In a town famous for vampires, some mysterious ‘garlic stones’ will be a highlight of Whitby Fossil Day, a Yorkshire Day event at Whitby Museum celebrating the amazing range of fossils found on the North Yorkshire coast.

A day of workshops, talks and tours on Saturday 1 August will be aimed at all ages and will culminate in a talk from palaeontologist Dr Liam Herringshaw, Acting Chair of Earth Science Outreach UK, about some remarkable Jurassic fossils found near Whitby five years ago.

Dr Herringshaw explains: ““Fossils from the Jurassic rocks of Whitby are world-famous; the museum has wonderful specimens of ammonites, marine reptiles, dinosaur footprints, and jet. Our ‘garlic stones’, however, are very mysterious, and we need people’s help in working out what they are.

“Discovered near Whitby in 2021 by two of my geologist friends, the garlic stones look like fossilised bulbs of garlic connected by tubes. We’re confident they are trace fossils – structures made by sea creatures in the muds of Whitby’s Early Jurassic seafloor – and we think they may have been made towards the end of a deadly period of climate change. However, we have only found them as loose blocks or cobbles in the beach, so we can’t yet tell their story properly.

“We’d love locals and visitors to keep an eye out for them. If we can work out where exactly in the Jurassic strata the garlic stones come from, it will improve our understanding of deep-time climate change and how life recovers from rapid global warming.”

Whitby Fossil Day Photo: Tony Bartholomew©

Whitby Fossil Day Photo: Tony Bartholomew©

Roger Osborne, the museum’s geology curator, says: “The Yorkshire coast has arguably the greatest variety of fossils you can find anywhere in the country, from dinosaur footprints to plants, from reptiles to carboniferous corals. What better way to celebrate Yorkshire Day?”

The event, in and around the museum from 11am to 3pm, will include workshops with illustrator James McKay, an award-winning artist specialising in extraordinary paintings of ancient life, including dinosaurs.

Author Matthew Myerscough will talk about and sign copies of his book In Search of Sea Dragons: A Fossil Hunter’s Odyssey. Matthew is well-known in the fossil hunting community for finding spectacular marine reptile fossils.

Local experts will be bringing an amazing display of dinosaur footprints from the Yorkshire coast.

There’ll be tours of the geology collection, and the rare chance to take a look behind the scenes at the museum’s stores.

Whitby Fossil Day will also encourage fossil fans of all ages to get hands on with its fossil handling collection and bring their own fossils for identification by the museum’s experts. The Geologists Association will be there too, with information for budding fossil collectors.

Usual admission fees to the museum will apply.

For more information on Whitby Museum’s Fossil Day, please visit: https://whitbymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/