The summer of the dinosaur in Bury St Edmunds

With dinosaurs about to stomp and chomp their way onto screens this summer, fans and families will be flocking their way to West Suffolk for it latest gigantic exhibition.

This year is the summer of the dinosaur with Jurassic World Rebirth due on cinema screens in July, while the BBC has confirmed its epic Walking With Dinosaurs series will make a return more than a quarter of a century after it first aired.

But dinosaur fans of all ages won’t have to wait long to see terrifying T-Rexs, deadly velociraptor claws and part of a monstrous Mosasaur jaw, all here in West Suffolk.

Prehistoric Beasts: Land, Sea and Sky opens at Moyse’s Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds on Saturday 3 May and tickets have gone on sale now.

Running through to 5 October, the West Suffolk Council run museum will feature a host of real and cast specimens including the skulls of an adult T-Rex and Allosaurus and skeletons a juvenile T-Rex skeleton, a Velociraptor, Compsognathus, and more.

The real-life bones of an Iguanadon will be exhibited alongside a Walking With Dinosaurs Iguanadon head. Moyse’s will also be displaying a cast of a Triceratops skull, as well as some of the prehistoric monsters of the deep including part of the jaw of a Mosasaur, a Plesiosaur skeleton, and bones from an Ichthyosaur and a family of four Psittacosaurus skeletons.

Most of the items have been loaned by the University of Cambridge’s Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, and incredible “paleoartist” Alex Pritchard of Dinosaur Skeletons, who has recreated casts and conserved real artefacts for display at major museums across the UK and the World for over a decade. West Suffolk Council’s Heritage Service will also be displaying its own Plesiosaur and Ichthyosaur. They are among the finds that indicate that the area was under water for a large part of the Jurassic era some 201 million to 145 million years ago.

Cllr Ian Shipp, Cabinet Member for Leisure at West Suffolk Council, said: “The age of the dinosaur feels like an unfathomable amount of time ago, but these huge and terrifying beasts continue to fascinate with mystery, awe and wonder.

“The summer of the dinosaur is here at Moyse’s Hall and we are delighted to be able to bring this prehistoric exhibition to our residents from across West Suffolk as well as visitors to the area, to come along to and enjoy.

“We are anticipating this will be very popular with fans and families alike and although entry can be paid on the door, we’d advise booking in advance especially for weekends and during the school holidays.

“This exhibition also complements our family friendly Dragon Fest at West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village on 21 and 22 June – more details will be announced soon - and we’d encourage people to look into our Heritage Tickets offer which provides access to both Moyse’s Hall and the Anglo-Saxon Village throughout the year.”

Tickets for Prehistoric Beasts: Land, Sea and Sky are available at Moyse's Hall Museum website.

All exhibition tickets include access to the full museum collection including:

• West Suffolk’s infamous Crime and Punishment displays with a book bound in human skin, witchcraft, and more
• The history of the Abbey and our treasures of the medieval period
• A rotating display of our fine art collection which includes Mary Beale and Sybil Andrews
• The museum's world-renowned Gershom Parkington Clock Collection and Suffolk Regiment displays