The Purbeck Limestone Group of Dorset, southern England

Abstract

The late Jurassic to early Cretaceous Purbeck Limestone Group of Dorset has been a focus for media and academic attention for the last 150 years. For example, The Illustrated London News in 1857 carried an article by the Revd Charles Kingsley, (of The Water Babies fame), titled ‘Geological Discoveries at Swanage’. describing fossil‐hunting endeavours of Samuel Husband Beckles (1814–1890; Fig. 1). Beckles had been encouraged by Richard Owen (1804–1892) to go in search of the tiny fossilized mammalian remains in these strata. Beckles rose to the challenge and at his own expense employed a team of workmen to carry out the excavations; in the process they uncovered a thin layer containing the numerous remains of diminutive mammals along with the remains of other vertebrates, including turtles, crocodiles and ornithischian dinosaurs. Since then, dinosaur tracks and related discoveries from these same strata have often caught the imagination of the press, inspiring sensational headlines such as ‘Builder digs up giant lizard fight’ and ‘Dinosaur graveyard in Swanage Bay’!Contemporary illustration of Samuel Beckles’ excavation on the cliffs of Durlston Bay, from Charles Kingsley's account of the discoveries at Swanage which appeared in The Illustrated London News in 1857.image