Fact sheet
A British coral? Yes in Carboniferous times, parts of Britain were under water and conditions were favourable for the growth of corals.
This is Siphonodendron, a colonial coral that grew about 350 million years ago. It was found in Derbyshire and is 5 cm across.
Cabinets of curiosities were personal collections of natural and man-made objects displayed in a single cabinet.
It was a fashion that reached its peak in the seventeenth Century, but something that is returning in modern times as uncategorised virtual or travelling physical exhibits, sometimes crowd sourced and changing. The original cabinets of curiosities were the personal and often idiosyncratic collections of wealthy owners, and their main function was to provoke a sense of curiosity and wonder in the viewer. Our Cabinet of Curiosities is a collection of curious things that we came across in museums, and a few things we've found in mineral shows. There isn't a learning objective – they're just interesting.