About
Stone Science is a family-run fossil, mineral, and gemstone museum at Llanddyfnan, just outside the village of Pentraeth in the heart of the Isle of Anglesey, opened in 1989 and built up over decades into one of the largest fossil collections on display anywhere in Wales. Set across two large floors of a purpose-adapted visitor building, the museum combines an educational natural-history collection with a retail element selling minerals, crystals, and stone jewellery — a hybrid museum-and-shop model common among smaller independent geological attractions, which helps sustain the collection commercially while keeping the museum itself open and accessible to visitors.
The collection spans an extraordinary 650 million years of Earth's history, using dioramas and displays to explain the evolution of life on Earth, the emergence and eventual extinction of the dinosaurs, and the broader story of how geological time and biological evolution intersect — subject matter presented with an emphasis on hands-on, touchable engagement rather than purely behind-glass display, reflecting the museum's clear orientation toward family and school-age visitors alongside serious mineral and fossil collectors.
Alongside dinosaur models and life-size reconstructions of dinosaur anatomy, the museum holds thousands of individual mineral, crystal, and fossil specimens, both common and genuinely rare, together with a notable collection of Native American arrowheads and stone tools — an unexpected but popular addition that broadens the museum's appeal beyond pure geology into archaeology and material culture. Videos and interactive elements throughout the two floors are aimed at engaging both children and adults, reinforcing the museum's identity as a genuinely hands-on natural-history attraction rather than a static specialist collection.
As a long-established family attraction on Anglesey — an island already well known for its beaches, coastal walks, and other visitor attractions — Stone Science has become, since opening in 1989, a firm favourite for families looking for an indoor activity that combines education with genuine hands-on engagement, particularly valuable on an island where weather can make purely outdoor plans unreliable.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Visit between March and November — the museum closes over the winter months.
- The hands-on displays make this a particularly good choice for families with children, especially on a rainy Anglesey day.
- Allow time to browse the integrated mineral and jewellery shop, a substantial part of the visitor experience.
- Combine your visit with Oriel Ynys Môn in Llangefni for a fuller day of Anglesey heritage and culture.
- A car is the most practical way to reach the site, given its rural setting outside Pentraeth.
Highlights
650 Million Years of Earth's History
Stone Science's collection spans an extraordinary 650 million years of Earth's history, using dioramas and displays to trace the evolution of life from its earliest forms through to the present day — a timescale that gives the museum's storytelling genuine scientific ambition well beyond a simple fossil-and-mineral shop-museum, situating individual specimens within the vast sweep of geological time.
Life-Size Dinosaur Reconstructions
The museum features life-size reconstructions of dinosaur parts alongside dinosaur models, giving visitors — particularly younger ones — a vivid, tangible sense of scale that photographs and small models alone cannot convey, and forming one of the museum's most popular and photographed features.
One of the Largest Fossil Displays in Wales
Stone Science holds one of the largest collections of fossils on display anywhere in Wales, built up by its founding family since the museum opened in 1989 — a scale of collection that places this small independent Anglesey museum in genuine competition with much larger institutional natural-history collections for breadth of fossil material.
Native American Arrowheads and Stone Tools
An unexpected but popular addition to the collection, the museum holds Native American arrowheads and stone weapons alongside its core geological and palaeontological material — broadening the museum's appeal from pure geology into archaeology and material culture, and reflecting the personal collecting interests that have shaped the museum's eclectic character over the decades.
Collections
Stone Science's core collection spans 650 million years of Earth's history through fossils, minerals, and crystals — one of the largest fossil displays in Wales — alongside dinosaur models and life-size dinosaur part reconstructions, and a notable holding of Native American arrowheads and stone tools.
Set across two floors of a purpose-adapted building at Llanddyfnan, near Pentraeth on Anglesey, the museum has operated as an independently owned family business since 1989, combining an educational hands-on natural-history experience with an integrated mineral and jewellery shop.
650 Million Years of Earth's History
Fossils, minerals and dioramas tracing the evolution of life on Earth from its earliest forms to the present.
Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life
Dinosaur models and life-size reconstructions exploring the emergence and extinction of the dinosaurs.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.