A New Palaeonotological Era on the Island
Scientific interest in Isle of Wight dinosaurs was rekindled by a British palaeontologist now living in the USA: Dr Peter Galton. Galton completed his doctorate on Hypsilophodon in 1967 while studying at University College, London and published several papers on this dinosaur from 1969 onwards. Other workers joined the fray, including William Hlows, a nurse living in Kent. Blows began to collect his own dinosaur fossils during the 1970s and published several papers describing the results of his endeavours (Blows 1978, 1983, 1987). Blows' papers on dinosaur footprints, and on Polacanthus, alerted the interest of the scientific community to the Islands' dinosaurs, and by the end of the 1980s a new era in Island dinosaur studies had begun. Dinosaurs in general had of course become the subject of much scientific debate in the 1970's due to the, almost heretical, claims of Dr Robert Bakker that dinosaurs were warm blooded (see Desmond 1976). Now, for the first time, serious attention was being paid to the biology of dinosaurs. Since then the blockbuster movies Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park the Lost World and of course the spectacular BBC TV series Walking with Dinosaurs have further fuelled a general interest in dinosaurs and their world. The mystery of dinosaurs, their size and diversity, and of course the mystery of their extinction, has persuaded scientists from a wide range of disciplines to contribute to the understanding of dinosaur palaeobiology. It is no surprise today to find geochemists, isotope chemists or even geophysicists working on dinosaur related projects. Isle of Wight dinosaurs continue to add to these debates.
On the Isle of Wight, a new museum dedicated to dinosaurs is to open in 2001. Scientists from the Museum of Isle of Wight Geology, the universities of Portsmouth, Bristol and Cambridge as well as staff at the Natural History Museum, London have been working on the Island's dinosaurs in recent years. Since 1975 Steve Hutt of the Museum of Isle of Wight Geology has secured many new specimens for the Museum collection, and is actively taking part in their excavation and scientific description. The new dinosaur museum secures a future for the dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight and the scientific endeavours that they trigger. To date there are circa 18 currently recognised species of dinosaur found on the Island, although a few are of dubious validity, several species are unique to the island. Some of the remains described last century need re-examining in the light of new discoveries made in Cretaceous rocks elsewhere in the world. While there is little doubt that new species remain to be discovered, the dream of the Island's dinosaur hunters, it is hoped that more complete remains of those dinosaurs known only by tantalising fragments will also be forthcoming.
The Museum of Isle of Wight Geology
In 1913 a small exhibition gallery, office and workshop above the Sandown Carnegie Library became the site of the Isle of Wight Museum of Geology. This small museum, which in 2001 transfers to a new site and adopts a new name, Dinosaur Isle, has a long and somewhat chequered history. The collections of the Museum of Isle of Wight Geology began life as an assortment of archaeological and other specimens gathered by members of the Isle of Wight Philosophical Society which originated in Newport around 1810 (Jackson 1925, unpublished notes in MIWG catalogue). The first custodian of the collection (from 1825-1850) was the Reverend E. Kell F.S.A. After his term the collection became part of the Isle of Wight Museum based in Newport Guildhall. Although the new custodian, Mr P. E. Wilkins, was a keen geologist who acquired many specimens, lack of local interest and finance forced him to place the collection into private storage. These difficulties continued to hamper the collection and its custodian for many years. Prior to the turn of the century, a new custodian, Mr John Wood, operating in new premises in Quay Street belonging to the Newport Literary Society, reorganised the collection. Again, this new custodian added many geological specimens to the collection. In the earliest years of the 20'” century the museum was at it lowest ebb, with few visitors and a severe lack of funds. In 1913 the collection of antiquities, including the archaeological material, went to Carisbrooke Castle Museum while the geological specimens were displayed in a single room above the Free Library (an Andrew Carnegie benevolence) of Sandown Urban Council. In 1925 Mr J. F. Jackson F.G.S. was appointed joint curator of the collection with the Reverend J. C. Hughes. Jackson was an expert geologist with a passion for collecting fossils, and it is to his credit that the museum survived and was modernised. During his curatorship several important local collections were acquired including fossil insects and plants collected by Mr G. W. Collenut. Many specimens, particularly of dinosaur bones, were also obtained at this time, with the private collections of Mr G. T. Woods and Mr H. F. Poole added to the Sandown collection. The museum was again neglected during the Second World War, but afterwards a Mr Grapes became the custodian, and enthusiastically set maintaining the collection for the benefit of the general public. In 1976 Dr Allen Insole was appointed
Museums Officer and began a long overdue process of modernisation. Shortly after the appointment of Dr Insole, Mr Steve Hutt was recruited as his assistant and both Insole and Hutt set about expanding the collections and developing displays. Space has always been short at the Sandown site, both for displays and storage. Currently the collections contain several thousand specimens, mainly of fossils, fram all of the geological periods represented on the Island. There are more than 400 dinosaur accessions. Sadly, the Isle of Wight missed out on the many spectacular dinosaur specimens discovered in Victorian times. Most of the more complete or scientifically important specimens were sold by local collectors to the Natural History Museum, London. But times and attitudes have changed, and many of the local collectors now prefer to see their discoveries remain on the Island, and are happy to donate their finds to the local museum. The award of a lottery grant with matching funds from the Isle of Wight Council offer the museum a new lease of life. In 2001 transfer of the Isle of Wight Museum of Geology collections to the new Dinosaur Isle museum will take place and the ivfuseum of Isle of Wight Geology will close. This event will end an era, but, it is hoped, herald the beginning of new one.
