The only two dinosaur bones ever found in Ireland, unearthed by Roger Byrne on an Islandmagee beach in 1980–81, are on loan to the Glucksman Gallery at University College Cork for six months. Dated to about 200 million years ago (Jurassic) and confirmed by a 2020 study, the fragments represent a Sarcosaurus-like carnivore and a Scelidosaurus herbivore. Normally displayed at the Ulster Museum, the bones are shown alongside nearly 300 other fossils and large skeletal casts including Megalosaurus and Plesiosaurus.
Rare Jurassic Dinosaur Bones from Islandmagee Go on Display in Cork
The only two dinosaur bones ever found in Ireland, unearthed by Roger Byrne on an Islandmagee beach in 1980–81, are on loan to the Glucksman Gallery at University College Cork for six months. Dated to about 200 million years ago (Jurassic) and confirmed by a 2020 study, the fragments represent a Sarcosaurus-like carnivore and a Scelidosaurus herbivore. Normally displayed at the Ulster Museum, the bones are shown alongside nearly 300 other fossils and large skeletal casts including Megalosaurus and Plesiosaurus.
01:05 PM, 11/15/2025Science
Two rare dinosaur bones discovered on Islandmagee travel to Cork
The only dinosaur bones ever found in Ireland — discovered by fossil collector Roger Byrne on an Islandmagee beach in 1980–81 — are on loan to the Glucksman Gallery at University College Cork (UCC) for six months. The fragments, dated to roughly 200 million years ago (Jurassic), will be displayed alongside nearly 300 other fossils and dramatic skeletal casts.
Roger Byrne, a schoolteacher from Carrickfergus and a meticulous collector, uncovered the bones near the Gobbins in County Antrim. According to Dr Mike Simms of National Museums Northern Ireland, Byrne had a "very good eye" for fossils: the bones resemble rounded black pebbles and were found on a beach carpeted with similar stones.
"Ireland has the wrong sort of rocks for preserving dinosaurs — most of the suitable terrestrial rocks were eroded away long ago,"
Dr Mike Simms, National Museums Northern Ireland
A 2020 scientific study involving National Museums Northern Ireland and researchers from the universities of Portsmouth and Queen's University Belfast formally confirmed the bones' origins. One specimen is part of a lower leg bone from a carnivorous dinosaur similar to Sarcosaurus, and the other is an upper leg bone from a four-legged herbivore, Scelidosaurus.
Normally housed at the Ulster Museum, the Islandmagee specimens have been lent to UCC to give southern audiences a rare chance to see local Irish dinosaur material. The Glucksman exhibition — titled Domain of the Dinosaurs — pairs these modest but scientifically important fragments with large, eye-catching casts, including an eight-metre-long apex predator Megalosaurus, plus Scelidosaurus, Iguanodon, and marine reptiles such as Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus.
Dr Simms and others note that further finds from Islandmagee are unlikely: many collectors, including Byrne, searched the beaches carefully over the years. After Byrne's death his collection was donated to the museum.
The exhibition opens with Taoiseach Micheál Martin and runs for six months, offering visitors a unique glimpse into Ireland's very small but remarkable dinosaur record.