Sea monster museum to shut for four-week revamp

Steve Etches with the skull of the ferocious marine reptile at the museum

A fossil museum that is home to a giant sea monster known as the Sea-Rex is set to temporarily close its doors to complete a revamp.

The Etches Collection in Kimmeridge, Dorset, said the work would see old cabinets in the gallery replaced, giving better access to the displays and "more space for new and exciting fossils".

The museum houses a vast collection of fossils from the late Jurassic period, including the skull of the 150-million-year-old marine reptile.

Nearly all the fossils were found by Steve Etches who set up the museum to display his finds.

The museum will close its doors from 3 November and reopen on Monday 1 December.

The museum said the revamp would make room for new fossils and give better accessibility

The museum said the gallery upgrade would also create a stable humidity environment to improve the preservation of its specimens.

The 2m-long pliosaur skull excavated from a cliff near the museum went on display at the museum in January 2024 and was the subject of a BBC film presented by Sir David Attenborough.

It made also it into the Guinness World Record books after being found to be the most complete of its type on the planet.

The Etches Collection museum opened in 2016 to house more than 2,000 fossils collected by Steve Etches