Scarborough's Rotunda museum reopens with tribute to father of English geology

19/05/2008

 Scarborough's iconic Grade II Rotunda museum reopened in May with a celebration of the work of William Smith, whose geological discoveries over 200 years ago became the basis of all mineral and oil exploration today. The two year, £4.4m restoration has also introduced a series of innovative displays and activities which will appeal to all ages - and especially children who are into fossils and dinosaurs.

The Rotunda Museum, originally opened in 1829, was one of the country's first purpose built museums, and is the only building in the world to commemorate Smith's invention of 'fossil-ordered stratigraphy'. Smith, a humble surveyor and son of a country blacksmith, solved one of the great puzzles of the age - how to recognise the sequence of rocks and correlate them across the country on the basis of the fossils they contain.

After struggling against the suspicion of members of the Geological Society, he published the first geological map of England and Wales in 1815. But his unique geological maps were plagiarised by jealous colleagues and he was financially ruined. It was only when he came to Scarborough, after release from a debtor's prison, that the geological richness of the dramatic North Sea coastline gained him the recognition he deserved.

To honour and interpret Smith's great discovery, the Rotunda museum was designed on a circular plan, while around the gallery was a painting of the geological formation of the East Coast, from the Humber to the Tees. Now, the state-of-the-art redevelopment has returned the Rotunda to its original role at the cutting edge of science, and fossil specimens from William Smith's own collection, on loan from the Natural History Museum, will be displayed for the first time in Scarborough.

Alongside all the new technology, sponsored by Shell UK, lies one of the museum's earliest inhabitants - Gristhorpe Man. Discovered in
1834 at Gristhorpe near Scarborough in a large oak coffin, Gristhorpe Man is thought to be an ancient British chief who lived c500 B.C. or early Bronze Age.

For more information call: 01723 353 665 or visit the website below.

Relevant links

• Rotunda Museum (Opens a new window)