The Lyme Regis Fossil Festival is an annual festival held at

Lyme Regis Lyme Regis is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and beaches on the Heri ...

on the

Jurassic Coast The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. It stretches from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset, a distance of about , and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in mid-Decembe ...

of East Devon and Dorset. It exists to celebrate the unique geological heritage of Lyme Regis and the Jurassic Coast and to educate the public on advances in natural environment research, and especially palaeontology. It is organised by the Lyme Regis Development Trust with major support from the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

in London and the Jurassic Coast team. It was the idea of Dr Paul Davis of the Natural History Museum who worked with Marcus Dixon of the Lyme Regis Development Trust and Liz-Anne Bawden of the Lyme Regis Museum to establish the first one in 2005 and since then it has regularly occurred over the early May Bank Holiday Weekend. The festival includes a wide range of activities run primarily by scientists from the Natural History Museum, various universities, and scientific societies. There are also guided fossil collecting walks, scientific talks, a wide range of stalls run by fossil preparators and collectors, and related art events such as a replica of a Victorian

iguanodon ''Iguanodon'' ( ; meaning ' iguana-tooth'), named in 1825, is a genus of iguanodontian dinosaur. While many species have been classified in the genus ''Iguanodon'', dating from the late Jurassic Period to the early Cretaceous Period of Asia, ...

. In 2007 the festival hosted a UNESCO Youth Climate Change Summit and in 2012 the festival formed part of the

2012 Cultural Olympiad The 2012 Cultural Olympiad was a programme of cultural events across the United Kingdom that accompanied the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics. The Olympic Charter, the set of rules and guidelines for the organization of the Olympi ...

linked to the London Olympic Games.

References

{{Reflist Lyme Regis Science festivals in the United Kingdom Annual events in England 2005 establishments in England Festivals established in 2005 Festivals in Dorset