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Tom Sharpe

@tomsharperocks.bsky.social

1.3K followers 1.1K following 450 posts

Geologist, writes on the history of geology and palaeontology, especially in the late 18th–early 19th C, and on the history of geology in Antarctica. Patron Lyme Regis Museum. Author of THE FOSSIL WOMAN A LIFE OF MARY ANNING (Dovecote Press 2020).

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 11h

Dawn, 8 October 2025, East Lothian.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 1d

In Edinburgh yesterday I took the opportunity to check out the fence which has closed off the Radical Road along Salisbury Craigs on Arthur's Seat for the last 6 years. Good news is that access to the classic Hutton sites should be restored next year.

www.historicenvironment.scot/about-us/new...

Photograph of a green fence and a sign indicating that a path, the Radical Road, is closed due to risk of rockfall.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 1d

Last night's Hutton event at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh: Prof Colin Campbell on the Hutton 2026 Tercentenary; panel of Angus Miller (Edinburgh Geol Soc), Rachel Walcott (National Museums Scotland) & Colin Campbell (James Hutton Institute); a surprise appearance of a young Hutton; and our venue.

Prof Colin Campbell at the lectern with a slide about James Hutton on the screen.

Hutton panel discussion, 3 seated panellists and host at the lectern.

A night time photograph of a lit up domed tent-like building.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 1d

Hermione says hello.

Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 2d

The part of Greyfriars where Hutton lies is gated and locked but if you ask nicely in the church, someone will let you in. The area of his grave is marked by a plaque unveiled in 1947. There’s no original headstone.

Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 2d

If you have an interest in geology please consider contributing to this crowdfunder by @scottishgeology.bsky.social to improve access and interpretation at Hutton’s classic site, Siccar Point.

www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/siccar-point

Building the James Hutton Deep Time Trail

We are raising vital funds for a new Deep Time Trail at Siccar Point to celebrate the life and legacy of James Hutton for his Tercentenary.

www.crowdfunder.co.uk

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 2d

As I’m in Auld Reekie, I thought it right to pop into Canongate Kirkyard to say hello to James Hutton’s contemporary, Dr John Walker (1731-1803), Professor of Natural History at Edinburgh University 1779-1803.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 2d

In Edinburgh for a meeting of the James Hutton Tercentenary Committee. The man is 300 years old next June. Looks like there will be a lot going on throughout the year. Great view from today’s venue, Dynamic Earth, with the classic section of Salisbury Crags sill which Hutton knew well.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 2d

#MolluscMonday: James Sowerby's illustration of Ammonites bucklandi from the Lias of the Bath district, in vol.2 of Mineral Conchology (1818), the description brightened by the tale of William Buckland being proclaimed an 'Ammon Knight' by his friends for his mode of carrying a large specimen.

Illustration from Sowerby's Mineral Conchology of the large ammonite he named after William Buckland. It shows a large spiral shell with its inner whorls missing.

Extract from Sowerby's published description: 'Found in the Blue Lias of Bath and the neighbourhood, measuring from a foot to 21 inches or more in diameter, and rather remarkable for having frequently lost the inner whorls; which circumstance, by a sort of friendly pun, has given rise to the name given it, in honour of a meritorious and enlightened Geologist, the Rev. W. Buckland, who having found a large specimen, was induced by his ardour to carry it himself, although of considerable weight, and being on horseback it was not the less inconvenient; but the inner whorls being gone so as to allow his head and shoulder to pass through, he placed it as a French horn is sometimes carried, above one shoulder and under the other, and thus rode with his friendly companions, who amused him by dubbing him an Ammon Knight; and thus the specimen was secured, by diverting the tedious toil otherwise hardly to be borne. May his zeal for information always be rewarded: may his abilities continue to meet that attention they have hitherto so deservedly gained: may his horn be exalted with honour.'

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 2d

Some photos from today's walk in East Lothian: Arthur's Seat and Edinburgh across a choppy Firth of Forth; eroding 2nd World War shoreline concrete anti-tank defences; a path around an ornamental lake; oak leaves starting to turn for autumn.

A view across a choppy estuary to the hills of Edinburgh.

A line of concrete blocks along the shore.

A path through trees around an ornamental lake.

An oak tree, its green leaves starting to turn orange, overhanging water.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 3d

#StandingStoneSunday: the 3-metre tall standing stone on Pencraig Brae, East Lothian, looking south to the rounded Traprain Law with its hillfort, and the Lammermuir Hills beyond. The old Great North Road crosses this view, on the far side of the wall in the middle of this picture.

Photograph of a solitary standing stone in a stubble field with a rounded hill in the distance.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 3d

5 October 1842: Death of Mrs Mary Anning, aged 79, 'mother of Miss Mary Anning, the celebrated fossilist'. She ran the family fossil business after her husband died in 1810. William Buckland mentions 'Mrs Anning's Curiosity Shop' in an 1813 letter. Her daughter probably took over about 1820.

Portrait of Mary Anning in a green cloak and straw bonnet. She holds a hammer and has a basket over her arm.

Newspaper notice of the death 'At Lyme, aged 79, Mary, widow of Mr Richard Anning, and mother of Miss Mary Anning, the celebrated fossilist'.

Extract of a letter from William Buckland to George Greenough telling him: 'early Monday morning go to Mrs Anning's Curiosity Shop'.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 4d

Choppy seas around the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth this morning.

Photograph of a steep-sided, round-topped island in a grey sea.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 4d

200 years ago today, 4 October 1825: visiting Lyme Regis, geologist Roderick Murchison notes in his journal: 'Accompanied by Mary Anning rode to Dowlands and dismounted there' where they examined the Greensand rocks of the Undercliff, the landslipped coastal cliffs west of the town.

Portrait of Mary Anning in a green cloak and straw bonnet. She holds a hammer and carries a basket over her arm.

Portrait of Roderick Murchison as a young man.

Extract from Murchison's journal: 'Oct 4th 1825 Accompanied by Mary Anning rode to Dowlands and dismounted there. First examined the real inland cliff above the undercliff.'

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 4d

#PostboxSaturday: a polebox at East Linton, East Lothian looking better than the pole to which it's attached.

A red post box attached to a lamppost with peeling paint with a wall and fence behind.

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Reposted by Tom Sharpe

Marcel Barelli @marcelbarelli.bsky.social · 4d

www.loisirs.ch/agendas/3432...

La Chasse au Fossile d’Or - Sur les traces de Mary Anning

Du 1er octobre au 31 décembre 2025, la Suisse part sur les traces de Mary Anning

www.loisirs.ch

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 5d

3 October 1848: Day 36 of the sale of the Duke of Buckingham's collection included Mary Anning's famous 1823 plesiosaur for which the Duke had paid her £110. William Buckland, bidding on behalf of the British Museum, was delighted to report that he had bought it for the museum for just 8 guineas.

Top left, Mary Anning's 1823 Plesiosaurus skeleton; top right, portrait of William Buckland; lower right, extract from a letter from William Buckland to Charles Konig at the British Museum: ;The Duke gave for it £100 & I have bought it for the Brit Museum at £8.8.0'; lower left, extract from the auction catalogue recording the specimen's purchase by the British Museum and referencing its discovery as the result 'of the celebrated Miss Anning's explorations'.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 7d

A fine copy of Henry De la Beche's wonderful 'Professor Ichthyosaurus' lithographed cartoon of 1830, 'Awful Changes', his comment of Lyell's cyclical view of earth history, is coming up at auction in Chester on 9 October, estimate £4,000 to £6,000.
auctions.rogersjones.co.uk/auctions/941...

An 1830 lithographed cartoon showing an ichthyosaur as a professor in a setting of palm trees lecturing other ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs and crocodiles on the inadequacies of the human skull.

Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 9d

#MolluscMonday: impressions of two Lias ammonites, probably Arnioceras semicostatum, associated with a skeleton of a large ichthyosaur, Temnodontosaurus platyodon, discovered by #MaryAnning in 1832 on Church Cliffs, Lyme Regis. Part of the Thomas Hawkins collection, it's now @nhm-london.bsky.social.

Detail of an ichthyosaur skeleton with the impression of two strongly ribbed ammonite shells.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 9d

#BenchmarkMonday: a BM marking 218.9 feet above sea level carved into the south side of the 3-metre high standing stone on Pencraig Brae close to the old Great North Road in East Lothian.

A tall pointed standing stone in a stubble field, with blue sky above. An Ordnance Survey benchmark has been carved into it near the base.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 9d

Some photos from today’s walk on the East Lothian coast: a large razor clam showing lovely growth lines; the island of Fidra, formed by a Carboniferous basalt sill; and a sea buckthorn bush with its orange berries.

Photo of a hand holding the long thin shell of a razor clam in a sandy beach.

Photograph of an island just offshore with a white lighthouse.

Photograph of a sea buckthorn bush with bright orange berries.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 10d

28 September [1829]: #MaryAnning writes to Oxford geologist William Buckland that she had collected a basket of coprolites for him, and from her observations she notes 'I have no doubt myself but that they were dropped quietly where we now find them, and that the ichthyosauruses fed on scaly fish'.

Portrait of Mary Annie wearing a green cloak and a straw bonnet tied with a red ribbon. She hold a hammer and has a basket over her arm.

Portrait of William Buckland lecturing, holding a cave bear skull in his hand.

Extract from a letter from Mary Anning to William Buckland about coprolites: 'I have no doubt myself but that they were dropped quietly where we now find them and that the Ichthyosauruses fed on scaly fish'.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 11d

An excellent first postbox post, Tony, with added geology!

Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 11d

It's hideous. It looked better wrapped in black plastic. And where do you put the topper??

Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 11d

#PostboxSaturday: a George V box, now a museum piece, at Bo'ness Station on the Bo'Ness and Kinneil Railway of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society.

A disused 'letters only' red postbox fixed to a pole at a heritage railway station.

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