The Etches Collection

The Etches Collection is an independent fossil museum in Kimmeridge, Dorset, on the Jurassic Coast. It sits beside Kimmeridge Bay and the Kimmeridge Ledges, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and World Heritage Site. The museum opened in 2016 to house more than two thousand fossils from Steve Etches’s lifetime of collecting. Etches spent over thirty years gathering specimens from the local Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay Formation. Some of his finds have been named after him, recognising his contribution to palaeontology. The collection holds fossils of international scientific importance. It includes ammonite eggs and examples from the Kimmeridge Clay, such as the marine reptile Thalassodraco etchesi. In 2026, Big Sara, an Allosaurus skeleton, was lent to the museum for two years. Big Sara is Dorset’s only real dinosaur skeleton on public display and the only real Allosaurus skeleton in the United Kingdom. Visitors find a modern museum building designed to protect and display the fossils. The exhibits show creatures that swam in Jurassic seas millions of years ago. Interpretive panels explain the significance of each specimen. The setting overlooks Kimmeridge Bay, linking the displays to the landscape where the fossils were found.