This is a collection of pictures of rocks found on beaches on the east coast of England, mainly Norfolk and Lincolnshire.

I have been finding and studying these rocks for several years now, and am constantly amazed at the variety of rocks one can find in a relatively small area.

There are many possible sources for these rocks: glacial deposits from a succession of ice ages; rivers ancient and modern emptying their load into the North Sea: longshore drift moving material along the coast; human activity i.e. rocks used as ballast in ships being offloaded into the sea, beach recharging, and rock armour used for coastal defences.

Some rocks are fairly easy to identify, others not so easy and require microscopic examination of a thin section, unfortunately I do not have the means to do this so I have tried to describe the minerals I can see in the hand specimen. Even more difficult is to determine from where the rocks originate, so I will only name the source of a sample if I can be certain.

I would be pleased to hear from fellow collectors and especially from anyone who could help with identification or who recognises any of the stones as being from a particular area.