Seahouses Whale Jaw Bones Project

The bones had been donated by a former pupil, Walter Dunn, and as you can imagine the school was very attached to them. With this in mind, it was planned that the jaw bones would be removed from their current situation, and rehomed on the new school site, a short distance away.

John from Specialised Movers made the three and a half journey to Seahouses on a beautiful day in December 2018 to meet one of Northumberland Council surveyors. When he was only half an hour away, he received a call from the surveyor to say that she had arrived on site to find that the bones had been stolen. They had been taken overnight, and were partially vandalised in the process, as the thieves had broken the jaw bones at the base leaving 3ft of the original bones in the ground. She was understandably upset and at a loss about what to do.

After a brainstorm discussion between Specialised Movers and the Council, it was decided to create a social media campaign (including press and TV) to hopefully reunite the community with the bones. There were positive early vibes but unfortunately the trail went quiet. Then mysteriously three months later the bones re appeared dumped outside North Sunderland Football Club. John quickly made the journey up to Seahouses to survey them, after which the bones were collected onsite before being placed in a bespoke secure wooden over case. They were then stored at the Specialised Movers secure storage site in Sheffield.

A consultation took place between all the interested parties and stakeholders to decide who legally owned the bones, and when they were finally to be re-erected, but this took quite a few years as Covid brought everything to a grinding halt. In 2022 all parties decided the bones would be installed overlooking the harbour front of Seahouses. They were collected by the Council from the Specialised Movers Sheffield store, and now proudly overlook the harbour with a commemorative plaque about their history.

John finally revisited them in October 2024. He stated, “They look magnificent, and everybody involved should be proud of what’s finally been achieved. Hopefully our small but important part in this process has helped to save the bones for a future generation to enjoy and gain knowledge from.”