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Soooo under the pretence of a holiday in the South West of England I took Dr B and little Violet to Lyme Regis and we, er, stumbled across Lyme Regis Museum which unbeknown to me had some paleontological specimens inside

 

:P something to do with a certain Mary Anning I believe.

 

Fortunately the museum has other things that Dr B was interested in (actually we all were), as a teacher of creative writing and a novelist, so my bacon was saved when it became apparent that John Fowles was curator there for two years and Jane Austin visited Lyme regularly.

 

The museum is really kid friendly an there are questionnaires for children of all ages to do with a small prize of a polished piece of semi precious stone.

 

Lots of images to follow :)

 

Pencil in hand Violet is ready to start her questionnaire.

 

 

File 27-08-2016, 10 12 58 pm.jpeg

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Now this is supercool. William Buckland, the famous 19th century had a table made from coprolite, (I bet Lori would like one of these!). This is a replica made by jonathan Matthews a local cabinetmaker with the coprolite inlay panel made by Beth Werrett of Wiltshire Conservation in 2013. Fossil poo, every kids favourite.
 
 

 

 

File 27-08-2016, 10 14 05 pm.jpeg

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This is a Temnodontosaurus platyodon, the largest found locally. It was found in 2008 by a local collector, Mike Harrison. This would have measured around seven metres. Mounted by the engineering team at the Natural History Museum, London. An average sized ichthyosaur was one and two metres.

 

 

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IT was a real privilege to see some of Anning's original notebooks. It's important that some of these remain in the museum near where she worked rather than hidden in an archive at the Natural History Museum in London. 

 

A little Anning history. 

 

Anning (1799-1847) was a pioneering amateur paleontologist who gained worldwide fame for some of the most important discoveries of her time in the country of Dorset, Southern England. She became an acknowledged expert on coprolites. With her brother she found the first complete ichthyosaur in 1810/11, a complete plesiosaur in 1823 and then parts of a pterosaurid in 1828. 

 

Anning died of breast cancer aged 47. She gained recognition for her work in the scientific community. Not bad for someone the wrong gender (women weren't taken seriously in the scientific community), the wrong class (her parents were poor) and the wrong religion, (not creationist). 

 

Her death, in 1847, was recorded by the Geological Society who didn't admit women until 1904 (!) and her life commemorated by a stained glass window in St Michael's Parish church in Lyme. Next time in Lyme I'll find the church and photograph the window. 

 

An an amazing woman, do Google her. 

 

 

File 27-08-2016, 11 56 49 pm.jpeg

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Finally another ichthyosaur. 

 

This is museum is very child friendly. Having said that it's a museum that will appeal to the most serious paleontologist too. There are many other exhibits there which relate to the area. The tickets are a bargain price, will last a month so you can go back and under 16's are free. You can't say that about many museums in the UK. 

 

A special cheer for @JohnJ who managed to recover most of this post from a Google cache after the original evaporated in to the ether during the forum upgrade. I originally wrote this on my iPad and it took over an hour. John, you're a diamond, thank you!  :1-SlapHands_zpsbb015b76:

 

 

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Looks like a very cool place.  I regret not visiting the few times I was in the area.  Thanks for the tour.

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Great presentation, John.  Glad I could help. :1-SlapHands_zpsbb015b76:

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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Thanks for the virtual tour.. I have heard about Lyme Regis since I was in Grade 6 or 7 when my teacher Mt Kitt (same guy for both grades) who I think was from Devon originally, showed me an ammo from there and told me about about the place. (Also recall reading about Mary Anning around that time, when first getting interested in fossils and reading the guidebooks from the school library and that my parents bought for me and brother - some of the first stuff you learn, I guess)

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That first fish is amazing! And the rest! Love the puppets the most though :D

"Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe" - Saint Augustine

"Those who can not see past their own nose deserve our pity more than anything else."

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  • 1 month later...

this museum and my trip to lyme regis 45 years ago is what first started my interest in fossils :D

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Delighted, thank you.

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, also are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See

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