Fossil Museum
Small museum in the back room of the Square and Compass pub, showing Purbeck fossils, archaeological finds and shipwreck relics from over 60 years of collecting.
Have only individual sections read aloud
About the museum
The Fossil Museum is a room in the Square and Compass pub at Worth Matravers in the Isle of Purbeck. The pub has been run by the Newman family since 1907, and the museum grew out of the collecting of Ray Newman and his son Charlie. Charlie describes the display as a tribute to his father, combining more than sixty years of collecting.
The fossils come mostly from Purbeck, from the Kimmeridge Clay, Portland and Purbeck stone, chalk greensand and Wealden beds, with some pieces from Lyme Regis, the north Somerset coast and Whitby. In the 1960s the Natural History Museum identified and catalogued Ray Newman's collection from the Wealden beds and Swanage. Favourites include large marine reptiles, an ichthyosaur and a pliosaur.
The museum also shows archaeological finds from Dorset sites, including Mesolithic and Neolithic flint tools, Bronze Age and Romano-British items, coins, brooches and buckles. Other cases hold relics from the 1786 wreck of the Halswell, clay pipes sold in the pub, farming bygones and old bottles, and some agricultural machinery stands outside.
Highlights
- Purbeck fossils including ichthyosaur and pliosaur specimens
- Mesolithic to Roman finds from Dorset sites
- Relics from the 1786 wreck of the Halswell
- Clay pipes sold in the pub by the Newman family
- Free museum room inside a historic village pub
Permanent exhibition
- Fossils and archaeological finds – Purbeck fossils including marine reptiles, with flint tools, Roman metalwork, shipwreck relics and farming bygones collected by the Newman family.
- Founded
- 1998
- Operated by
- Newman family (Square and Compass)
Admission & discounts
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Accessibility
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Kids & families
Children and dogs are welcome in the pub all year round.
Getting there & parking
Worth Matravers is at the head of a valley leading to Winspit, and the pub is in the centre of the village.
Get directionsAmenities & dining
- Restaurant: not available
The pub serves drinks, home-made pasties and pies and its own cider; there is no restaurant.
Events & venue rental
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Plan your visit
| Good to know | The museum is part of the pub, so visitors can see it while enjoying a drink or a pasty. |
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