MUSEUMS will be joining forces this summer to celebrate the dinosaurs that once roamed the Jurassic Coast.

A new project called the Jurassic Coast Museums Partnership will see nine museums from along the Natural World Heritage Site work together to bring a host of dinosaur-related events and exhibitions to the public.

The project has received funding from The Arts Council and one highly visible element is already in place with a large model of a Megalosaurus built entirely out of Lego now standing in the turret window of the Jurassic Coast Gallery in Dorchester’s Dorset County Museum.

Megalosaurus was a dinosaur that lived around 166 million years ago and grew up to nine metres long.

Nobody knows exactly what they looked like as a whole skeleton has never been found but the new model gives people a pretty good idea of how they might have appeared.

The model was built using hundreds of Lego bricks by Ed Diment of Bright Bricks, who have previously built a life-size model of a woolly mammoth and a working jet engine out of Lego.

Mr Diment will be running two events at the Dorset County Museum in August based on the new Lego model of the Megalosaurus.

A new display will also be built in the museum’s Jurassic Coast Gallery incorporating a huge slab of limestone found in a quarry near Swanage that features the footprints of a number of dinosaurs, including those believed to be a Megalosaurus.

Visitors will be able to learn about the massive beast and try to match the dinosaur’s stride using life-sized footprints fixed onto the floor.

Jon Murden, Director of Dorset County Museum said, “This project is great because it gives us the opportunity to work with other museums, creative companies like Bright Bricks and an iconic brand – Lego – which everyone knows and loves.

“With continued support from the Arts Council we can continue to improve our museum year on year.”