Jurassic Coast - Mary Anning Rocks

We had another packed day with Mike and Wendy exploring parts of the 95 mile Jurassic Coastline of Devon and Dorset.  The dramatic coast line dates back 200 million years and there's a host of picturesque villages.  Branscombe, Burton Bradstock, Abbotsbury, Chesil Beach and Lyme Regis were our stopping points.  Plenty of literary and cultural references!

Billy Bragg the left-wing singer-song writer activist was lamblasted by the Daily Mail for owning a cliff top multi million pound house on Burton Bradstock beach (see the extra).

Lyme Regis was the setting for The French Lieutenant's Woman about the palaeontoligist Charles Smithson and Sarah Woodruff.  Who can forget the image of Meryl Streep, who starred in the 1981 film adaptation, in her big black cloak standing at the end of the Cobb looking out to sea each day.

Mary Anning was born in Lyme Regis in 1799.  Fossil hunting was very much in vogue in the late 18th, early 19th centuries. Mary was one of ten children and from a young age she with her family collected and sold fossils to tourists.  At twelve years old she found her first 200 million year old skeleton, eventually named Ichthyosaurus or the fish lizard.  Her discoveries helped shaped scientific understanding of pre-historic life. Although her reputation grew she had no real recognition of her work.  This statue was unveiled only a few weeks ago after a 4 year campaign by a local 15 year old girl to have Mary Anning recognised in her home town.