See Mammoth Skulls From Ice Age Ilford
Last Updated 12 January 2016
Most people looking for remains of ice age creatures will end up at the Natural History Museum. But London's intrepid fossil hunters should take a trip to Ilford, where they'll find a great little exhibition on the ice age.
A massive steppe mammoth skull downstairs in the library coaxes people up to the exhibition on the first floor: during the 1800s the remains of 20 adult and 30 younger mammoths were discovered in Ilford, and this treasure trove forms a large part of Redbridge Museum's show.
What gives Ice Age Ilford extra depth is that it details not just the fossils, but the people behind the discoveries.
Other highlights prehistoric include a rhinoceros jawbone and the horns of an auroch (the ancestor to modern cattle).
The floor above contains the Redbridge Museum's permanent display, covering a history of the area's agriculture, the two world wars, and modern day Ilford — make time to visit this too.
We're often saying how London is so much more than zone 1, and this is a shining example of a great find in an outer boroughs.
Ice Age Ilford: An exhibition 20,000 years in the making is on at Redbridge Museum, 1st Floor Central Library, Clements Road, Ilford, IG1 1EA until 4 June. The exhibition is free to visit and open Tuesday-Saturday. Many of the fossils were provided by the British Geological Survey.
