The owners of the historic Wold Cottage are now proudly able to display a piece of the famous meteorite itself after many years of searching with no success.

This story has taken quite a few months to unfold and started last summer when myself and my family stayed at the Wold Cottage currently owned by Derek and Katrina Gray. Although they have lots of historic photos and memorabilia I was astounded to discover that they didn't have a piece of the stone itself. I thought this was very sad indeed and said I would keep a look out for them and after a few months found a piece being offered for trade by Dave Gheesling.

The 1.44g Wold Cottage specimen donated by Dave Gheesling

I approached Dave with Derek and Katrina's story and Dave was not only willing to part with the specimen but he offered to donate it to them for free! I am sure that everyone will agree that it was a very generous gesture with the end result being that a piece of this important and historic fall is now being displayed in its proper home!

As I played the part of the middle man in all of this I thought that the least I could do was to arrange to get the specimen properly framed and present the framing to Derek and Katrina on Dave's behalf. I did this on Friday 16th April 2010, Derek and Katrina are absolutely delighted and over the moon to finally have a piece back home!

BIMS member Martin Goff presenting the Wold Cottage Meteorite Specimen to Derek Gray, behind them is the original monument commemorating the fall.

The story has attracted quite a bit of press attention and I was thrust into quite a media circus when I attended (all good fun though and I quite enjoyed it all to be honest!). I was interviewed for BBC Radio and TV and am pleased that the story has generated positive press for meteorite collectors.

Other articles on the presentation are available here and here. Dave Gheesling's website also has more information here. You can download a recording of Martin's interview on BBC Radio Humberside here.

You can read more about the Wold Cottage meteorite fall in our British and Irish Meteorites section here.

Photos by Simon Kench (PPA Ltd) 07712 936985

Text by Martin Goff, based on a post to the Meteorite Central mailing list, 22nd April 2010.