The Triassic formations at Bendrick Rock near Sully Hospital contain footprints of dinosaurs which once roamed the muddy sands of the lakeshore environment.
If you know what you are looking for, footprints belonging to an unidentified 3-toed dinosaur can be found on the cliff top or in the rocks along the beach.
The tracks all head in the same direction, perhaps skirting around the lake.
Access: Bendrick Rock can be reached via a path which follows the outside of the security fence round HMS Cambria at Hayes Point, Sully.
Facilities: Roadside parking near the Atlantic Trading Estate
Iolo Williams (above) visited the area in a TV series about The Natural History of Wales.
For more information, see the Geological Walks in Wales leaflets for 30p available from:
South Wales Geologists Association
c/o Department of Geology
National Museum & Gallery Cardiff
Cathays Park
Cardiff CF10 3NP
Phone 029 2057 3213
Email geology@nmgw.ac.uk
See the South Wales Geologists Association website for more details.
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your comments
Jan & Phil Gray, Biglis, near Barry
In January 2009 we joined 27 people for a Valeways Walk. We met up at Sully Church and then walked all the way along the coast to the Bendricks. Weather was glorious. Although the journey wasn't easy, after climbing over rocks it was certainly well worth it! We found at least 20 or more footprints!
David H Jones, Cardiff
Here is the location for your GPS:-N 51° 24.029 W 003° 14.035or British Grid: ST 14262 67555
Lynne, Dan & Tom from Newport
After two years, we finally visited Sully. Hours later we are still in awe of what we experienced! Thanks to Steve Nott for his directions. Absolutely priceless, a must see - lost for words!!
Kel Caz and Lauzy-Cwmbran
Visited Lantwit Magor today and found some great boulder fossils - outstanding! On the way home we popped down to Sully. Got to the slip way easily via the Sully industrial estate. Less than 100 meters away from where we parked the car, we saw the prints - three toes easily identified. How can these remaining prints be protected??? The surrounding land is in a discraceful state with loads of rubbish from fly tipping. Come on Glamorgan County Council - this is a National Treasure!
leigh from blackwood
From the prints and gait of the prints it is possible to calculate the height and speed of the dinosaur - sort of puts the prints into context and fascinating stuff.
Brophy Family, Barry
These footprints are priceless relics that need to be seen where they lie. Anybody knowledgeable of their whereabouts has a responsibility to police and thus protect them. It would be unforgivable for someone to uproot them after such a time, to make financial or other profit. They do not belong in a museum, they belong exactly where they are, lets take good care of them.
Paul Iacono
I know it sounds a drag but if you are dedicated try going down at low tide on a clear full moon lit night and then the footprints almost seem to come alive. I was there one night and when I found the footprints they almost looked 3D with the shadows caused by the shimmering light of the full moon.
Stephen Thayer
Yep, found the three toe prints west of the concrete slip way. Also there are more three toe prints approximately 30m in a southerly direction to the first set, but they're not visible at high tide.
Tom Sharpe, Cardiff
I'm glad Steve Nott from Cwmbran has succeeded in locating the footprints to the west of the slipway. However, he mentions that the best prints from here have been taken away by the museum. In fact, they were stolen by a collector from Cardiff and sold through several dealers and on the internet. The police have recovered some of them. This is an important site, the best in Britain for footprints of this age, and it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest protected by the Countryside Council for Wales. We need to preserve it for everyone to see and study.
Steve Nott from Cwmbran
We have recently located the footprints now and found them very good. My daughters both got pictures of them with their hands next to them for posterity. To be more exact on the location, if you walk down the security fence of the HMS Cambria, turn right once you reach the beach, keep to the top of the cliffs and be careful not to go to close to the edge or close to the cliff face, walk for about 400 yards until you get to the next bay where you will see a concrete slip road. Walk over the slip road and over about 8 yards you should find an area where the footprints have been clearly marked out either with crayon or black marker. They are very close to a steeper but small cliff attached to the grassy headland. There seem to be many deposits of charcoal close by where people have had fires whilst night fishing. The best prints have now been taken away by the Museum in Cardiff but there are still about 6 very clearly defined areas which have 3 toes. It's worth the trek especially if you can imagine that you are standing in a place that a dinosaur once stood. I can only emphasize on how unsafe the area is, so please where a sturdy pair of boots - not sandals as I've seen some people doing. Remember, you are searching amongst rocks and not sunbathing! If you happen to go there on a Sunday you will find some groups of people racing quad bikes and mini bikes just on the fields behind the concrete slip road. Happy hunting - I'm off to Nash point this weekend with the family to look for more of the same.
Steve Nott from cwmbran
Six of us spent 2 hours Sunday looking for these prints and didn't find them. We saw many indentations within the red clay like rock and thought perhaps they were them but we weren't overlly convinced. We saw areas of 'rippled' effects as if the water had laid its current track in the sand as you see on a beach and that was fascinating. We also say some flat worm type fossils on the surface of the rocks too. I'm not sure if we were looking in the correct place though because as we followed the security fence around HMS Cambria we took a left when we got to the cliff overlooking the beach and combed the rock surface from there for about half a mile. We also went the opposite way on the way back and didn't find much either. I have to recommend sturdy shoes or boots when looking though because some of those soft red rock will come loose and could cause an accident. We had a great day anyway because we had a wonderful meal in the Captains Wife and then spent another hour up at Cosmeston lakes.
Dai Thomas Caerphilly
I went to see the footprints today 9/02/06
Talking to a local he advised that the best time to wiew the footprints was at low tide on a hot day when the water in the footprints has evaporated to leave a salt residue in the footprints. From the industrial estate you can look down on them and see the prints go down the rocks into the water. Your picture above shows the salt residue quite clearly.
Jamie Clarke, Cardiff
A very easy walk. I started from Sully church. Just opposite is footpath that leads to the beach. You just follow the beach until you go past Bendrick rock & come to a small sandy beach. At the top of the beach is a very small concrete slipway. If you stand near the top of the slipway looking at the sea the foot prints are approx 10ft to your right. There are lots more in the same direction about 50ft away when the ground starts to rise. These have been coloured in by wax crayon so are easy to find. There are many different size prints going in all directions & they are amazing.
Tom Sharpe, Cardiff
The footprints on display in the museum in Cardiff were removed from the site in 1974 and in 1990 with the landowners permission to protect them from erosion and collectors and to preserve them for study.
I visited the site recently and it is clear that someone has been removing many of the footprints from the rock surfaces to the west of the slipway. In doing so they have exposed more footprints but I suspect it is only a matter of time before someone removes these. This is a great pity because not only are they being lost to science, but it means that they cannot be seen by visitors to the site. If you see anyone lifting the slabs of rock, please let the Museum in Cardiff know.
Julia Tovey from Barry
Myself and the family went to look for the footprints,when we got to the spot we discovered that they had all been chipped out of the stone and had been taken away to Cardiff or St Donat's highly dissapointed! Are there some at Nash Point where hopefully nobody has taken them?
Mike Lister
ive seen the foot prints there many times close to HMS Cambria, there are quite a few sets of different prints, some very good prints!
Jilly
The best place to find foot prints is at Sully, down from the sports field where the Sunday car boot sales are held.Make your way to the beach and you cant miss them. They are truely amazing.
Sion Hill from Swansea
Thanks to Tom Sharpe we found the footprints by to the west of the slipway very easily but no other easily identifiable prints. We talked to a man who had just come from Cardiff museum where he had seen prints removed from the area and had been told that the museum had removed the better specimens to prevent the public nicking them.
Tom Sharpe - South Wales Geologists Association
Richard (see comment below) - the key to finding the footprints is to know what you’re looking for, as it says on this website. They can be very hard to see, especially if the lighting is flat or the weather poor. There are footprints at several places on the shore between HMS Cambria and Bendrick Rock, and I’m surprised you didn’t find them if he spent several hours looking. The other thing is that it’s best to go at low tide as some of the footprints are covered when the tide comes in. The most easily seen footprints lie to the west of a slipway which comes down to the beach at the western end of a small sandy bay. There are good tracks near the head of the beach a few yards from the slipway. Others lie further down the beach on that same side and a little bit further from the slipway. I’ve never used a GPS down there, but from the map I would think that the tracks are somewhere around ST 13442 67038.
Richard Howitt from Cardiff
I spent two hours searching between HMS Cambria and Bendricks Rock. Found fossilized ripple-marks on the surface of Red Triassic Marl, and random shallow rounded depressions, but no convincing 'three-toed' footprints. Please gould you give a precise grid ref or GPS postion where these are to be found?
