Lyme Regis Museum — Attraction in Great Britain

Lyme Regis is a beautiful town and Mary Anning, born in 1799, is perhaps its most famous citizen. She and her brother unearthed the first fossils of what we now refer to as "dinosaurs", notably sn Ichthyosaurus and a Plesiosaur.

Paleontologists and Geologists came from London and other parts of England to buy them for their collections. Her discoveries were game-changing: some experts (notably the leading French zoologist cum geologist, Georges Cuvier) were so surprised by these that they went as far as to suggest that they were fakes. Controversy makes for publicity, they were the real deal and Mary became widely known, though not always accredited for her work.

So it is perhaps surprising that the town had not created a museum celebrating her work and the impetus she gave to large numbers of amateur fossil hunters to come down to what we now call "the Jurassic Coast", a World Heritage site.

The museum is small, arranged on three floors showing different aspects of Mary Anning's life and times. It is particularly well conceived as regards education of children who like opening drawers revealing interesting material.

Having said that there will be some disappointment at not seeing any reconstructions of Mary's most notable finds. The originals are of course on display in London's Natural History Museum where they are centerpieces of the "dinosaur" section.

Public outreach is an important part of modern 21st century science.

I would argue that obtaining replicas for the Anning Museum is an important priority. Mary had sold those fossils for what would now be regarded as a pittance. In the meantime there should be some large-scale depictions of what she found - big enough to create a "wow factor".

Nevertheless, this is an essential visit when...

The family thoroughly enjoyed the fossil walk even in the pouring rain. The session leads were superb as were the staff in the museum on the day. I would not recommend purchasing the fossil kits as at almost £30 a kit (I bought 2) were not required on the walk at all. We were told half way through the walk that because the museum needed to comply with their insurance only the session leaders were allowed to use the hammer. Consequently we carried these kits and did not use them which was disappointing but understood. I have taken off two stars because I emailed the museum a couple of days later asking if they could please send the fossil booklets included in the kits which did not survive the torrential rain. Given they are a charity I fully expected to pay all costs incurred. The response I received was curt stating the kits were bought 'at my discretion' and 'non essential' to the walk. We won't be returning. I bought the kits because I thought they would enhance the fossil walk but given the kids didn't use them on the walk (non-essential according to the museum) and subsequently can not enjoy any of the reading materials has taken the shine off of the event. This was further compounded by their handling of my...

+JMJ...Visited this museum during travels to meet with a British pen pal and her friend, May 1984. She knew of my fascination with fossils and that I had read a book about a lady paleontologist, Miss Mary Anning (1799 - 1847), who found many fossils which I believe a few are housed in this museum. Another reason this visit to Lyme Regis was so special was because I was able to visit Miss Annings' grave. And, in visiting the museum, saw many artifacts relating to her life and some of the fossils she found. There was even a display case of plaster mouldings from a Assembly Rooms. The display card noted that world renown author, Jane Austen, had danced in such Assembly Rooms when she lived in Bath. Aside from my own personal interests, it is by belief that any rock hound or geological studies enthusiast would enjoy a visit to this museum. Personally, I found myself to be in a fossil...