ESCR - Kilmore-Drumbullog townlands ditch, Newtownbutler

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Summary Full report
Kilmore-Drumbullog townlands ditch, Newtownbutler	Fermanagh

Site number:	205	File Number:	H42
ESCC:	EO
Locality Type:	Stream section	Status:	local interest
Grid Reference:	H43722840 Centroid
Google maps:	54.20316,-7.33033
County:	Fermanagh	Council area:	Fermanagh & Omagh District Council
Period:	Carboniferous
Stages:	Holkerian, Visean
Lithostrat:	Benbulben Shale Formation

Site Description
Ditch section between Kilmore and Drumbullog townlands, Newtownbutler, Co. Fermanagh; fossiliferous grey calcareous shale of Benbulben Shale Formation.
Highlights:
An excavated and deepened ditch section exposes highly fossiliferous lithologies typical of the Benbulben Shale Formation.
Description:
The somewhat isolated ditch section, about 10m long and 2-3m high, is located in a deep ditch (Photograph 30) between Kilmore and Drumbullog townlands, 3km NE of Newtownbutler crossroads. The dominant lithology is dark grey micaceous and calcareous, shaley and silty mudstones. These contain scattered, sometimes flattened, specimens of the solitary corals Koninckophyllum sp., P. murchisoni and S. garwoodi. Of particular interest are the lenticular channel-fill deposits, from 0.06-0.15m thick, that consist exclusively of fragmented corallites of S. pauciradiale in a silty mudstone matrix with the basal lag layer of small solitary corals. Sandstones occur in two beds 0.03 and 0.06m thick. Both are bioclastic and parallel laminated and have a lenticular bedform. A lenticular limestone occupies a channel Ditch section between Kilmore and Drumbullog townlands, Newtownbutler, Co. Fermanagh; fossiliferous grey calcareous shale of Benbulben Shale Formation, with thin discontinuous beds of bioclastic limestone and lenticular sandstone. about 1.5m wide and 0.07m deep which erodes into the underlying mudstones. They are not obviously graded but contain an abundance of crinoid debris, brachiopod shell and spine and bryozoan fragments. The limestones also contain an impoverished microbiota that includes calcisphaeres, algae such as stacheiinids, Salebra sibirica and Girvanella and foraminifera including Endothyra sp., Palaeotextularia sp. and Archaediscus stage concavus, which indicates an age no older than Holkerian.
Interpretation:
Without exception the fauna present in this section of the Benbulben Shale Formation is transported. The internal structure and external form of sandstone and limestone beds and of coral debris beds also indicates a transported origin presumably as turbidity currents flowing down a slope from shallow water, with a rich benthos, into deeper water with a virtually barren sea bed. The paucity of algae is a further indication that this environment lay below the photic zone and thus discouraged colonisation by these plants.
Conclusions:
The lithologies and faunas that occur at this section are quite typical of the Benbulben Shale Formation in south Co. Fermanagh, in Subarea-2.
Notes:
For information on other sites in Subarea-2 see; Key Site 1175 - Subarea-2; Lisnaskea-Fivemiletown.

Keywords
Rocks:	Mudstone, Sand, Sandstone
Fossil Groups:	Brachiopod, Coral, Crinoid, Foraminifera, Polyzoan
Fossil List:	Archaediscus stage concavus, Endothyra sp.
Relations:	Marine sediments

Measurements
Length:	10 m	Width:		Height:	2-3 m
Depth:		Area:

Access
Approach:	3km NE of Newtownbutler crossroads.


Record type:	ESCR report
Entered by:	Doughty, P.J.

Enlander, I., Dempster, M. & Doughty, P., 2026. Kilmore-Drumbullog townlands ditch, Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh, site details. [In] Earth Science Conservation Review.
https://www.habitas.org.uk/escr/site.php?item=205. Accessed on 2026-11-06.

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