944.
Several of the crocodile skulls from Shipton are significant. OUM J.1401 (S. boutilieri) was the first recorded British Mid Jurassic crocodile (
Other reptiles are less well represented. There is one plate from a turtle carapace, about which little can be said. The carnivorous dinosaur Megalosaurus is very rare here, being represented by a scapula and isolated dagger-shaped teeth. This compares with its rarity at Kirtlington and other Late Bathonian sites also, but in the Mid Bathonian it is one of the commonest finds (e.g. Huntsman's Quarry and Stonesfield, see above). A bone referred to Cetiosaurus was reported in a footnote in Phillips (1871, p. 213). Cetiosaurus bones are relatively abundant nearby in the Late Bathonian (e.g. Bletchington Station quarry, Kirtlington Cement Quarry, Glympton (
Finally, the 700 mm long right femur of the stegosaur Lexovisaurus (type specimen of Lexovisaurus? vetustus (Huene, 1910c)), probably from the Lower Cornbrash of Shipton (see above) is of great importance (
The reptiles from Shipton-on-Cherwell Cement Works/Gibraltar Quarry
The stegosaur L.? vetustus is known elsewhere from the Early Bathonian (Bed 18, Perna bed, tenuiplicatus Zone) of the Sharps Hill Formation at Sharps Hill Quarry, near Hook Norton, and the Chipping Norton Member (convergens Subzone of zigzag Zone) of the Chipping Norton Formation of New Park Quarry, Longborough. The Mid Callovian form (L. durobrivensis Hulke) is known from the Oxford Clay of brick pits around Fletton, Peterborough (Galton, 1985b, p. 236).
Other comparable Late Bathonian localities in Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire include Slape Hill, Woodstock
Shipton/Gibraltar quarry has yielded the largest variety of British Mid Jurassic crocodiles. The specimens consist of skulls and jaws which are of prime importance for classification and ecological studies. More specimens have been found at Stonesfield (early Mid Bathonian), but these are largely isolated teeth, scutes and bones. In view of the fact that the Normandy type specimens have been destroyed, the Shipton steneosaurs are the best in the world for studies of Mid Jurassic crocodiles. The stegosaur Lexovisaurus? vetustus is the oldest member of its genus, and one of the oldest members of Stegosauria, a group which radiated in the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous of Europe, Africa and North America. Shipton's crocodiles and its stegosaur make it a Mid Jurassic site of international importance, and this importance combined with a potential for future finds give its considerable conservation value.