Seaton Jurassic, Devon - Museums Association

Conference 2024: The Joy of Museums booking open now – Book before 31 March 2024 for a 10% discount

Conference 2024: The Joy of Museums booking open now – Book before 31 March 2024 for a 10% discount

Seaton Jurassic, Devon

Peter Mason travels through time to explore the Jurassic Coast in this family-friendly visitor attraction
Share
A visitor attraction that aims to enthuse children and families is a welcome addition to south-west England. Situated in the centre of Seaton, a seaside town in Devon, Seaton Jurassic aims to tell the story of the Jurassic Coast, a Unesco World Heritage Site that stretches from Orcombe Point near Exmouth in east Devon to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in east Dorset – a distance of 96 miles. The Jurassic Coast is the second wholly natural site in the UK to be designated a World Heritage Site (Northern Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway was the first), and the only one in England.

The functional-looking building is next to the terminus for the Seaton Tramway, another of the town’s visitor attractions. A spacious foyer contains an attractive cafe, shop, tourist information and reception desk. Entry is by timed ticket, partly to control the flow of visitors, but also to enable them to arrive in the first room for the beginning of an introduction delivered by a hologram of a female Victorian explorer. She explains that visitors will be able to discover the Jurassic Coast through time travel – the possibilities of which intrigued the Victorians.

The Victorian era is a useful starting point for an exploration of a major geological site, Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology having been published between 1830 and 1833 and Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in 1859.

The first room is dressed as a Victorian study. There are shelves of fake books with titles relating to the history of the Jurassic Coast, some of which can be opened to reveal facts about the coast, fossils and extinct creatures. There are puzzles for children to complete, portraits – including one of Mary Anning, who helped popularise fossil collecting – maps, prints and a working orrery.

Victorian explorers

A small alcove displays prints of relevant historical creatures and the shelves of books continue into a corridor where the sequence of events that led to the creation of the Jurassic Coast can be explored. Titles include Where Did the Glaciers Go?, Living Together, Here Comes the Sun and, my favourite, Tyrannosaurus Wrecks. I could have looked at the titles all day.

In some ways this is the most important section of the displays but I don’t think enough essential information is presented in ways that will keep children absorbed. For instance, digital displays and animated films are missing in this area, along with anything that demonstrates the enormity of the geological events that took place on earth.

The next room is set up as the workshop where the time machine was built. As well as a fascinating display of tools, there is information about Victorian explorers and exploration, and an introduction to the working of tides. A cabinet displays items that shouldn’t be taken on a time travelling journey, from mobile phones to deodorant sprays, which would “pose an additional risk of asphyxiation to life forms”.

Visitors are also shown how time travel could have been invented, but the greatest interest to the children present when I visited was inside the time machine: they could steer their way under the sea and view the marine creatures that were ultimately to become the fossils of the Jurassic Coast.

Natural heritage

The last indoor section takes visitors into a labyrinth of rock pools with creatures to be discovered under rocks, through portholes, via a periscope and behind doors. Children can dress up as sea creatures or take the “cuttlefish challenge” of swapping cloaks to match a changing screen of vivid colours.

Visitors are then led outside, where there are spaces in which children can let off steam or where teachers can gather their groups to discuss what they have seen. Enclosed by a brightly decorated fence echoing the shapes and colours of beach huts, the garden area was still being developed when I visited. The route leads visitors through a wild garden created by volunteers from the Devon Wildlife Trust, the operator of Seaton Jurassic. Here, visitors are shown what can be done to help wildlife and lessen the impact of humans on the planet. This brings the story of life up to date and offers the chance to engage with our natural heritage.

Information on sea creatures is even displayed on the backs of cubicle doors in the toilets.

More than half of Seaton Jurassic is related to today’s world and provides inspiration to explore the coast and to take action at home. A “survivor’s time pass” enables children to find specific information in the displays and obtain stamps in the booklet. It ends by encouraging them to visit nearby places of interest, such as the Undercliffs, the shore and Seaton Wetlands. Although mainly aimed at children, the displays work on different levels and there is plenty to interest all ages. The interactive installations are principally mechanical – which may surprise children used to digital devices – but contain a lot of humour in the text panels and labelling.

The displays have a wealth of detail about the formation of the Jurassic Coast, its geology, the creatures that became extinct, and what can be found today. But I came away feeling I hadn’t been able to grasp the big picture of the geological events that formed the coast or get a clear overview of what can be seen today.

Young visitors might miss some information panels, not least because noise from further on will attract them to other sections. Indeed, noise pollution is one problem with this otherwise attractive building, in which the displays are in an open-plan arrangement. These are minor criticisms of what is a long-overdue facility interpreting this unique site. However, more governmental support might have enabled the development of a more significant facility.

For the family-oriented target audience the test will be how much of the information portrayed will be absorbed, remembered and explored on the Jurassic Coast.

Peter Mason is a writer on culture based in south-west England
Project data
Cost £4m
Main funders East Devon; The Wildlife Trusts; Devon Wildlife Trust; Heritage Lottery Fund
Exhibition design Wildmurals; Lloyd Turner
Exhibition interpretation Wildmurals; Lloyd Turner 
Admission Adults £8, children £5


Leave a comment

You must be to post a comment.

Discover

Advertisement
Join the Museums Association today to read this article

Over 12,000 museum professionals have already become members. Join to gain access to exclusive articles, free entry to museums and access to our members events.

Join