.
Main Menu
BIMS Home
About Us
About Meteorites
British and Irish Meteorites
Publications
Gallery
Join BIMS
Contact Us
Links
.
logo
The British and Irish Meteorite Society (BIMS)
British and Irish Meteorite Collections

Details of meteorite exhibitions which are open to the public. Please note that this article is considered a work in progress. Further details of the collections listed (including images), or any collections omitted, would be very welcome. Please contact us.

England

Brighton: Booth Museum of Natural History - Has a number of meteorites in their geology collection. These are NOT on public display but can be viewed on request (Please contact the museum in advance if you would like to see them). The collection consists of Brenham (15g fragment), Forest City (20g and 74.8g), Pultusk (213g individual), Estherville (26g cut section, 20g uncut), casts of Middlesborough, Nedagolla and Daniel's Kuil plus 7 Australite tektites. There is also a a selection of stones used for handling during educational work: Canyon Diablo (424g individual), Gibeon (87g etched slice), Mount Tazerzait (25.5g slice), Imilac (12.4g) plus a number of tektites and meteorwrongs.

Cambridge: Sedgwick Museum Of Earth Sciences - The museum's website infers (here) that there are meteorites on display. Awaiting further details.

Hull: Hull and East Ridings Museum - Has small specimens of Sikhote Alin, Campo del Cielo, Nantan and a Moroccan ordinary chondrite, but these are not on perminent display.

Leicester: New Walk Museum and Art Gallery - Part of the Barwell meteorite is usually on display but the geology gallery is currently closed and not due to re-open until 2011.

Leicester: National Space Centre - Has had a piece of Nakhla, an iron meteorite and a sizable piece of Barwell on display previously. Awaiting details of current public display.

Liverpool: World Museum - A permanent display includes examples of Alfianello, Barwell, Mbale, Millbillillie, Zagami, Vaca Muerta, Imilac (slice and whole specimen), Canyon Diablo, Sikhote-Alin, Gibeon (slice and whole specimen), Odessa, Toluca and Henbury.

London: Natural History Museum - The museum houses one of the World's finest collections of meteorites, with around 2,000 individual specimens represented. Awaiting details of permanent display.

Manchester: Manchester Museum - A permanent display includes examples of Appley Bridge, Monze, Canyon Diablo, Turtle River, Odessa, Toluca, Brenham, Bondoc, Millbillillie, Allende, Bjurbole, Wells, Hedjaz, Sinai and Plainview.

Newcastle: Great North Museum - A small collection of meteorites are in the permanent display.

Oxford: Oxford University Museum of Natural History - The museum holds a large collection, of which the following are on display: Nantan, Sikhote-Alin, Gao-Guenie, Gibeon, Campo del Cielo, Imilac, Rewari and Limerick.

Saffron Walden: Saffron Walden Museum - The geology gallery contains a replica of the Ashdon meteorite that fell 7th June 1923.

Sheffield: Sheffield City Museum - The website mentions "rarities such as native platinum and meteorites" "presently housed at the City Museum". Awaiting further details.

Tyne & Wear: The Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens and The Discovery Centre - There are six meteorites in the public display, see here for details, Sunderland specimens have the TWCMS prefix.

York: Yorkshire Museum - A small meteorite collection including the Middlesbrough meteorite that fell on 4th March 1881. There is no permanent display, and no research/enquiries will be possible until December 2010, due to refurbishment of the museum.

Scotland

Edinburgh: National Museum of Scotland - The museum holds a large collection of meteorites but at present there are only two on display in the "Treasured" gallery - Nakhla and Esquel.

Glasgow: Hunterian Museum - The geological collection contains 70 meteorites including High Possil, which fell in Glasgow on 5th April 1804. There is a small but eclectic display of meteorites from around the world, but the gallery is currently closed and will not re-open until April 2011.

Glasgow: Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum - A small, permanent display that includes examples of the iron meteorites Gibeon, Canyon Diablo, Sikhote-Alin, and small slices of Dar al Gani (lunar) and Zagami (Martian) meteorites.

Perth: Perth Museum and Art Gallery - On display is part of the Strathmore meteorite that fell in Perthshire on 3rd December 1917.

Wales

Cardiff: National Museum Cardiff - There is a small, permanent display that includes examples of Gibeon, Esquel, Wellman, and Allende. The museum also holds a sample of the Beddgelert meteorite that fell 21st September 1949, but it is not on display.

Northern Ireland

Armagh: Armagh Planetarium - A 140kg nickel iron meteorite is on permanent display. This is the largest meteorite on public display in Ireland.

Belfast: Ulster Museum - The museum has a new display that includes a 113kg Gibeon, a large Allende, a 500g slice of Esquel, a 3.45kg Seymchan pallasite slice, a small lunar meteorite and samples of four meteorites that have fallen in Ireland. An image of part of the display featured as the BIMS Image of the Month in December 2009. For full details of the collection click here

Eire

Dublin: National Museum of Ireland (Natural History) - The museum has a large collection of meteorites (Awaiting further details). The natural history gallery is currently closed for refurbishment. A temporary exhibition, Planet Earth - Our Place in Space has several meteorites on display, including Limerick, Lunar and Martian specimens and a large Campo del Cielo. It is housed in the Decorative Arts & History gallery in Collins Barracks.

Kieron Heard, 20th December 2009. With contributions from David Entwistle and George Wake.

.
banner