The Lapworth Museum of Geology is a major geological museum run by the University of Birmingham in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England.
The Museum is located within the Grade II* listed, Aston Webb Building. This was the original University of Birmingham building, designed by the architects Sir Aston Webb and Ingress Bell, and it retains many of its original Edwardian features. The Museum has a history which dates back to 1880 and the foundation of Mason College, the forerunner of the University of Birmingham. Named after Charles Lapworth, an English geologist who was the first Professor of Geology at the University, the Museum collection contains over 250,000 specimens as well as geological maps, equipment, models, photographic material, and also zoological specimens and stone axes. Also housed in the Museum is the Lapworth Archive, a detailed and extensive archive of Charles Lapworth's work that represents one of the most complete archives of any 19th Century geologist. The Museum collections provide an invaluable teaching aid for the University's geology students, and are the subject of active research by palaeontologists, geologists, archaeologists and historians from the University of Birmingham and internationally.
Many specimens are from the Midlands as well as the rest of the United Kingdom. Among the collections is Wenlock Limestone of the Wenlock Group from Dudley including fossils dating to 420 million years. Solnholfen Limestone from Germany are also on show to the public which includes fish, dragonflies, crabs, lobsters and pterosaurs. Within the fish collections are fish from Brazil, Italy, Lebanon and United States. Samples from the Burgess Shale of British Columbia consist of 510 million year old animals.
Many specimens that are taken from the UK were from old coal mining fields where minerals were accessed. As a result of this collection, there are over 15,000 minerals documented. Minerals from the collection of William Murdoch, an engineer who worked at Soho House with James Watt and Matthew Boulton.
In 2008 the museum was officially designated as possessing collections of outstanding national and international importance by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.
In 2009, the earth science collection of the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery was relocated to the Lapworth Museum as a long term loan.
In 2012 the Lapworth Museum was awarded a HLF development award of £130,000 to plan for an expansion and modernisation of the facilities designed by Associated Architects. The Museum was reopened in June 2016 by Professor Alice Roberts, Sir Paul Nurse and Professor David Eastwood.