Free to view, print or download records under Open Government Licence directly from our website (if available) or submit an order for a PDF format scan to be supplied by the GeoRecords Team (£5 + vat per borehole, cost recovery charge):
BGS GeoRecords provides access to the National Geoscience Data Centre archive of over nine million items.
Our most popular collection is Borehole Records.
The historical records held by the BGS date back to the 18th Century. During the intervening period the meaning of some words and/or descriptive terms has changed. In rare instances some historic records contain words once used commonly that might now cause offence. BGS policy is to provide the records in their original state without amendment or excision of content. This policy is consistent with that of The National Archives.
Free to view, print or download records under Open Government Licence directly from our website (if available) or submit an order for a PDF format scan to be supplied by the GeoRecords Team (£5 + vat per borehole, cost recovery charge):
Browse a map for boreholes
Search the borehole index by borehole name, ID or quarter sheetYou can search BGS datasets using GeoIndex a map-based index of information that we have collected or have obtained from other sources.
The data is also available via the iGeology smartphone app for iPhone and Android.
You are free to view, print or download the records under the Open Government Licence subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying the reproduced BGS materials:
"Contains British Geological Survey materials © NERC 2022".
Terms and Conditions
How to access Confidential Borehole Records
Archive items not available via our webpage can be accessed by contacting enquiries@bgs.ac.uk to arrange a visit for viewing or supply of scanned records via our document delivery service. Prices on application.
More details of our Archive Collections can be found in the Records Holdings section of our website or search for BGS datasets using the Geoindex.
Materials Collections - Alongside our extensive hardcopy archive of records, we have a vast collection of material, gathered since 1835, including: core, palaeontology and petrology collections. See 'using materials collections' in order to visit the Core Store or search the Materials holdings.
