Frome fossil hunter awarded honorary degree for scientific discoveries

A Frome fossil collector whose discovery led to a giant Jurassic sea predator being named in his honour has been awarded an honorary degree by the University of Bristol.

Simon Carpenter received the academic award in recognition of his fossil discoveries, his work supporting museums and universities and his efforts to help people understand the region’s geological history.

“It’s a great honour that came out of the blue,” said Simon. “It’s great encouragement for people like me who collect and provide material for people to learn and study from.”

In 1994, Simon made one of the most significant discoveries of his fossil-hunting career when he uncovered the remains of a previously unknown species of pliosaur in a clay pit near Westbury.

The spectacular fossil was later excavated by a team from Bristol Museums and the University of Bristol, donated to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery and eventually named Pliosaurus carpenteri in his honour.

Today, the giant marine predator lives on in the form of ‘Doris’, a life-sized model suspended from the ceiling of the museum, where it inspires thousands of visitors each year with the story of a discovery that helped advance scientific understanding of Jurassic sea life.

Over the years, Simon has built up an extensive fossil collection that has contributed to scientific research and museum collections.

Professor Mike Benton, Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology, said, “Simon has been a great contributor to society in the southwest of England. We are proud as a university to honour such a great citizen of the Bristol area.”

Simon’s fascination with fossils began in childhood in nearby Saltford, where discoveries of fossils in the garden of his family home sparked an interest that never left him.

Although he collected casually at first, a meeting with a fellow collector during his teenage years inspired him to take the hobby more seriously.

He pursued a career in medical illustration, earning a BA from the University of Liverpool in 1978 and an MA from the Central School of Art and Design in London in 1980. After moving to Bristol in the 1990s, he worked in public health while continuing to develop his interest in geology and fossil collecting.

He later started taking evening classes with the University of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences.

He said, “I used to go in early and there was a technician in the Earth Sciences department whom I used to ask to leave the display cabinets open so I could go through the collections and learn. You can’t do that today, but I was trusted.”

Over the next 30 years, Simon opened his excavations to teams of volunteers, creating opportunities for University of Bristol students to gain hands-on field experience. He has also supported generations of students by offering research projects based on his discoveries.

He has combined his interests in education and geology by spearheading the creation of geological information boards along the Bristol to Bath Railway Path, securing funding for the project and overseeing the design of the displays to help people better understand the region’s geological history.