Chester museum opens summer shows on art and fossils: what residents need to know

demoduck.co.uk editorial team 2026-05-29 13:42 2 min read

Close up of an ancient ammonite fossil preserved in sedimentary rock.

Two new exhibitions at the Grosvenor Museum in Chester will bring together local landscape, industrial history and deep geological time this summer.

The programme pairs Catherine Taylor Parry’s Earth Stories: Plwm/Lead with Echoes of Ancient Lands and Seas: Fossils from Cheshire, giving visitors two different routes into the ways land is shaped by nature, extraction and climate.

By demoduck.co.uk culture desk, using information published by Cheshire West and Chester Council.

Lead mining, stone and material change

Earth Stories: Plwm/Lead runs from 7 June to 27 September 2026 in the museum’s Coins Gallery.

The exhibition has been developed from Taylor Parry’s interest in lead mining and stone extraction on Halkyn Mountain in Flintshire, North Wales. Her 2D and 3D work uses colour, texture and form to respond to decay, erosion and the physical transformation of materials over time.

Taylor Parry is based in North Wales and has an MA with distinction in Fine Art from the University of Chester. She was also a prize winner in the Grosvenor Museum’s 2025 Open Art Exhibition.

Cheshire’s jungles, deserts and ancient seas

Echoes of Ancient Lands and Seas: Fossils from Cheshire runs from 20 June to 20 September in Gallery 2.

The exhibition traces the region’s geological history from the Carboniferous age, around 359 million years ago, to the present day. Fossils from the Grosvenor Museum collection are used to show how scientists reconstruct earlier landscapes, including ancient jungles, deserts and deep ocean environments.

Chester museum opens summer shows on art and fossils: what residents need to know

Highlights include preserved plant and fern remains from the Carboniferous jungles of Wrexham, marine microfossils from Saltney and fossilised reptile footprints from the Wirral.

Salt, climate and future landscapes

The fossil exhibition also looks at how Cheshire’s salt deposits formed and how the salt industry has shaped regional heritage.

It links those long environmental changes with the present, including the role of industrialisation in accelerating climate change. The display asks what future Cheshire landscapes could look like, from rising seas to hotter conditions or unfamiliar new environments.

Artwork by Val Hunt will feature in the exhibition, including a horsetail fern sculpture made specially for the display. The exhibition is curated by Harriet Williams, a University of Liverpool PhD student and Curatorial Intern at the Grosvenor Museum.

Opening hours and entry

The Grosvenor Museum is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10.30am to 5pm, and Sunday from 1pm to 4pm. It is closed on Mondays, except Bank Holiday Mondays.

Entry is free, with donations welcome.

Source: Cheshire West and Chester Council

Context & actions About this article

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This article is based on the published Cheshire West and Chester Council notice about the Grosvenor Museum exhibitions.

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Confirmed the exhibition names and Grosvenor Museum location.
Checked the listed opening and closing dates for both exhibitions.
Included the museum opening hours and free-entry detail from the source notice.
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