Somerset geologist Charles Moore discovered and collected remarkable fossils, near to his hometown of Ilminster, in the 1840s. His ‘saurian, fish, and insect bed’ contained exquisite animal fossils, uncompressed and exceptional in their detail. Though preserved at Bath Royal since he first deposited his collection in 1854, Moore’s Lower Jurassic ecosystem was barely studied and was forgotten by all but a handful of specialists.

In 2010, Bath Royal Collections Manager Matt Williams joined forces with renowned palaeontologist Professor Mike Benton to bring the secrets of this long-overlooked treasure trove to light. In this recording of a live online talk, Matt introduces Dr Crispin Little from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds to explain the history of its discovery and excavation, and the last decade of preparation, promotion and research, which has revealed the BRLSI’s Strawberry Bank Lagerstätte as a unique and internationally important resource for science.