FOSSILS DATING back millions of years have been found in the war memorial structure in Bangor.

The fossils can be found at the Glanrafon war memorial, which is “teeming” with fingernail sized fossils.

Bangor City councillor Mark Roberts, who lives close to the structure, explained: “For months now I had been curious about increasing number of people with drawing pads, measuring instruments and micro-lens cameras examining and photographing the stone work.

"I feared that they were from some busy-body heritage group or preservation society finding faults in the masonry or grouting.

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“So I tackled a couple of them and found to my delight and astonishment that Bangor’s War Memorial is now listed on the international website for fossil-hunters called Geocache and this is drawing in more and more experts into Bangor to examine the monument.

“They reckoned that the limestone itself would be approximately 300,000 years old but that the fossils themselves which compacted in sea-sediment to create the stone would be millions of years older.

“You have to have keen eyes to find them but once you have identified one or two then the rest just seem to stare out at you.”

Typical of the fossils dotting the limestone blocks are Brachiopods, which are small shellfish and which lived half a billion years ago.

Crinoids, which were sea lilies related to the starfish and sea urchins and appeared 300 million years before the arrival of dinosaurs and Gastrapods which were mollusc-like snail invertebrates closely related to our modern garden snails.

Cllr Roberts added: “Apparently, one or two of the worm-like fossils on the surface of the stone are absolutely unique as they are far, far larger than they ought to be which speaks well of the healthy eating they must have enjoyed in local waters a few million years ago.

“The delightful couple I met had travelled by train from Staffordshire just to measure and photograph the fossils but apparently Bangor has become a must-visit location for these enthusiasts who are in web-contact with others from America and Europe who have also visited our city just to record a photo of a long-dead sea-urchin.”

Bangor City director and historian Dr. Martin Hanks said: “It’s quite ironic that the city council is trying to figure out how to increase visitor and tourist numbers into the city from our celebration of Bangor’s 1,500 years’ foundation next year, and now we find that our history is a few million years older and that some visitors are already ahead of us. 

“It’s a wonderful mini-boom - we’ll need to have a think to see how we can advantage from this surge of interest in our city.”