Lyme Regis

Blue Lias cliffs at Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis is a coastal town in West Dorset, England.

Dinosaurland

Housed in the old Congregational church, in which Mary Anning was baptized and would have worshipped, this museum provides unique displays on the geology and paleontology of the area. It has many rare fossils, not just from the Jurassic Coast and provides an insight into the time-scale of the evolution of life on Earth.

Physical geography

The town is famous for the fossils found in the cliffs and beaches, which are part of the Heritage Coast—known commercially as the Jurassic Coast—a World Heritage Site. The Blue Lias rock is host to a multitude of remains from the early Jurassic, a time from which good fossil records are rare. Many of the remains are well preserved, with complete specimens of several important species. Many of the earliest discoveries of dinosaur and other prehistoric reptile remains were made in the area surrounding Lyme Regis, notably those discovered by Mary Anning (1799–1847). Significant finds include Ichthyosaur, Plesiosaur, Dimorphodon, Scelidosaurus (one of the first armoured dinosaurs) and Dapedium. The town now holds an annual Mary Anning Day. A fossil of the world's largest moth was discovered in 1966 at Lyme Regis.