The Discovery of the Ilford Mammoth

In the 1850s, when Ilford was a village on the London Road, a number of brick pits were in operation in the vicinity and occasionally the workmen came across the bones of large mammals in and below the brickearth. As the years went by the number of fossils found increased and they eventually came to the attention of Stratford amateur geologist Sir Antonio Brady. The pits were subsequently to produce an enormous number of specimens, all excavated under Brady's supervision, but the greatest moment came in 1863 when the skull of the 'Ilford mammoth' was unearthed which had tusks nearly 3 metres (10 feet) long. Associated with it were the bones of a woolly rhinoceros.

Brady, a senior civil servant, devoted considerable time and money to ensuring that all the finds were preserved, and his collection was finally donated to the Natural History Museum in London. The collection contained the bones of more than 100 mammoths and at least 77 rhinoceroses. There were also bones of straight-tusked elephant, lion, brown bear and the giant deer Megaloceros, the span of whose antlers was a remarkable 3 metres (10 feet). A catalogue of the collection was published by Brady in 1874 and a copy is preserved in the Essex Record Office in Chelmsford. The catalogue records in great detail the excavation of the 'Ilford mammoth' and describes how difficult the task was. It states: "You must imagine the skull resting half exposed in compact brickearth, requiring a spade or trowel to remove it, but the fossil itself as friable as decayed wood or tinder, the ivory of the tusks being equally soft and shattered".

The discovery of mammoth and other fossils at Ilford in the 19th century is commemorated by a plaque on the wall of Ilford Methodist Church in Ilford Lane
Photo: Gerald Lucy

The reason for the remarkable abundance of fossils is not known but it is likely that they were carried by river currents to be redeposited in the quiet waters of a meander.

The Uphall Pit, on the west side of what is now Ilford Lane, was the most famous locality but there were others to the north and south of Ilford High Road. During their working life the pits received many visits from naturalist societies, one of which was reported in the Transactions of the Essex Field Club of 1880 under the title 'A day's elephant hunting in Essex'. All the pits have now been filled in and the sites developed. However, a bronze plaque on the wall of Ilford Methodist Church Hall in Ilford Lane commemorates the discovery.

Fossil bones do still occasionally come to light at Ilford; in 1984 bones of mammoth, ox and rhinoceros were discovered during construction of the Ilford Southern Relief Road.

The age of the fossils is still controversial (they are too old for radiocarbon dating and too young for the other radiometric dating methods), and fossils from the two main pits may be from different Thames terrace deposits; but they are probably between 150,000 and 200,000 years old.

For further information see the excellent booklet:
Sir Antonio Brady (1811-1881) civil servant, fossil collector and philanthropist of West Ham, Essex. By William H. George
Published by W.H. George Publications, 11, Sterry Road, Barking, Essex IG11 9SG.