The collection contains important individual collections of well known 19th century local amateur geologists including W.S. Symonds, H.B. Holl, J. Allies, C. Hastings, G. Reece, O. Biddulph, and A.H. Winninton Ingram.

The Collection is divided into 4 sections:

Stratagraphical Collection - Vertebrate Collection
Rock Collection - Minerals

Stratagraphical Collection - Containing British fossils and rocks from the Precambrian - Pleistocene with around 80% specimens from Worcestershire and the bordering counties. The Malvern material has an interesting range of Precambrian rock types, rare Cambrian fossils and a good selection of Silurian fossils. Some samples were collected in the 19th century during the construction of the Malvern and Ledbury railway tunnels. Other local Palaeozoic material includes Silurian fossils from the Abberely Hills, Storridge, Dudley and Shropshire; Old Red Sandstone fossils from sites at Dog Hill, Ammons Hill, Cradley, Trimpley and Abberely and Coal Measure plants from the Wyre Forest and South Staffordshire Coalfields.

The Jurassic system is well represented, particularly by local Lias and Middle Jurassic fossils from Bredon Hill and the Cotswolds. Beside a wide variety of good quality brachiopods, bivalves, gastropods and ammonites, there are fossil insects from the collection of Rev. W.S. Symonds, some of which are figured in his book Stones of the Valley.

Vertebrate Collection - A small collection of around 1,000 specimens contains good quality material as well as some of the collection's most spectacular specimens. Amongst the fish specimens are early jawless fish from local and Scottish Old Red Sandstone rocks and two large and almost perfectly preserved Lias specimens of Dapedium politum. Reptiles are well represented with the most important specimens being Liassic ichthyosaur skeletons, mainly from Bickmarsh, Bidford on Avon, the Alcester area, Berrow Hill and White Ladies Aston. There are a number of excellent reptile footprints - Triassic Chirotherium tracks and dinosaur footprints from the Purbeck Roach Beds of Langton Maltravers, Dorset. The section has many local Pleistocene mammal remains, mainly from the Severn and Avon terrace deposits including mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, hippopotamus, reindeer, fallow deer and horse. The Hughs` collection of Australian mammals contains bone fragments of Macropus, Nototherium and Diprotadon. Some specimens were described and figured by Richard Owen in 1859.

Archaeology - Art - Ethnology - Geology - Natural History - Social History
Worcestershire Regiment - Worcestershire Yeomanry