A probable Early Pliocene macaque molar from the Red Crag Formation in Waldringfield, represents one of the oldest and northernmost records of the genus in Europe reported to date.

[4] The name Waldringfield is derived from the Old English words meaning 'open land of the family or followers of a man called Waldhere'.

[5] The length of human habitation at Waldringfield is unknown but Iron Age finds such as pottery shards from the 1st century BC have been found locally.

First, until about 1895, coprolite was dug up locally, washed and sifted on the beach and shipped by barge to be processed in factories in Ipswich, as part of the early fertiliser industry.

Then, at the end of the nineteenth century, a cement-making industry used mud from the river mixed with chalk brought in by barge from the Medway.