The newest dinosaur museum on the Island, it used to be based in a small room above the Sandown town library, and was called the Museum of Isle of Wight Geology, but after a generous amount of money from the National Lottery a new building was built to accommodate all the new material collected recently.

The museum is easily recognisable as you walk down Culver Parade, as it looks like a large white pterosaur by the old boating lake.

When entering the museum you will hear the voice of Dr Mike Barker of the University of Portsmouth introducing you to the geological history of the Island. You will then walk past fossils from the Cenozoic era, until you reach a bend where an Opthalmosaurus, which was used in the filming of the BBC TV series Walking with Dinosaurs, awaits you, representing Platypterygius from the Greensands of the Isle of Wight. Walking past some more fossils, mainly ammonites and sharks of the Cretaceous period, you then reach a door leading to the main hall, where the Dinosaurs live. There are skeletal reconstructions of Hypsilophodon, Neovenator, the Eucamerotus from Barnes High, Iguanodon and a Megalosaurus. There are also life restorations of Iguanodon (which is starting to look a bit tatty), Eotyrannus, Neovenator, Hypsilophodon, Polacanthus, some pterosaurs, including Istiodactylus, and the Ornithocheirus from Walking with Dinosaurs. The Neovenator is animatronic, and has been nick-named Dexter, for reasons beyond me! There is also an open lab, where visitors can talk to the experts in the lab, and see how fossils are prepared.

The shop is on the way out, past a collection of fossils collected by amateur collectors, and there are a lot of dinosaur toys here, both The Carnegie Collection and the Envicta Plastics NHM models, as well as pencils, rubbers, badges, notebooks, moving rulers and keyrings, not to mention a rather fantastic Neovenator pencil! For the older visitor there are also local geological guides, such as The Geologists' Association Guide to the Isle of Wight and The Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight, maps, fossil guides and dinosaur books.

There are fossil hunting trips to Yaverland, lead by qualified palaeontologists

This Museum has now closed it's doors permanently.

However, Martin Simpson is operating as usual from Island Gems at the Isle of Wight Pearl.  (Including his fossil hunting trips)

His new contact details are as follows:
 
Island Gems
Isle of Wight Pearl
Military Road
Brighstone
Isle of Wight
PO30 4DD
 
01983 740493
www.island-gems.co.uk

This museum has now closed, the following information is for nostalgic purposes only.

Prehistoric Island, also known as The Fossil Shop, is the smallest of the museums on the Isle of Wight, consisting of half a largish room, and is nearly as far out of the way as the Dinosaur Farm Museum. It is located next door to Blackgang Chine, which is noticeable for the huge smuggler stood outside. The Fossil Shop is to the right, with two irrelevant tyrannosaurs above the door.

Entry is free, and a jumble of stuff confronts you. There are footprints and replicas of all sorts of bits of dinosaurs, including a large model of an ornithocheirid pterosaur. Turning left, you will go into the main part of the museum, which contains a reconstruction of Iguanodon mantelli (actually a synonym of Iguanodon atherfieldensis) and a Hypsilophodon. There are also lots of newspaper clippings about the Fossil Shop, mainly about the ownership of the Polacanthus. From here you enter the rest of the museum, where you can see ammonites, trilobites and other fossils. You can also see an Allosaurus skull, with a teletubby in its jaws. Then you enter the shop. This sells a lot of fossils and gems, not all from the

Also worth a mention...

This section is not comprehensive, as it is limited to places I've visited in and around the island.

The Isle of Wight Experience, Brading - this has some Iguanodon material in the taxidermy exhibition, although age has not treated it fairly as the label refers to the amphibious "Iguanadon". This material is located close to "Professor Copperthwaites Cabinet of Curiosities", which contains a Yeti, a Unicorn and a silver plated hedgehog!

Cumberland House Natural History Museum, Portsmouth - this small museum is mostly dedicated to the wildlife of Portsmouth and to the fossils found on the Isle of Portsea, but there are also some Isle of Wight dinosaur fossils stored here, mostly Iguanodon, as well as life-size restorations of Iguanodon bernissartensis and some small pterosaurs, and some footprints from Hanover Point.

Isle of Wight Zoo - The Isle of Wight Zoo, apparently dedicated to stripy animals (they make a big thing of their lemurs and tigers), used to have some large, slightly outdated dinosaur models just inside the main gate. Now, they only have two huge Pachycephalosaurus headbutting inside near the Porcupines (?!)