Charnia and the Rutland Dinosaur
The world's first formally described Precambrian fossil and a 15-metre sauropod from a local quarry, in a free museum.
In 1957 a schoolboy picked up a rock in Charnwood Forest on the edge of Leicester, and it turned out to hold the first fossil ever formally described from undisputed Precambrian rocks, pushing the record of life on Earth back by hundreds of millions of years. That specimen, Charnia, lives here in a free museum on a tree-lined Georgian promenade, a few rooms away from a sauropod some 15 metres long that was dug out of a quarry in neighbouring Rutland. A civic museum in a mid-sized city, then, but one holding two objects most national museums would envy. It is one of Britain's earliest public museums, opened in 1849 in a building by Joseph Hansom, and was called New Walk Museum until 2020. The Dinosaur Gallery is where families head first: the Rutland Dinosaur in the middle, the Barrow Kipper (a marine plesiosaur pulled from a quarry at Barrow upon Soar, and named by locals with a straight face) beside it, plus more finds from the county's pits. Life and Death in Ancient Egypt holds four mummies and over 400 objects, arranged to explain the rituals rather than simply to impress. Leicester Stories tells the city through its people, and a visitor from the Arab world will notice how much of that story is about migration, since Leicester is among the most diverse cities in Britain. Now the caveat you need before planning. The museum is mid-way through a major redevelopment in 2026. The German Expressionism gallery, the largest collection of its kind in the UK (Kandinsky, Klee, Grosz), is closed, as are the ground-floor art rooms with the Victorian paintings and the Picasso ceramics given by Leicester-born film director Richard Attenborough. A small selection may be shown elsewhere in the building, and the stated reopening of the new art galleries is late 2026. The shop has been shut since April 2026, the new café is not yet open, and the museum's own car park is out of use. Plainly: if you are coming for the art, wait; if you are coming with children, dinosaurs and Egypt will fill an easy hour and a half. Getting here is simple: about ten minutes on foot from Leicester station along New Walk, a pedestrian promenade linking the city centre to Victoria Park, and on a bright day the walk is half the pleasure. By car, the nearest large car park is Newark Street. Entry is free and unbooked, but mind the short hours, with doors closing at 16:30 on weekdays and 17:00 at weekends. An excellent wet-day pairing with the King Richard III Visitor Centre in the centre of town.
The world's first formally described Precambrian fossil and a 15-metre sauropod from a local quarry, in a free museum.
Four mummies and 400-plus objects laid out to explain the rituals; the children's favourite after the dinosaurs.
A Georgian pedestrian walk from the station to Victoria Park with the museum halfway along; the stroll is part of the visit.
53 New Walk, Leicester LE1 7EA
Do both in a day; they are about 15 minutes apart on foot. The museum is free and the dinosaur and Egypt galleries fill an easy hour and a half with children, while the Richard III centre charges and suits over-tens better. If you only have time for one and the children are small, choose the museum.
No. The German Expressionism gallery and the ground-floor art rooms are closed for redevelopment, with the new art galleries announced to reopen in late 2026. A small selection from the collection may be shown elsewhere in the building, so if art is your reason for coming, wait or check the official site before you go.