Jawbones
Category
Natural History / Animals, Plants & Fossils
Date
2 Jan 1875
Materials
baleen bone
Measurements
2765 mm (Height)
Order this imageCollection
Cotehele, Cornwall
NT 348056
Caption
Victorians loved to showcase natural curiosities, and Cotehele boasts one of the more dramatic displays of this kind. Framing the doorway in the central Great Hall are these jawbones of a fin whale, towering over two metres high. How and why the jawbones of the whale found a home here was a mystery finally solved by researchers at the property in 2016. They were able to connect DNA test results with historical reports of a washed-up sea creature on the shores of Mevagissey Bay. A note left in an inventory by the 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1832–1917) reads: ‘The jawbones on each side of the centre door are those of a whale (about 61 feet long) landed … January 2nd 1875.’ Local newspapers reported this phenomenon, which drew a large crowd to the beach. DNA testing on the bones has since revealed them to be those of a young baleen whale, which, when alive, would have been nearly twice as long as the Great Hall itself.
Summary
The jaw bones of a baleen whale, Balaenoptera physalus.
Provenance
According to a handwritten note by William, 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, 'The jawbones on each side of the centre door are those of a whale (about 61 feet long) landed on Colona Beach, near Bodrugan, January 2nd 1875.; To put the size of this whale in context, the Hall in which the bones are displayed is 44 foot long.