Mike Taylor

The history of fossil collecting in and around Street in Somerset

Author

Dr Michael A. Taylor

Date

2009-ongoing

Project Type

Research

Subject

Vertebrae palaeontology

Datasets

British Geological Society digital data available at Digimap

Ordnance Survey data available at Digimap

Somerset Record archives

Related Subjects

Palaeoenvironmental studies; geology; geography; Victorian culture; archaeology; local history

Sources: Digimap; Somerset Record archives

Dates/Editions: As available

Scale: Variable

Publishing Institution

Mike Taylor, Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester

Summary

Research into the history of the collection of Jurassic marine reptiles (ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs) and other fossils from the district of Street in Somerset, together with Lyme Regis in Dorset a classic area for the early history of vertebrate palaeontology in the early 19^th century.

Aims & Objectives

To elucidate the history of quarrying and of fossil collecting in the Street area in order to better understand the source provenances and strata of the fossil reptiles, which cannot now be collected from this area as the quarries are now in-filled;
The history of their collecting and collectors, to better understand their historical, scientific and cultural significance;
To better understand the geological sources and to trace specific specimens for use in ongoing palaeontological research.

Methodology

As far as maps are concerned, a key problem is that Street had very many separate quarries at different times. The quarries were shallow, easily reclaimed, and temporary. Maps were used to help trace the actual quarries at different times, when show, and the likely/actual sites of former quarries through characteristic land use changes (from farmland to quarrying to reclaimed land used as orchard and more recently as housing). This is of course combined with other evidence from documents and aerial photos. Google Maps air photos shows that it is now used for housing.

Mapping the known and likely sites will be used to pinpoint the strata quarried when compared with detailed geological mapping. The pattern shown is a considerable extension of previously published information. It is unexpected and itself needs further explanation. It has forced a reconsideration of what had been believed to be quarry sites in other parts of the village – those may in fact be clay pits of no relevance to this study.

More generally, maps are used to check evidence from documentary sources such as census data and to gain a better understanding of the characters’ positions in the landscape and in society. They are also used to check the purported activities of significant characters such as collectors as shown from other evidence (news reports, own writings) and to consider their plausibility and likelihood – for instance the wildly differing newspaper accounts of a riot provoked by one collector.

Results/Outcome

Two conferences in the village of Street, one on the fossils and geology, and one on the collector Thomas Hawkins, to which the public were invited and which included open public evening lectures
Increased public interest and awareness
Work is still ongoing for formal publication.

References & Acknowledgements

With the tenure of a Visiting Research Fellowship in the Dept of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, and of a Research Associateship. Department of Natural Sciences, National Museums Scotland. Earlier work funded by Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship and Christopher Welch Trust, University of Oxford.

http://repository.nms.ac.uk/285/ and http://repository.nms.ac.uk/287/