The Blue Lias consists of a sequence of limestone and shale layers, laid down in latest Triassic and early Jurassic times, between 195 and 200 million years ago.

These alternations are caused by short-term climatic variations during the Early Jurassic attributed to orbital forcing (Milankovitch cycles).

It was formerly used for a variety of purposes, including walling, building, paving, gravestones, cement-making and as a source of agricultural lime.

Geologists think that the Wilmcote Limestone originated as layers of fine-grained mud on the floor of a sheltered, shallow muddy sea or lagoon that covered parts of central England at the dawn of the Jurassic Period.

Above the sea bed, the shallower waters supported ammonites, fish, and marine reptiles (ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs).

[4][5] The Blue Lias is a prevalent feature of the cliffs around Lyme Regis and Charmouth, on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, where it exists in layers of limestone interspersed with softer clay.

It is also notable for its presence in Somerset, particularly around the Polden Hills, Keinton Mandeville and Glastonbury area, and it forms a broad plain across the East Midlands.

It remains popular in more modern-day surroundings where it is used in the construction of new housing developments and extensions for existing buildings in conservation areas.

AR Purnell at Ashen Cross Quarry in Somerton have been mining blue lias stone since 1996.

[8] Dornraptor[9] D. normani Lower cliff face, Charmouth Black Ven Marl Member?

referred: ROM 47697 Insect compression fossils are known from the localities of Binton in Warwickshire and Copt Heath near Birmingham.