Staffin Dinosaur Museum
A small founder-run museum on Skye showing Jurassic fossils and dinosaur footprints found around Staffin, plus local crofting and cultural objects.
Have only individual sections read aloud
About the museum
Staffin Dinosaur Museum on the Trotternish peninsula in the north-east of the Isle of Skye was founded in 1976 by Dugald Ross, who was still a teenager at the time. He became interested in archaeology after finding flint arrowheads on the family croft, and the first museum was set up in a restored blackhouse ruin there. Since 1994 it has been housed in a former byre, a building that was also used by the church as a Gaelic school in the early nineteenth century. Dugald Ross continues to run the museum.
Skye is known as the Dinosaur Capital of Scotland, and the local rocks are of Middle Jurassic age. The collection shows fossils from the area, including a Cetiosaurus limb, the first recorded dinosaur fossil from Scotland, and sandstone blocks with dinosaur footprints from Score Bay. A trackway of adult and juvenile prints from the collection has been loaned to the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow.
Other exhibits include a Hybodus shark fin, an ichthyosaur jaw imprint, ammonites, belemnites and other marine fossils. Alongside the fossils are cultural objects that reflect local life and the way crofting has changed over the centuries.
Highlights
- Cetiosaurus limb, the first recorded dinosaur fossil from Scotland
- Dinosaur footprints from Score Bay
- Ammonites, belemnites, a shark fin and an ichthyosaur jaw imprint
- Founder-run museum in a former byre
Permanent exhibition
- Dinosaur and fossil collection – Jurassic fossils and dinosaur footprints found around Staffin, with local cultural objects.
- Founded
- 1976
- Director
- Dugald Ross
Admission & discounts
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Accessibility
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Kids & families
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Getting there & parking
The museum is at Ellishadder, just north of Kilt Rock on the Trotternish peninsula, about 30 minutes' drive north of Portree.
Get directionsAmenities & dining
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Events & venue rental
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