Natural History Museum, London
Britain's national meteorite collection: about 2,000 meteorites in some 5,000 pieces, including most British falls.
Key facts
- Where
- London, United Kingdom
- Kind
- Museum
- Visiting
- Public galleries
The collection began in 1802, when the British Museum acquired its first three meteorites, the year before the fall at L'Aigle convinced scientists that stones fall from the sky. It grew quickly under Nevil Story-Maskelyne, who became the first Keeper of Mineralogy in 1857 and roughly tripled it, and by the time the natural history collections moved to South Kensington in 1883 it held both of the Martian meteorites then known, Chassigny and Shergotty, though nobody yet knew where they came from.
Today it holds about 2,000 different meteorites in around 5,000 registered pieces, plus thousands of polished sections and a large collection of tektites and impact rocks. It is the main home of British meteorites: Wold Cottage, Rowton, Crumlin, Ashdon, Glatton and pieces of Barwell are here, and in 2021 the museum's scientists collected and curated most of the Winchcombe meteorite within days of its fall.
Other highlights include a large piece of the Martian meteorite Nakhla, the Cranbourne iron from Australia, and a slice of the pallasite Esquel with gem-quality olivine. The museum also identifies possible meteorites sent in by the public.
Highlights
- Wold Cottage the largest stone seen to fall in Britain L6
- Winchcombe the UK's first carbonaceous chondrite Carbonaceous Chondrite
- Nakhla Martian meteorite Martian (nakhlite)
- Cranbourne Australian iron Iron, IAB-MG
- Esquel pallasite Pallasite, PMG
- Rowton Britain's only iron fall Iron, IIIAB
See every meteorite recorded in the UK and Ireland on the Britain and Ireland page.
Related pages
Opening times, what is on display and access to research collections change over time, so check with the institution before you visit.