Confidential Borehole Records

Confidential Borehole Records

What is a borehole record?

A record of boreholes, shafts and wells from all forms of drilling and site investigation work. Boreholes range from one metre to several thousand metres deep.

Borehole records are produced from a geologist's or surveyor's observations of the rock core extracted from the ground. It typically includes locality, lithological descriptions with depth and thickness.

Confidential records

A small percentage of the boreholes we hold are confidential. We can display the location and name of these boreholes, but permission to release the data must be sought from the owners before we can supply more detailed information. Some are confidential for commercial reasons (e.g. mineral and oil explorations) and others because they are located in sensitive areas (e.g. military sites). As we are not allowed to show the depths of these boreholes, they will be listed with depth '?'. Once you have obtained written release from the owners (Enquiries Staff will advise on ownership), we can then process your order via GeoRecords.

Note: Releasing confidential data can take significant time as the process involves third parties and may not always be successful. BGS will endeavour to facilitate the release of borehole records wherever possible, although if significant staff time is required to investigate complex ownership issues, cost recovery charges may apply, of which you will be advised.

Browse a map for boreholes

Search the borehole index by borehole name, ID or quarter sheet