Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

Saturday March 12th, 2022
9.30am to 4.15pm
Ryedale School, Nawton, YO62 7SL. Fee £18 per person to include buffet lunch

There is now a waiting list for this event.

A Yorkshire Philosophical Society Bicentenary Event with Yorkshire Geological Society and Yorkshire Fossil Festival supported by “The Curry Fund” (Geological Association).

Speakers include: Professor Patrick Boylan (YGS) “The Fauna of Kirkdale Cave, Dr Angharad Jones (Cresswell Caves) “Cave hyaenas” and Professor Hannah O’Regan (Nottingham) and other distinguished speakers.

Full programme can be downloaded here (pdf):

Lost Beasts of the North leaflet_final2

Lost Beasts of the North Booking Form FINAL

Kirkdale Field Day on Sunday March 13th – for details tick the above booking form

Please note that the YPS Paypal account is linked to info@ypsyork.org
Payments and Donations to YPS here

Kirkdale Cave 200

Following the discovery of unusual animal bones at Kirkdale Cave, near Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, in the summer of 1821, Professor William Buckland of Oxford University visited the cave in December 1821. His account of the Kirkdale Cave fossil assemblage, which he interpreted as the remains of an ancient hyaena den, was read to the Royal Society on February 21st 1822:

Royal Society Buckland paper

“Lost Beasts of the North” celebrates the bicentenary of Kirkdale Cave, and of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, which was founded in December 1822 to preserve and promote Kirkdale’s remarkable fossils. Our symposium speakers will explain the origins of Kirkdale Cave, the fossils that were found there, and what they tell us about the creatures that inhabited Yorkshire more than 120,000 years ago. “Lost Beasts of the North” will also explore the enormous influence Buckland’s hyaena den hypothesis had on 19th Century thinking, and the scientific legacy of Kirkdale Cave, 200 years on.

Image credit: “Kirkdale Cave” © James McKay, palaeo-artist