Fans of prehistoric monsters and creepy crawlies need to make a beeline for Mansfield Museum, where they can come face to face with scorpions the size of dogs, meat-eating dragonflies the size of seagulls, and ancient millipedes the length of crocodiles.

Carboniferous Monsters is a national touring exhibition suitable for all ages, featuring 350 million year-old original fossils, reconstructed giant prehistoric animals, and skeleton casts from museums around the world, many of which have never been displayed in the UK before.

Visitors are taken back to the Carboniferous period — 100 million years before dinosaurs when Earth was full of tropical forests and swamps teeming with bizarre and ferocious creatures.

Sian Booth, cultural services manager at Mansfield District Council, which runs the museum, said: “We are thrilled to be hosting this brilliant world class exhibition, thanks to our National Portfolio Organisation status and funding from Arts Council England.

“It is definitely one not to miss. These were the dinosaurs’ distant ancestors, the planet’s very first reptiles, the largest creepy-crawlies ever to live, and prehistoric animals unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

“The exhibition shows what this area was like 300 million years ago and explores how the remains of these prehistoric plants were the source of the carbon that then formed the coal that would later be mined in Mansfield and which went on to fuel the Industrial Revolution.”

The exhibits will be on show until Saturday, 27th September. The exhibition is free to view from Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 3pm.

To find out more about the museum go to https://www.mansfield.gov.uk/museum