Percy the Plesiosaur
Hauffiosaurus tomistomimus
Ravenscar, near Robin Hood’s Bay, North Yorkshire
Hildoceras bifrons Zone, Alum Shale Member, Lower Jurassic (about 180 million years old)
This plesiosaur fossil (on display in our Fossils gallery) was discovered in 1960, by students from The University of Manchester whilst on a field trip led by Dr Fred Broadhurst.
The students were studying the geology of the Yorkshire coast at Robin Hood’s Bay, North Yorkshire, when they spotted the tip of something interesting projecting from rocky shore. After a little more excavation, the head, neck and one paddle shaped arm of a plesiosaur were revealed. The fossil was at an angle to the surface which meant the body and tail were much deeper than the head. Fred quickly realised the rest was too deep and they would have to return to complete the excavation. He led the group of 6 research students who worked for two days in appalling weather conditions with driving sleet and hail. The plesiosaur was recorded in detail before being carefully removed in three large blocks.
With incredible effort, the blocks were carried over the boulders on the beach. They were then dragged up the cliffs on a section of ladder found on the beach. Everyone was roped in to help, forming a human ‘husky dog’ team. The fossil was nicknamed Percy.
Back at The University of Manchester, the painstaking process of extracting the fossil from the rock began. The shale around the head, neck and paddles came off relatively easily, but the body was covered by tough carbonate minerals. After trying various methods to separate the bones, Manchester stonemasons Mr J and Mr H Patterson provided use of their workshop so that the bones could carefully be extracted using pneumatic chisels. Further detailed work was carried out at the University’s geology department by Mr Keith Henderson.
The fossil turned out to be one of the most complete plesiosaurs ever discovered. Detailed research shows that this fossil is a new species, recently classified as Hauffiosaurus tomistomimus. Scientists from around the world continue to study this unique specimen.
We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Broadhurst family, Manchester Geological Association and other donors who paid for the redisplay of this fossil (which took place mid January 2012).
For more information and photos of Percy the Plesiosaur, visit our online collections database
