Radstock Museum is planning a new installation in 2017 featuring a life-size replica of the famous Radstock Dragonfly.

At the time the fossilised remains of this dragonfly were found on Tyning Batch, in about 1910, it proved to be the largest insect of its kind ever found, with a wingspan of about eighteen inches. This fossil is now in the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge.

Other smaller dragonfly fossils have been found since, and it is one of these that the museum is trying to track down. Local geologist, Simon Carpenter, recently told the museum that about forty years ago, a friend of his was talking to a former miner over a pint in the Guss and Crook pub in Timsbury and was offered a near-complete dragonfly fossil with a wingspan of about three to four inches. The asking price was £25 and his friend could not afford it at the time, but said he had regretted it ever since.

The museum team is now asking readers if anyone knows the whereabouts of this fossil and, if so, would they be prepared to contact the museum, in confidence of course.

The Museum Development Officer is Miranda Lichfield, who can be reached on: 01761 437722 or by email at: [email protected] and the project is being led by Tom Randall.

The museum is always keen to improve its display of fossil insects from the local coal measures, and would therefore be pleased to hear of any others which might be available.

Tom Randall