Rare chance to browse around museum’s strange treasures

A PRIVATE museum which has not been seen by the public for 40 years is opening up its strange collection.

The little-known Alfred Denny Museum, at Sheffield University, includes items from the world of natural history such as the skull of an extinct man-sized eagle, half a dolphin, tiny flying dinosaur skeletons and sun spiders complete with ferocious, poisonous jaws.

It is being opened-up as part of the Festival Of The Mind, which is bringing leading academics from the university together with a range of artists to bring their research to a wider audience.

The museum was founded in 1905 and is used to teach students in biology and related fields.