Why? Where? Who? and How? An insight into what we already know.

Why? Where? Who? and How? An insight into what we already know.

As work continues on the feasibility study for a new museum dedicated to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, let’s delve deeper into why this project has become an important priority for us and what else we will be doing to make this new museum a reality.

Another fossil museum?

Firstly, this is not just another museum. Our vision is for a centre that explores all aspects of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site - a place for exhibitions, research, conservation, and community engagement. It isn’t really a new idea either. From the earliest days of the Jurassic Coast achieving World Heritage status in 2001, the aspiration to create a centre or museum about and for the World Heritage Site has been written into Site management plans. It’s there in the latest one too, with the Partnership Plan being endorsed by UNESCO, UK Government, local authorities, and partners including visitor centres, museums, and fossil collectors.

Why now?

The Jurassic Coast Collection has been operating for three years now and it is through this programme that the concept and purpose of a new museum have really taken shape. The Jurassic Coast Collection seeks to improve access to and engagement with fossils from the Site, support the management and sustainability of public collections, and address the long-term security of privately owned specimens.

To achieve these outcomes, we have been busy creating new fossil-focused exhibitions in partnership with our stakeholders, including Lulworth Cove Visitor Centre, Sidmouth Museum and Bristol University. We’ve also worked with various local museums to support them with volunteer training and in making the most of their fossil collections. This is ongoing work for the Jurassic Coast Trust and part of our remit to support our partners.

The long-term security of privately owned fossil collections is what the new museum seeks to help address. This need is a product of the nature of the Site itself and the responsibilities and opportunities presented by World Heritage status. Most fossils are recovered from the eroding coastline by responsible private collectors as an ongoing contribution to site management. However, without an ambitious and direct approach to securing these specimens within a museum collection, there is a risk that privately owned fossils, particularly those not covered by the protections afforded within the Fossil Collecting Codes of Conduct, may be sold, and subsequently lost. Right now, there are thousands of amazing specimens out there in private ownership, many of them safeguarded by their owners in the hope that our dream of a dedicated Jurassic Coast Museum will soon become a reality. By working closely with fossil collectors, we hope to secure these specimens for the benefit of local communities and the progression of scientific research.

We are also committed to exploring the ways in which a new development could create new resources for existing museums and visitor centres that already successfully do so much to help celebrate the Jurassic Coast and safeguard their own fossil collections. We are still in the early stages of shaping the proposal for a new museum, but this really will be a once in a lifetime project so, for now, we are not holding back on the scale of our ambition.

Who is involved?

Importantly, our aim is that this new facility will not take anything away from the local museums and visitor centres that already successfully do so much to help celebrate the Jurassic Coast and safeguard their own fossil collections. On the contrary, our aspiration is that it will create new resources to support this wider network. Local museums were key partners in the first steps of the Jurassic Coast Collection programme and they are at the heart of our aspiration to create a new museum dedicated to the World Heritage Site. A working group for the Jurassic Coast Collection programme includes representation from local museums, national museums, fossil collectors and academic researchers. This group has been instrumental in providing guidance to date and will continue in this role as the new museum proposal develops. As we progress towards a final feasibility study and museum masterplan, we will be consulting more widely, particularly with Jurassic Coast communities. Our hope is to arrive at a truly shared vision for a project that could transform how people engage with the World Heritage Site and how we will all look after it for generations to come.

Where will it be built?

Spoilers! But, seriously, we don’t know yet. This is a key question that the feasibility study will help answer. A careful examination of transport links, demographics, economic factors, land availability and the ambitions of stakeholder groups is required before a build site can be proposed.

What’s next?

The two major elements of developing the museum proposal are the feasibility study and the creation of a draft museum masterplan. The feasibility study will focus on identifying a potential site, business model and funding sources. The museum masterplan will be the basis for how the museum will function, including collections management, content, interpretation, access and inclusion, learning, engagement, desired outcomes and organisational resilience.