SHE SELLS SEASHELLS BY THE SEASHORE
A Feature Film script
by
Louise Wadley
Degree: Masters of Arts in Writing (Research)
2006 Studentsare required to make a declaration when they submit the thesis for ______examination. Here is a recommended form of words.______
CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORSHIP/ORIGINALITY
I certify that the work in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree nor has it been submitted as part of requirements for a degree except as fully acknowledged within the text.
I also certify that the thesis has been written by me. Any help that I have received in my research work and the preparation of the thesis itself has been acknowledged. In addition, I certify that all information sources and literature used are indicated in the thesis.
Signature of Candidate Acknowledgements: I would like to acknowledge my supervisor Margot Nash for her continued enthusiasm and support around the project, not to mention the valuable time given to script editing and robust discussions from which I hope a better project is evident.
I would also like to make a note of deep thanks and appreciation to my partner Jay Rutovitz for her unswerving belief and support in helping me transform Mary from troublesome night stalker to feature film script heroine. It would not have been possible without both.
Thanks are especially deserved for supportive housemates, family members, neglected friends and to Margaret Walker, for inspiration. Preface
The birth of this project was curious. I will begin by telling you a story. It is a strange one. Some years ago, while living in London, I was visited in my dreams by an odd creature. At first I did not think much of it. I am a writer and a filmmaker. Dreams are the flour and water of our trade. But what was unusual, at least for me, was this dream was recurring and regularly so. What began as an amusing time-travelling experience became more ominous with each visit. I began to feel stalked by this character. Previously I had been an enthusiastic sleeper, not prone to nightmares. My dreams were vivid, surreal and immensely enjoyable. As the months went by I began to approach my bed with real apprehension.
As dreams can often be, the details were extreme in both their presence and their absence. I was always at a sea cave. In this cave dwelt a woman. She was always in what appeared to be Victorian Dress. She was dark haired and quite severe looking, both in her manner and appearance. She was highly intelligent and “suffered fools very un-gladly” as she would say to me while haranguing me in the strangest accent on this or that topic. 1 could barely understand her. The most frustrating thing was I could never quite remember what it was she was telling me with such great purpose and intense focus. But whatever it was, it was extremely important to her. Most of the time she seemed in a barely concealed fury, both with me, and “everyone around her”, whoever ‘everyone’ might be. I certainly didn ’t know. She clearly worked, toiled even, but at what, I could not fathom. I just knew every time I came visiting it was something to do with the rocks she worked amongst. As my eyes closed, night after night, there was no doubt that it was I who was the visitor, received under pained sufferance into her vast domain of sea caves set deep within the cliffs. We would walk an endless rocky shore pounded by incoming waves and caressed by outgoing tides, back and forth, back and forth. I would come into this world of a night and leave by the morning, always spent and exhausted.
Who was she and why me? Why choose me to visit her bad tempered and confusing tirades upon? She was clearly a spinster. There was no Mr in the background or Mrs in her aura. Her clothes were of a historical time gone past but she hardly seemed to have bothered in her dress, which often looked like it had been thrown together and was V
covered in mudand sand. I was mystified. What had I done to deserve these regular subconscious bullying sessions?
“You know who I am” she would seethe. “I don ’t!” I would shout back in my dreams. “I really don ’t but I wish I did! Then youmight leave me alone. ” Scowling she would stomp off down the shore and I, who seemed to have no free will in this world of hers, would have to miserably follow, wondering what was in store for me tonight. What unfathomable task would she set me? It always seemed to involve hard labour, (breaking rocks with a hammer) and some sort of argument. I gradually worked out that it was a kind of science or geology she was involved in.
This went on for nearly two years. I no longer looked forward to sleep. Finally, I asked everyone I knew if they were aware of a woman geologist in the Victorian times who was most definitely working class, had a strong accent and who did not suffer fools gladly!
Once I found descriptions of a woman who sought fossils along the treacherous south Dorset coastline in the early 1800’s, who was of abrupt and forthright character and who was working class, there was no doubt in my mind that it was she, Mary Aiming. What had been a baffling mystery now made complete sense. As I discovered more, it was as if my dreams had been written down and I was reading them back. The strange thing was, as soon as I knew it was Mary Arming, she never visited me again. Little did I know, that despite regaining my sleep she would continue to haunt me in my waking moments. This continued until I decided I would write a feature length script about her life and work, the very script you have before you. And that is how I came to write about Mary Arming, the woman who sold “seashells by the seashore”. Contents
Acknowledgements iii
Preface iv
Abstract vi
Script 1
Exegesis 125
Appendix 138
References 145
Bibliography 148 SHE SELLS SEASHELLS BY THE SEASHORE
Abstract:
Mary Arming was a working class woman from Lyme Regis, southwest England, (1799 - 1847) who became a major figure in palaeontology. In fact the science historian Stephen Jay Gould (1992) asserts that she was ‘probably the most important unsung (or inadequately sung) collecting force in the history of palaeontology... She directly found, or pointed the way to, nearly every specimen of importance. ’
In the film script I tell the Mary Arming story, using her life as a basis from which to explorethe life of a character whose unique intelligence and determination overcame multiple obstacles in her quest for knowledge about fossils and their implications for the theory of the origin of the world.
The film also explores the social and intellectual climate of the time. This was a period of great excitement and turbulence where people were extremely disturbed by the implications of fossil discoveries. These discoveries raised real questions about the validity of the bible, which until then had been seen as a true historical account of the earth’s history.
The discoveries of people like Mary, brought on nothing short of an intellectual revolution, which logically concluded in Darwin ’s theory. The early nineteenth century was a time of great ferment, controversy and excitement as people grappled with the mysteries of deep time and the earth’s origins and the conflict with religion that brought.
This film also deals with the complexities of a working class woman who participates as an equal with her social superiors and all the contradictions that raises as well as exploring the emotional landscape of someone who dared to live outside of the social norms of the day.
The exegesis discusses the research and writing challenges of making a compelling narrative about Mary’s life in two hours of film time when the huge amount of material researched over a period of years could have easily filled a book. It exploresthe issues raised by turning such a large and complex story into a feature film, the place for factual accuracy and the need above all, to compress and streamline the narrative to service the film form while still honouring the emotional and dramatic truth of Mary Arming ’s life. She Sells Seashells By The Seashore by Louise Wadley
Mary Anning and her Dog Trey
Portrait Natural History Museum, London.
© Louise Wadley October 2006 EXT. LYME REGIS, JUNE, 1799. DAY
Lyme Regis, a small hilly harbour town hugs the steep hills that meet the sea. Above the town, green fields stretch out for miles. It is a hot summers day.
INT/EXT. ANNING SHOP - DAY
The Arming's shop a narrow two story building is perched on top of the sea wall at the bottom of the hill. A sign above the door announces. R. ANNING - CABINET MAKER. Curiosities For Sale.
Through the window we see a mess of carpentry tools and fossils competing for space on all the surfaces.
A tall wiry man, RICHARD ANNING, (late 20's) with dark hair and weatherbeaten face, struggles to bring a cabinet out the front door.
Three giggling young women, ELIZABETH HASKINGS (19) MARTHA DROWSE (18) and FANNY FOWLER (17) arrive as Richard hoists the cabinet onto a small cart.
RICHARD Now you enjoy yourselves young ladies. Not every day we be havin' a fair in these parts.
MARTHA (cheekily) We will at that Mr Anning, won't we Fanny?
Fanny a rather naive young girl nods enthusiastically. He smiles and waves at them as he takes off up the steep lane.
MOLLY ANNING (mid 20's) who is as round as Richard is thin, comes bustling out with MARY, a chubby dark haired baby wrapped in a white shawl. Molly is dressed in working clothes.
MOLLY I be joining you at the fair later if we finish the harvest.
She hands the baby over to Elizabeth and gives a covered basket to Fanny.
Elizabeth, a jolly type, holds Mary affectionately near her face for a peek-a-boo.
ELIZABETH HASKINGS Bool
Mary looks dully back at her. Martha and Fanny come close and play with Mary's feet and hands. 2.
MOLLY (fussing) She's not been well so make sure she don't get too much sun. And there's a bonnet and food in...
ELIZABETH HASKINGS Don't fret, I won't let young Mary come in harm's way Molly, she'll be like my own.
MOLLY (reluctant) Yes, right. Of course. It's only that we lost her sister so soon before.
ELIZABETH HASKINGS I know. I promise she'll be safe.
MOLLY Thank you Elizabeth I owe you.
Elizabeth shakes her head at this. Molly has one last look at Mary and then lets her arm drop. The others are anxious to get going and are sidling away towards the hill.
MARTHA (impatient) Liz, we'll miss the riding displays.
ELIZABETH HASKINGS (calling out) Comin'
Molly waves them off as they make their way up the hill towards the fair.
EXT. FIELDS ABOVE LYME REGIS - DAY
A fair is in full swing. Under a colourful marquee the LOCAL GENTRY shelter from the sun, looking very bored and sulky. The young women feast their eyes as they pass stalls laden with all kinds of produce. A huge boar roasting on a giant spit is being carved. VILLAGERS gather around eagerly.
Elizabeth, Fanny and Martha slow as they pass by a mounted regiment of SCARLET SOLDIERS, sweating in full dress their brass buttons blazing in the sun. Elizabeth checks Mary but she is asleep. The women inspect the soldiers, taking the chance to look at them closely while unchaperoned. The men respond with a wink or a look. Martha, a rather cheeky young woman is keen and dawdles longer than the others. 3.
She drops her handkerchief in an unconvincing display of absentmindedness as they walk on. A SOLDIER dismounts and picks up the hanky and rushes after her.
SOLDIER Miss?
MARTHA (coy) Oh? Oh! Thank you Sir
SOLDIER (meaningfully) The pleasure's all mine Miss.
Elizabeth turns back and nods at the soldier curtly. She takes Martha's arm firmly and leads her away.
MARTHA What?
Fanny in a state of great excitement.
FANNY (shocked) Martha Drowse!
MARTHA (boldly) Well?
A trumpet sounds. The battalion moves forward into position in front of the marquee.
The women rush forward to get a good spot. The local squire, SIR THOMAS raises his sword and then drops it sharply. The horses and their riders charge forward. The men lean out of their saddles, picking up items from the ground with their bayonets before wheeling around and galloping back to their start.
Elizabeth and her friends cheer wildly along with the crowd. Mary wakes startled by the dirt and the noise but her cries are lost in the uproar.
A drop of rain falls on baby Mary's face. The riders horses roll their eyes, suddenly skittish, and hard to control. With a low rumble, the sky darkens a strange grey green.
A THUNDERCLAP sends a huge bay mare across into the fair, knocking stalls aside. Elizabeth screams, and holds Mary to her tightly.
The crowd panics and the soldiers fight to control their horses from stampeding as alarmed villagers run everywhere. Rain starts to fall heavily. 4.
Elizabeth and her companions run for shelter under a great elm as gusts of wind fling the stalls and their contents across the field like so much doll's furniture. The wind shrieks through the trees. It is like hell has arrived.
Elizabeth holds Mary tight to her breast and the three young women huddle together to protect themselves and the baby from the raging elements. Fanny lifts her head up.
FANNY (hysterical) We're all goin' to die. I know it. We're all goin' to die.
Martha grabs Fanny closer.
A great bolt of LIGHTENING lights up the darkened sky and a jagged spear hits the elm and sets it alight.
The tree blazes fiercely.
And then just as suddenly, the storm is gone. Villagers run towards the burning tree. A woman SCREAMS in horror.
Elizabeth, Martha and Fanny are clamped together in death, their corpses twisted and blackened.
The soldiers approach and drag the bodies away from the flames. As they try to pull the bodies apart there is a sickening TEARING sound. Separating the women reveals Mary's tiny lifeless body still clutched to Elizabeth's breast. EMILY, a calm sad looking older woman steps forward and takes the scorched bundle.
EXT. FIELDS ABOVE LYME REGIS - DAY
Emily walks behind the soldiers as they stretcher the bodies towards the village on abandoned trestle tables.
Across the way, HARVESTERS are running across the field towards the fair, Molly Anning among them. They are also soaked to the skin. The other villagers, looking shocked and confused are trying to pick up the mess. Molly stops a dazed- looking man in his tracks.
MOLLY What's gone on here Robert?
He gestures behind to the still burning tree.
ROBERT T'were like hell on earth. Lightning got some young girls.
MOLLY Oh... 5.
ROBERT And one of the three had a little baby, poor lass. All dead. It were horrible Molly, don't look.
Molly's face registers fear.
MOLLY A baby?
She starts forward as she realizes what might be true and runs towards the soldiers and their cargo. Emily sees her and comes forward with the dead Mary in her arms.
EMILY Oh Molly I am so sorry.
Molly snatches the bundle from Emily and collapses to the ground.
MOLLY Oh Mary, my Mary. No! Please God no...No...please not my Mary.
The sound of her keening can be heard gaining momentum as the macabre procession walks on leaving them behind in the field. Emily stands by Molly, helpless to comfort her.
INT. ANNING HOUSE, BACK ROOM, LATER - DAY
Molly takes a seat and stares listlessly into space while Emily peels the scorched shawl and blackened clothes off the baby. Mary has not a mark on her. She hands the naked infant to Molly still in shock and moving slowly as if in a trance. Emily gathers up the clothing and takes it out of the room.
Molly places the baby into a basin of water and washes her tenderly. As she does so the baby coughs. Molly starts and shouts to Emily.
MOLLY Emily!
Emily runs back and cannot believe her eyes. The baby coughs some more and starts to cry. Tears of joy run down Molly's face. She buries her face in the now screaming and very much alive Mary.
FADE TO BLACK.
EXT. LYME REGIS HARBOUR, 1806 - AFTERNOON
The Cobb, a large retaining wall, sweeps round into the harbour. A number of fishing vessels are making ready to sail on the coming tide. 6.
Everywhere FISHERMEN and SAILORS are busy coiling ropes, repairing nets, loading up crab pots and hoisting sails. MARY, (7) a wiry, dark haired serious looking child and her father Richard walk along the cobb. They share the same pale skin and intense eyes. Richard's weather beaten and lined face is older than his thirty five years. Mirroring her father, Mary also carries a leather shoulder bag and holds a small geologist hammer. They are both muddy from fossicking on the shore. Both exude a tremendous energy and intelligence.
RICHARD Ammonite. Spell it!
Mary skips ahead of him and begins to wheel in ever decreasing circles with her arms outstretched.
MARY (singsong as if reciting from a text) A-MM-O-N I T - E! A creature with a shell of many chambers divided by ..,er..septa.
She stops and pulls an imaginary door shut to herself.
MARY (CONT'D) The creature pulls itself inside the last chamber and closes the door to hide inside!
Richard smiles at her answer but pushes her further.
RICHARD And...
She stops at a fishing boat as she thinks.
MARY The chambers have a gas inside them. This helps the ammonite to float upon the seas, travelling far and wide.
RICHARD (proudly) Well done youngster, there be no doubt you be sprack and spry of mind.
Mary's serious face is transformed when she smiles at the praise from Richard.
They watch the vessel gently rising and falling on the swell.
Richard turns to find her gone. He catches her up. They pass various moored fishing boats with fishermen preparing for their expeditions. 7.
WILL OWENS (calling out) And howz it going young miss? That's a heavy bag for a young lady. How is you finding these days?
Mary smiles and opens her very full bag and shows off her finds proudly. They look like a bunch of rocks except for the top one. It is a large spiral shaped fossil.
JOE MORGAN Ah you be having a snakestone or two to keep away those evil spirits.
Mary takes it out to show him, turning it over as she does. The large fossil shell dwarfs her tiny hands.
MARY No! It be a shell, a very old shell! There are no evil spirits.
The two sailors look at each other knowing otherwise and then smile at her father as he approaches.
RICHARD She be givin' her poor father a challenge for teaching her much more, so fast is she with her learnin'. Soon she be teachin' me.
Mary looks at them proud of herself. Richard gestures to a large vessel.
RICHARD Is that the mighty Steadfast, conqueror of the French Fleet, I see here?
WILL OWEN Aye, gave them a mighty drummin' but they need repairs.
Ignored, Mary looks back at the shell and then notices the large coils of rope nearby are in spirals too. She wanders towards them and begins to step in circles as she follows the huge rope coils round and round.
JOE MORGAN The ship not the only one be needing repairs. Those lads need a breather... (leering) ...and a leg over I shouldn't wonder. 8.
Richard gives the man a warning look indicating Mary and the sexual nature of his conversation but she is absorbed with the coils. She takes out her spiral like fossilised shells and lays them out on the ground in a row.
RICHARD Time to give more than the French a lesson. The masters here don't know they're born. They have stolen yet more land. Dick Warrant lost his garden and his sheep grazing last month under the guise of them new Land Laws..
WILL OWEN Mine an' all. They've grabbed the common land near my cousin's place and fenced in his last three animals as theirs.
Mary stands looking intently at one of her fossils. She does not seem to notice the ropes beginning to move as they are drawn in by the men on board. She absently minded steps back and forth as the rope is pulled on board so she is not caught in the coils.
WILL OWEN He went to fetch them and was told he would be found guilty of poaching and could rightly be shot if he walked on the Squire's land again.
The rope is still moving and looks to close on Mary's foot as she puts it in the centre and stands still. Two SOLDIERS walk past her towards Richard and the fishermen.
RICHARD What?
WILL OWEN It's true.
Mary leaves the coil just before it closes on her foot. She walks along the cobb.
RICHARD (sarcastically) And our great King has passed these laws?
The two fisherman look around worried at such treasonous sentiments being overheard as the soldiers walk near them. 9.
RICHARD (defiantly loud) Well, how are we to eat if they take the common land? Dorset folk are starving under their very nose while they stuff their great bellygods.
Richard watches the soldiers go past.
RICHARD Will you be at the meeting tomorrow?
WILL OWEN Aye.
JOE MORGAN I daren't.
Richard stares back, willing him to back down.
RICHARD We must be united if we are to win.
JOE MORGAN I told you I can't risk it. And neither should you Richard Anning. It be transportation next time not just gaol for the likes of us.
There is a tense stand off between the men in looks. Mary tugs at her father's sleeve.
MARY We must go in now Papa, the storm is coming.
This breaks the tension. The sailors laugh and point to a cloudless sky.
WILL OWEN The barometer is high and the sea is calm.
JOE MORGAN Don't you be worrying your pretty little head about the weather young miss, we know her temper and it be fine today.
Mary is not amused. She tugs her father's sleeve again, insistent. She indicates the sea slapping against the cobb.
MARY She says it is so papa. 10.
RICHARD Let's go latch the shutters. If she says it will storm then I'll go with her. Neptune's little tuning fork aren't you?
Richard looks to the bemused men.
RICHARD Somehow she always seems to know.
Mary smiles at him and skips ahead towards home.
INT. ANNING'S SHOP - LATE AFTERNOON
Sounds of a great storm outside. Water creeps across the floor. A toddler, LITTLE ELIZABETH playing on the floor, laughs as a trickle of water snakes towards her. She splashes her hands in the new puddle it makes.
MARY Uh, uh my little mermaid.
Mary sweeps her up and takes her on her hip while she picks up the shawl the baby has been playing on.
MARY No swimming tonight for you.
Though strong for a seven year old, her small body struggles up the steep stairs with the child. As she passes the window we see the wild sea outside. Richard Anning hangs the last of the chairs onto hooks round the room.
RICHARD (calling out) Joseph?
He looks about the shop. Everything that can be is moved off the floor; shop tables are hanging on hooks, boxes and jars of ammonites and other fossils are crammed onto high shelves, bags hang from strings across the rafters.
JOSEPH, (9) a thin pale boy with the same dark hair of Mary and Richard appears at the stairs as lightning flashes. His clothes are very mended and clearly too small for him. Richard passes him two bags of carpentry tools.
RICHARD Take these and mind the planes be wrapped in their oil cloths.
He gives the sandbags at the door a last kick and struggles up the steep stairs with a large wooden chest. 11.
INT/EXT. ANNINGS HOME - EVENING
The family crowds around a small table with a large pot at one end. Molly Anning,(32) tired and like Richard older than her years is heavily pregnant. She ladles out the last bowl of a thick cereal pottage to Richard. The wind howls outside and the sound of the sea pounding the walls can be heard.
Mary, her older brother Joseph next to her, eats while feeding the toddler Elizabeth on her lap. Their younger siblings, THOMAS, PERCY, and DICK play "horsies" with fossils at the table as they eat. Everyone has a cough. Richard searches his stew in vain.
RICHARD There be no meat in this meal I s'pose.
MOLLY You be glad there is pottage at all... when certain persons have not laid any food on table for over a month.
A window flies loose in the fierce wind and bangs until Joseph gets up and fastens it shut, but not before rain has squalled in on them. Through the window we can see the wild sea.
RICHARD If our local squire weren't such a tightscrew...and I were paid for my last labours you would have your meat.
Molly, angrily wipes the younger children down from the incoming rain. They think it funny.
MOLLY If you were doing sommat' else than getting into trouble with your Dissenters
Molly begins to breakdown in despair.
MOLLY (CONT'D) Or swanning about on those cliffs looking for your useless stones.
MARY But mama they are not useless...
There is a pounding at the door downstairs. Molly looks at Richard in alarm. The pounding comes again only this time they hear there is a definite pattern to the sound. It sounds like a code. 12.
JOSEPH (excited) Ship Wreck1
Richard gets up from the table. He kisses Molly playfully, takes a final mouthful and throws on his coat.
RICHARD That will mean French Brandy. You'11 have your meat soon enough Mrs. AnningI ...and maybe even some tea!
Joseph gets up too, scrambling for his coat. Mary puts down the child on her lap to come too.
RICHARD Not this one Mary. Stay with your mother and the babes.
She is crestfallen but obeys, taking the child back to her lap. The toddler claps in glee.
LITTLE ELIZABETH Tea! Tea!
EXT. ANNING HOUSE - NIGHT
The sea is wild. The waves pound the walls below the Anning house perched on top of the coast ramparts. Mary opens the curtain and stares out the window.
FADE TO BLACK.
EXT. ST MICHAEL'S ANGLICAN CHURCH - DAY
Up on the top of the hill near the edge of the village, the VICAR at St. Michael's Anglican Church greets the mostly middle and upper class FLOCK as they leave. It is hot and the LADIES make much use of their fans.
CUT TO:
INT. DISSENTERS' CHAPEL, COOMBE ST - DAY
Close up on fans. Pull out to reveal the Dissenters chapel, hot, cramped and full of an obviously poorer congregation than St Michaels including the Annings, other FISHERMEN, WORKERS and their WIVES who are also vigorously fanning themselves. The minister JOHN DEED is giving a heated sermon. 13.
JOHN DEED Remember, in the eyes of the Lord, all men, no matter their wealth or title, their land holdings or their social class...all are equal in the eyes of God...
He pauses to wipe the sweat from his brow.
CONGREGATION Oh Yay. Oh Yay.
JOHN DEED We will all be in the one room that is heaven if we have led a pious life.
CONGREGATION Oh Yay1 Amen!
JOHN DEED Now brethren please rise and sing with me the Easter Hymn.
Congregation rises and begins enthusiastic hymn.
CONGREGATION Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia1 Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia1 Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia! Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!
The sounds of the hymn dissolves into the sounds of the Sunday school.
INT. SCHOOL - DAY
Mary in class at the Dissenter's Sunday school laboriously copying out Latin with chalk and slate. Through the window we can see the other SCHOOL CHILDREN, mostly boys, playing outside noisily, scotch-hopping while chanting.
SCHOOL BOYS Oranges and lemons the bells of St. Clements...
Mary looks tired and drawn for a child her age. The teacher MR ROBERTS enters and offers Mary some bread and cheese. She shakes her head and keeps copying. He leaves it there knowing she is hungry. 14.
MR ROBERTS (kindly) You'll need to get out sometime young Miss you know. You'll hurt your eyes with all this work.
He goes to his desk.
MR ROBERTS I have been to Dorchester. Do you know what I found there?
Mary looks up, excited.
MR ROBERTS (CONT'D) But I must have them back soon mind.
Mary races over to him to see what he has. He opens his desk and takes out two books.
Mary's hand traces her fingers against the leather-bound and gold embossed volumes. The Antediluvians - Creatures from the deep and Great Britain Geology.
Mary stands eyes closed, smelling the book.
MR ROBERTS Come on then, let's be having a look what they say about these monsters you love so much.
Mary opens the book. There is a long list of Latin names. He reads over her shoulder and helps her as she stumbles over the names.
MR ROBERTS AND MARY Paleo..icthy...ology, Zoo...phite, Herbi....vorous, Echi...nytes, Fossil La...certae, Ver...te...brae
Their words meld with the children's song outside.
SCHOOL BOYS ...to chop off your...your... your HEAD!
FADE TO BLACK.
EXT. CLIFFS - SUNSET 3 YEARS LATER
Joseph, Mary, and her father walk along the top path with the town and the sea below. Mary (10) is more assured in her manner. Her hair is plaited and arranged back in the style of an adult. The cliff known as Gold Cap is ahead. It glows orange in the sunset. 15.
They are tired after a long day and all carry the leather collecting bags which are full to bursting. The green fields on the tops stretch out for miles. They are talking and laughing.
RICHARD No I tell no lie, it were that big.
He indicates with his hands far apart.
RICHARD You cannot imagine the size of monster that it belonged. And paid handsomely by his lordship for that find we were, tho' we never found the rest. Pity.
MARY But we should try to find the rest Papa. I could help you, just tell me where it were. Tell me I
RICHARD Pet, it were so long ago now.
Mary stands still looking out across the cliffs to the sea.
MARY (intensely) I would look every single day 'til I find it.
RICHARD I know you would 'an all. The sharpest eyes in the whole of Dorset you have Mary Anningi
At this Mary walks ahead happily. She stops suddenly and turns and goes back to her father.
MARY (seriously) Papa, What do you think in truth? How did they become to be buried so deep? Why be none of these monsters in the bible?
RICHARD Whoah there lass, slow down. Have ye read the whole thing then?
MARY No, Papa no...
RICHARD Well then...How'd you know? 16.
MARY (insistent) But Papa if God made the world in seven days, why are the creatures there in the rock and not here with us now?
RICHARD Ah questions Mary, always the questions with you. You will wear your poor father out one day with your questions.
MARY Pastor Deed says I should not ask about that which is not in the bible but...
Joseph loses interest and wanders off very near the cliff edge. We see a treacherously steep and narrow path cut into the rock face. It is a long way down to the waves crashing on the rocks below.
RICHARD (anxiously) What are you looking for lad? It's the long way tonight, not the short cut. It be too dangerous.
Joseph stays near the edge.
RICHARD (CONT'D) Do you hear me Joseph? Stay away, it's not stable.
Suddenly Joseph slips over the edge.
MARY Joseph!
Richard and Mary rush to the edge to find Joseph crouching down on a ledge hidden below. He is laughing at his joke "fall".
RICHARD You scallywag!
His father cuffs his head but they all laugh in relief as he comes up and runs ahead. Mary takes her father's hand.
EXT. LYME REGIS HARBOUR SQUARE - AFTERNOON
It is market day. FARMERS, FISHERMEN and other STALL HOLDERS sell their wares. Piles of vegetables , fish and household wares compete for attention. A crowd gathers round a man standing on a box. 17.
SPEAKER Why should you starve my friends when our lords and ladies are eating the finest sweetmeats and jellies?
He searches the crowd for answers.
BESIDE THE SQUARE
Mary Anning exits the bakery with a tray of cooked pies. The 'A' family sign clearly shows on the pie crusts before she covers them with the cloth that has blown back.
SPEAKER 1 (O.S.) Who are carving your own lambs for their tables; the very beasts that used to roam our Common Land but are now their private affair.
Mary's way is blocked by various SOLDIERS, ringing the crowd. Mary is dwarfed by the tall uniformed men who stand close together. Their bayonets glint in the sun.
SPEAKER 1 (O.S.) Fenced in by edict of who?
She pushes past them, cuts through the crowd towards the back.
SPEAKER And who would that be? Why none other than our local member, the honourable Sir Thomas who has taken time from his constant glass gazing...
He mimes in gross exaggeration a dandy leaving his mirror with great reluctance. The crowd loves it. They heckle.
DEMONSTRATOR 1 Your wig is quite a beauty Sir Thomas. Pity it be on your bum!
Crowd laughs. Mary is still searching.
SPEAKER Sir Thomas has asked his Majesty for not one, but two parcels of land. Land your cows and your sheep once grazed, by your rights as Lyme Regis commoners....
DEMONSTRATOR 2 Give over! He would never take time from his precious glass. (MORE) 18.
DEMONSTRATOR 2 (CONT'D) He must have asked someone else to make the petition for him.
The crowd roars at the wit. Mary smiles as she recognises Will and Joe and goes to stand beside them.
SPEAKER Land you once market gardened by your rights as Dorset men...Men who now have less rights than the sheep that once grazed that there common before it was stolen from under our very noses.
The crowd mood becomes more serious.
SPEAKER (O.S.) And none of these soldiers here are going to protect your property or your rights.
He looks at the soldiers provocatively.
SPEAKER (CONT'D) In't that right lads?
The Soldiers finger their swords and muskets nervously, ready to act anytime. The atmosphere is getting tense.
RICHARD (angrily) I say we march on the manor!
DEMONSTRATOR 3 Aye let's show him what Dorset men are made of!
Mary makes her way towards Richard who is at the back with his friends. He hugs her excitedly as she joins him at his side.
SPEAKER Join us my friends, united we can win.
RICHARD AND MARY United we can win!
The crowd cheers as the Speaker whips them up.
Molly Anning arrives from the lane and scours the throng. She cuts across the crowd when she sees a cheering Anning with an excited Mary by his side.
All around Mary and Richard people are pushing forward ready to march on the manor. Mary's tray of pies get knocked over and fall to the ground. It is mayhem. 19.
Horrified, Mary kneels down and tries to pick them up. But it is no use, the crowd is too much and the pies are mashed under foot.
People are stumbling over Mary as she kneels, tears streaming down her face at the loss of their precious food. Richard pushes against the throng and helps her up.
People surge past around Molly who is going the opposite way, fury on her face as she nears Richard and Mary.
Richard has Mary's hand and is pulling her along to catch up with the crowd but is stopped in his tracks by a grim faced Molly as she stands there, arms folded.
MOLLY And where might you be going Richard Anning?
MARY (excited) To the Manor! To show Sir Thomas what Dorset men are made of!
Molly fixes Richard with a glare.
RICHARD She's old enough at ten to find out what sort of a world we live in Molly.
MARY (earnestly) We must stick together mother, come with us.
MOLLY Does she indeed? And she be having a right to go to gaol like you did before does she Richard Anning? A ten year old girl in gaol with all the other filth that live there.
MARY (fervently) Mother I not be afraid of gaol.
Molly blocks their way.
MOLLY (O.S.) That'd be true mark of a Dorset man, be it Richard Anning? Leaving your family to fend for itself? Your wife 'un children on the poor relief?
At this, Richard drops his grip on Mary's hand, passes Molly and joins the last stragglers in their march. 20.
Grim faced Molly strong-arms a reluctant Mary away from the square up the lane to their shop, as Mary looks back to the marchers.
EXT. SIR THOMAS'S MANOR, OUTHOUSES AND YARD - NIGHT
The demonstrators, some carrying torches, others armed with staffs and farm tools, pass various LABOURERS' cottages in the manor grounds. Various FACES peer in fright from behind curtains and shrink back as they near. Doors are hastily bolted.
The crowd makes for the main manor house where a group of armed SOLDIERS and some of SIR THOMAS' MEN wait for them. Richard is at the head of the crowd when they stop.
SHERIFF (pompously) Halt there! As Sheriff I must warn you this is an illegal gathering and you are already trespassing on the honourable Sir Thomas's property!
RICHARD Oh shut your cake hole Roger Blythe! You might be Sheriff now but I knew your father and he be ashamed of his son doing the dirty work of a toff like Thomas if he were alive to see it.
CROWD Hear! Hear!
Roger Blythe looks uneasy at the reference.
SHERIFF We have no need of mayhem here.
RICHARD We only wish to speak to the Lord of the manor as is our right as his constituents of Lyme. People are starving with this new law and you know it.
SHERIFF (relieved) His lordship is not at home. He is in London on parliamentary business. So you may as well go and send a petition with your complaints as is right and proper. 21.
RICHARD Then we will wait until the gentleman returns to his constituency, hey lads?
The crowd murmur their assent and begin to settle in.
RICHARD John Cranley I be seein' you hiding there behind those soldiers.
WILL OWEN And I see you skulking there my own cousin Gilbert Owens - will you be attacking me 'an all?
Both men look mortified and melt away. The soldiers bolster themselves as their back-up farm labourer force begin to dwindle under this onslaught.
The by now very nervous Sheriff gives a note to a MESSENGER. His remaining men look uneasy at having to fight their neighbours.
SHERIFF Go! Ride all night if you have to!
The messenger saddles up and rides off at speed.
EXT/INT. ANNINGS LIVING ROOM - NIGHT. LATER
Through the window we see Molly Anning ladle out stew to the children round the table. Mary at the window stares out to sea. We see her shake her head at the offer of stew. Her mother shakes her own head to say "Alright then" and shares Mary's bowl out amongst the rest who clamour for it.
EXT/INT. MANOR BARNS - NIGHT. TWO DAYS LATER.
Cold and tired demonstrators are ranged around cooking pots and fires. They stamp their feet, trying to keep warm.
Richard stands apart with Sheriff Blythe. Behind them a small group of disgruntled soldiers stand, also stamping in the cold. Richard points to the unhappy group who are now made up only of soldiers.
RICHARD What? Will ye arrest all of us with this miserable gang you call an army? (triumphantly) You seem have lost your labourers Sheriff They'll not stand against their own Blythe and you know it. 22.
The sheriff looks desperate at the truth of this.
RICHARD (CONT'D) His lordship will have to talk to us now. It's been o'er two days. The harvest will spoil soon. You need us to bring her in or it be yourself that his Lordship be giving the heave ho.
At this moment a sound of thundering hooves and over the rise a company of armed soldiers appears led by Sir Thomas.
The demonstrators are heavily outnumbered and start to gather together nervously.
Sir Thomas pulls up to the Sheriff, pistol drawn.
SIR THOMAS Who is the ringleader of this rabble?
The Sheriff points to Richard who steps forward.
RICHARD Sir Thomas we come here to negotiate our labour as is our right as free Dorset men.
SIR THOMAS Ah Anning, the revolutionary cabinet maker. I should have known. You are trespassing Sir and I have little inclination to negotiate with the likes of you.
Sir Thomas goes to turn away with his horse when Richard steps forward and grabs the horse's bridle to stop him.
RICHARD We here have waited o'er two days and nights to see you. Some folk here have not eaten in near a week. You must speak with us Sir.
SIR THOMAS (furious) Insolent cad. How dare you?
Sir Thomas strikes Richard viciously across the head with his pistol. Richard falls to the ground.
SIR THOMAS (to the sheriff) Arrest him you fool! 23.
The demonstrators shocked, start forward at this. Will Owens tries to get to Richard but is dragged off him by soldiers who hit him too.
SIR THOMAS (CONT'D) And the rest of the rabble, as you should have done in the first place..... for trespassing and illegal assembly.
Soldiers start in on the crowd standing in the barn opening. Some resist. Cooking pots and possessions are kicked over in the melee. A torch is knocked to the ground and the hay goes up in flames. Chaos ensues. People are running everywhere.
EXT. LYME REGIS CLIFF TOP PATHS - NIGHT
Beyond the cliffs and the wild sea, across the fields, we see fires burning as the outhouses of the manor go up in flames.
FADE TO BLACK.
OVER BLACK A YEAR LATER
INT/EXT. ANNING'S SHOP - DAY
Mary is showing a well to do GENTLEMAN and LADY customer some trilobites.
MARY Here be the Lady Fingers you asked for. Their proper name be Trilobites and...
A horse drawn cart laden with MEN, their hands bound, passes the shop window. Mary is transfixed. To her customers' astonishment she suddenly starts out of the shop after the cart.
MARY Forgive me!
EXT. LYME REGIS HARBOUR SQUARE - DAY
The cart pulls up. The TWO SOLDIERS at the front get up and start kicking the still bound men out of the cart.
Mary runs full pelt from the lane into the square to see Richard hit the ground heavily.
MARY Noi Father! 24.
As other VILLAGERS arrive, the soldiers drive off without a backward glance.
Mary reaches Richard. She levers him up to sitting position and kisses his face over and over again as villagers are cutting the other mens' ropes. He has a raggedy beard from his time in prison.
RICHARD (hoarsely) Ah Mary, you have grown!
Mary indicates his beard with a rueful smile.
MARY You also father.
Richard manages a wan smile. He looks dreadful from his time in prison.
EXT. LYME REGIS HARBOUR - DAY
Richard Anning, looking older and more worn from his time in prison steps off a fishing boat. His clothes are very patched. He turns and looks at Will Owens who nods at him. As Richard walks away two CUSTOMS OFFICERS with rifles and bayonets arrive. Will Owens and Joe Mitchell step off their boat with large baskets of fish. The officers are aggressive and the mood is sour.
CUSTOM OFFICER ONE You led that French boat to their grave and you know it.
WILL OWEN If they be so foolish as to come near our cove without charts...what can we be doing? I don't go fishing about the coast of France do I now?
CUSTOMS OFFICER 2 And you had no idea they would head for the fires you lit thinking they would find safe passage from the rocks?
WILL OWEN No law against a man lighting a fire to keep his sel' warm. I can't be held responsible for every ship wreck on the Dorset coast now can I?
The Customs officer leans into Will threateningly. 25.
CUSTOMS OFFICER 1 We'll find where you have put your ill gotten spoils and that's a promise.
Mary Anning, muddy and tired, returns along the cobb from collecting, her bag heavy with rock samples. She slows to take this all in.
JOE MORGAN (stubbornly) I told you. There be no contraband on this here boat. Now let me pass.
He goes to step past with his full basket of fish. Custom Officer Two steps in; his musket poised he stops him from passing and holds the fisherman's gaze.
CUSTOM OFFICER TWO There better not be Joe Morgan.
He nods to the other officer who takes his bayonet and stabs it deep into the fish basket while the Fisherman affects not to react to the violent thrusts.
Mary is watching and flinches with each thrust. They find nothing.
WILL OWEN Looks like you'll have to buy your own brandy hey, instead of stealing ours? Next thing they be calling us smugglers, hey Mary? Imagine that I
At this Mary cannot help but laugh. He gives Mary the wink and she takes off. Annoyed, the Custom officers let them pass.
EXT. A SMALL COVE, LYME REGIS SHORE - DUSK
Richard Anning is at the shore. He counts out his steps. He looks around uneasily, worried he is being watched. He stops at a spot and looks out to sea.
We see a floating barrel. Nearby several kegs bob in a row.
Richard shivers and pulls his coat around him. He piles up drift wood to make a fire.
EXT. LYME BAY - NIGHT
We see the same fishermen as were being interviewed by Customs, rowing hard. Suddenly one drops his oars. 26.
WILL OWEN There he be!
JOE MORGAN (Hisses) Quiet!
He hoots like an owlf once and then twice.
EXT. LYME REGIS SHORE - NIGHT
Richard sits by a small fire whittling. He thinks he hears their signal. He jumps up and returns their call. He holds up a burning branch from the fire to light their way to the contraband.
The men struggle as they pull barrels of brandy and chests onto their boat. They untie the stone weights that have anchored them in place and wrest them on board too.
FADE TO BLACK.
EXT: LYME REGIS STREET - AFTERNOON.
Mary, intent, is on her way home. Various shopkeepers shout out their greeting as she passes through the narrow lanes.
SHOPKEEPER ONE How's those Lady's fingers - still prising them out of them cliffs?
SHOPKEEPER TWO What have you found now young Sharp Eyes? Any more coiled serpents to keep me safe from the evil spirits?
Mary waves and nods. She pats her bag in answer as she continues up the narrow steep lane.
At the top of the lane stands a parked carriage and horse. ELIZABETH Philpot is watching Mary though the window. Mary slows as she gets nearer. Elizabeth Philpot steps out. She is clearly wealthy.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT What have you, young madam? I hear you are a fine collector of curiosities?
Mary nods but does not move, looking at the woman directly, trying to ascertain what such a woman could want with her. Elizabeth looks at her bag.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT May I see? Mary does not move.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT (CONT'D) Forgive me. My name is Elizabeth Philpot. My sisters, Margaret and Mary and I are visiting Lyme for the summer and we are most avid collectors.
Mary shows her the large fossil she has in her bag. It is a magnificent Ammonite. She is reluctant to let it out of her possession. They turn it over together; the pale gloved adult hands with the dirty scratched child hands.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT May I? I will be most careful.
Elizabeth takes it and examines it closely. Mary looks on anxiously.
ELIZABETH Philpot It is very gratifying to see a young girl like you already a collector. May I ask how you learnt about such things?
MARY My father Richard Anning teach me. . . (earnestly) ...and I be learning myself, every chance I have.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Indeed. Most impressive, most impressive.
Elizabeth hands it back and reaches in her bag. She gives Mary half a crown. Mary is shocked and hands her the ammonite, glowing at her first sale.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT And there is more where that came from for the right specimens. We return to Oxford tomorrow but if you find anymore, er cornemonius I think you call them here in Dorset...or anything unusual or rare, you must write and tell me. We would be most interested.
Elizabeth Philpot hands Mary her card but stops...
ELIZABETH PHILPOT I do beg you pardon - you can read and write can't you Miss er ...? 28.
Mary eyes glitter with insult. She does not speak as she takes the card and reads it carefully.
We see the card with the three Philpot names and their Oxford address. She looks up at Elizabeth and meets her eye.
MARY (very formal) Ammonites. They be named ammonites for their Scientific title Miss Philpot of 14 Plough Lane, Banbury, Oxfordshire and I, I be Mary Anning of Lyme Regis.
Impressed, Elizabeth puts out her gloved hand to shake Mary's.
ELIZABETH Philpot And so they are. Well, I am most pleased to make your acquaintance Mary Anning. Most pleased. I hope to hear from you very soon.
Mary looks surprised at the proffered gloved hand but then shakes it proudly.
INT. ANNINGS HOME - DAY
A BABY lies in the cradle by the fire. A small thin boy, Thomas rocks it listlessly while the toddler LITTLE ELIZABETH plays on the floor with broken fossils. Molly bangs bowls down on the table for supper as she talks.
MOLLY And I say it is ridiculous. It is bad enough we are sending a girl to school when we can barely feed ourselves but this collecting madness has got to stop. It is dangerous. You know it yourself.
Richard walks to the other side of the room where there is a pot on the stove. He is cooking glue. He walks strangely. He wears only one shoe; the other is upturned on the table on a single shoe tree with a flapping sole. He brings back the glue and begins to repair the shoe.
RICHARD It will bring us money Molly and you know it.
MOLLY (bitterly) Huhi When? I'd like to know. The schoolmaster says she is obsessed. (MORE) 29.
MOLLY (CONT'D) She will only do her letters if he teaches them all about your bloody rocks.
Molly goes to the stove. Richard carries on with his repair.
RICHARD (proudly) Mr Roberts says she is cleverest child in village by far.
Molly gets the pot off the table and slams it to the floor. Thomas slinks off to avoid the row.
MOLLY What use will rocks and letters be to a girl such as Mary? She should be helping me or working. At ten she is well past the age. She needs to earn her keep.
Richard gets up and tried to put his arm around her but she shrugs him off angrily.
MOLLY (voice breaking) ...she could be sewing and cooking up the hill...or button making...or lace work...somethingi
At this Richard guffaws.
RICHARD Mary 1
She looks at him imploringly.
MOLLY Richard, we cannot eat rocks.
Mary comes in breathless from running and lays the half crown on the table.
MARY My first sale! And there be more where that come from. The lady on the hill say so.
Her eyes burn with triumph. Richard catches her look and smiles. Molly sinks into a chair defeated. Little Elizabeth pats the ground with the rocks.
LITTLE ELIZABETH Say so! Say so! 30.
EXT. CLIFFS - EARLY EVENING
Heavy rain. Mary and her father are trapped between the cliffs and the sea. The waves are coming in quickly and Mary and her father have to climb higher and higher to avoid being drowned. They pick their way along and up the cliff face, slipping and sliding on the unstable shale. They are soaked. Richard is above Mary who seems stuck. He puts out his hand to her below.
RICHARD Drop the bag and come Mary, you are more precious.
Mary ignores the hand. He takes another step forward and re extends his hand to her below but the movement makes some small rocks rain onto Mary who ignores the hand.
She is confident in her step as she hugs the cliff pushing her face into the rock face until the stones are quiet and makes her way with the bag of precious fossils, hauling herself up to where her father is.
EXT. ANNING SHOP FRONT - DAY
It is a quiet day with few on the streets. Richard and Mary sit at two tables covered with fossils. Richard reads while Mary writes out labels for the specimens. Her handwriting is very neat.
ANNA GOODES, a young girl(10) skips up to the table. The girl is as blond as Mary is dark. Mary is pleased to see her. The girl comes to Mary and whispers in her ear. Mary shoots Richard a querying look.
RICHARD Go on - don't s'pect I will be selling anything this late on a Sunday now anyways.
Delighted, the two girls dash off down the lanes to the cobb at high speed, hand in hand.
EXT. CLIFF TOP PATH - LATER
Mary is "driving" the other girl along the path like a horse, using her pig tails as reins. She clicks her tongue and flicks the pig tails for her to get going. The "horse" obliges. 31.
EXT. LYME FORESHORE - LATER
The girls are playing in the rock pools, looking at sea anemones and crabs, etc.
EXT. CLIFFS - LATER
Mary below on the rocks. Anna is up high, addressing an imaginary crowd below with much the same spiel as the street demonstrator and a great deal of swagger.
ANNA I tell you good sirs, unless we all stand by each other we cannot win. Are you with me in this matter?
Mary is below with a large stick, both keeping the "crowd" of seashells in control and cheering with them.
INT. ANNING HOUSE - NIGHT
Mary, looking tired and drawn, cradles a small baby while rocking a grizzly and flushed LITTLE ELIZABETH in a cradle- cloth suspended from a beam.
Both Richard and Molly lie ill in the bed at the back of the room with the other children. Candles flicker. The house itself feels sick. Mary sings a lullaby.
MARY Sleep my child and peace attend thee, all through the night. Guardian angels God will send thee, All through the...
She trails off. The infant looks lifeless and pale. Mary stokes the miserable fire but all the while looking more worried herself as she feels her own brow, which is covered in sweat. She looks older than her eleven years.
EXT. ANNING SHOP - NIGHT
Rain hits the ground in sheets. A CLOAKED FIGURE dismounts, hitches the horse to the post and pounds on the door.
INT. ANNING HOUSE - NIGHT
Methodist minister JOHN DEED enters, water coming off him in great rivulets. He hangs up his wet coat and hat.
Mary appears at the top of the stairs, babe still in her arms. 32.
JOHN DEED Forgive me for taking so long - there is so much of it Miss. I have been up these past three nights visiting those with the Ague.
MARY (anxiously) The doctor?
John Deed shakes his head and heads up the stairs.
MARY But I sent a note that I have coin to pay for medicine!
JOHN DEED Doctor Vaughan is already stretched... he will visit his own Anglican folk, not dissenters, such as we.
Mary nods wearily. They go into the room. Mary lays the babe on the bed with the others. She looks lifeless. Deed reaches in his satchel and brings out his bible and a bottle.
JOHN DEED It is French, from the ship brought down last week. For that we can thank God for some small mercies from them poor wretches' miseries.
The Minister begins to read from the bible over the bed while Mary drizzles the brandy on her mother's lips and strokes her face.
MARY Mother you will never be guessin'? The Philpot sisters are soon to live in Lyme Regis. They pay well mother. We will have coin soon. I promise.
Molly starts to come to with the brandy. Her eyes flicker open.
EXT. CHESIL BEACH - MORNING
Mary and Richard scour the rocky shore. He walks slowly, still weak. They walk towards Lyme Regis in the distance. There is not only driftwood but other bits and pieces that tell a tale of ship wreck. They pick through various objects. On one of the deeper rock pools a TOP HAT floats. Mary picks it up and empties it of water. 33.
She runs over to Richard who bends down to receive the gentleman's topper. She perches it on his head and curtseys to him playfully. He taps it. Despite nights in the sea, it sounds firm. Mary steps back and looks happily at him.
MARY There, that be stopping you from raining rocks.
But he takes it off after a fiddle.
RICHARD No wonder they perished. It be too small for me and my crown is no giant. You have it...
Mary shakes her head.
RICHARD No take it. You are out as much as me these days....
Richard takes it down from his head and places it on her head.
RICHARD ...and it fits you snug. There - much better.
He begins to cough again and holds onto Mary for support as his body is racked by the hacking. Mary leads him on.
EXT. LYME REGIS CLIFF TOP PATHS - EVENING
Richard and Mary make their way home, their figures against the skyline marked by Mary's Top Hat.
FADE TO BLACK.
EXT. PHILPOTS HOUSE - DUSK
Mary, (12) more assured now, walks with a confident and strong step. Carrying a large parcel under one arm, she strides up the sweeping drive to a large thatched, Tudor style residence with barns and stables to one side. Overlooking the harbour and above the rest of the town it is very grand. Mary looks up in wonder at the lead lined windows.
Mary is quite an extraordinary sight; the hem of her skirt is muddy, she has on an oversized old tweed coat over her dress and wears the by now battered TOP HAT. 34.
She hesitates at the fork in the path, looks to one that leads around the back and the other to the front entrance. Mary sets her shoulders and walks towards the front door.
EXT. PHILPOTS HOUSE, FRONT ENTRANCE - DUSK
A nervous Mary rings the bell. A rather prune faced housekeeper, JACKSON answers the door and takes in Mary and her poor, dirty attire.
JACKSON (unfriendly) Yes?
MARY (formally) I am here to see the Misses Philpots. They be...are expecting me and this package here.
Mary moves as if to enter. The maid holds the door firmly.
JACKSON Packages be delivered at back...and you be knowin' that my bold young Dissenter.
The last words are delivered as threat. Mary does not move. She swallows and gains courage.
MARY (firmly) Please tell your mistress Elizabeth that Mary Anning is here to see her.
JACKSON I' 11 take that. You wait here.
She takes the parcel and closes the door, leaving a nervous Mary to wait outside.
INT. PHILPOTS HOUSE. HALLWAY - DUSK
Elizabeth Philpot, (24) in expensive but plain dress comes down the stairs. A serious young woman she exudes a calm authority.
JACKSON From a Miss Anning, Miss.
Elizabeth takes it from her and looks to the empty parlour.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT But where is Miss Anning? 35.
Jackson indicates with a nod of her head that she is still outside the front door.
* JACKSON Shall I tell her to go round the back Miss?
ELIZABETH Philpot (stiffly) Jackson, I have invited Miss Anning here to discuss her finds with my sisters. She is our guest. Please show her in immediately... and call Misses Margaret and Mary; tell them our special guest fossilist is here.
JACKSON (resentfully) Yes Miss.
The housekeeper looks displeased as she lets Mary in and goes upstairs to do as she is asked. Elizabeth puts down the parcel on the side table as Mary comes in.
EXT/INT. PHILPOTS HALLWAY -DAY
Elizabeth takes both of Mary's hands to greet her and looks her up and down approvingly. Mary stands awkwardly.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Don't let Jackson do that again Mary. You are welcome, always, as our guest.
She leads her inside.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT I see you are becoming quite the young woman now Mary. Do not let people treat you ill because of your class or your sex. Promise me?
Mary nods eagerly.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT (CONT'D) Society is changing Mary and we are part of it. Now come.
INT. PhilpotS SITTING ROOM - DUSK
Mary, top hat in her hands, tentatively enters the large sitting room, where a sumptuous afternoon tea is laid out. Mary looks at it hungrily. She moves forward and then stops, staring around the room. 36.
Every available surface is covered in rock and fossil specimens. Glass fronted cabinets hold more. There are books and papers stacked high. Half unpacked crates and boxes are everywhere. Some of the tables and chairs are still in their packing cloths. She turns as MARGARET (18) and MARY PHILPOT (14) bustle in. They are both more lively than Elizabeth, and though similar in age to Mary Anning, Mary Philpot is most definitely still girlish in her manner. They laugh at her shock.
MARGARET PHILPOT Please excuse us Miss Anning, we are still in disarray and yet to finish our unpacking but after your letter about the new specimens, we could not wait another day for your visit!
Mary peers over one of the volumes that lay open with illustrations of various fossil fragments. Her lips move as she reads aloud.
MARY The Antediluvian ...
Margaret comes up behind her.
MARY PHILPOT You can borrow it if you like, but only if you tell us which specimens you have found here below in Lyme.
Mary turns to her eyes shining and nods, too excited to speak.
EXT. CHARMOUTH ROAD - EVENING
It is getting dark and storm clouds approach as Richard Anning hurries along the path which runs from Charmouth to Lyme Regis. He is carrying a large collecting bag and his usual hammer. He cannot help but stop when the coughing fit takes hold of him. Rain begins to fall heavily. He shivers and pulls his cloak to him as he continues along.
CUT TO:
INT. PhilpotS LIVING ROOM - EVENING
It is cosy and warm inside with a large roaring fire while outside the rain lashes the window panes.
Mary sits at a table surrounded by the excited Philpot sisters and many fossil specimens. The remains of tea and cakes are in amongst the papers and rocks strewn across the table. 37.
MARY (finishing her last mouthful) But I don't know how I find them. Somehow the sea she shows me where the fossils be.
MARGARET PHILPOT You are too modest. I have heard talk ...your teacher is all a struggle to teach you much more. You are well ahead of your years Miss Anning.
Mary blushes with pride.
EXT. CLIFFS - THAT SAME EVENING
Richard stops on the cliff top. It is the same place where Joseph pretended to fall. He looks between the longer, wider safer route and the narrow shortcut path, which drops dangerously down the face of the cliff.
Richard hesitates for a few seconds, looks to the sky which buckets rain down upon him and hastens to the shortcut.
From below we see him picking his way down. Despite his care, he slips and slides. Rocks start to fall and gather momentum.
INT. PHILPOT LIVING ROOM - EVENING
Jackson adds more coal to the fire and replaces the decorative fireguard. Mary and the Philpots are still around the table. As she goes to leave Margaret Philpot indicates they would like more tea.
MARY (seriously) I know I be sharp of eye, some say the sharpest here. But on learnin' science Miss Philpot, I be a knowledge pauper. There is so much I have yet to understand.
MARGARET PHILPOT (kindly) In that my dear you are certainly among friends. We all struggle to understand the world we find ourselves in. But the important thing is to learn as much as possible, don't you think? 38.
Mary nods, dazzled at the sisters' talk and asking her opinion, and the whole place being so different to her own world.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT (serious) Now about your fees.
Mary looks very concerned.
MARGARET PHILPOT Do not fear Mary I think you will like this part.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Margaret and I have agreed that for what you might call a loyalty bonus, where you consider us first port of call in your finds, we would like to offer that you be able to borrow any volume or book we have.
MARGARET PHILPOT As long as we may request it back if the urgent need should arrive..
ELIZABETH PHILPOT You are hardly far for us fetch should this be so. What do you think?
Mary is overwhelmed and can only nod her happy assent. Mary Philpot hands her another fossil.
MARY PHILPOT (eagerly) So tell us how you found this one Miss Anning.
EXT. LYME FORESHORE - MORNING
It is early morning and a large rock and mud fall is at the base of the cliffs. Water drizzles from the unstable cliff face above. In the background, VILLAGERS from Lyme Regis scour the shore. The beach is littered with debris from the storm.
VILLAGER 1 (shouting) Anning!
VILLAGER 2 (calling out) Richard. Richard Anning! 39.
EXT. LYME CLIFFS - DAY
At the base of the cliff, a cold blue hand extends from beneath the landslide covering the rest of Richard Anning's body.
VILLAGER (O.S.) AHOY I
The shout brings the other villagers and the fishermen running.
INT. ANNING SHOP - EVENING
An open coffin lies out on a table. Richard's body is in it. A candle splutters. Mary is keeping watch. She drapes herself over the coffin, laying her head upon his chest, as if listening for breath, her eyes red from crying. She closes her eyes.
We hear the sea as it drags back and forth across the shingles.
EXT. UNDER WATER DREAM SEQUENCE - NIGHT
Mary is swimming through various underwater caves. Extraordinary PREHISTORIC MONSTERS beckon to her from their lairs. She swims towards them in her long dress unafraid.
INT. ANNING SHOP - EVENING
Mary, slumped in her chair, wakes from her vigil. She looks at Richard. Anning is dressed in a Sunday Suit. His bag and hammer lay beside him. She kisses his forehead and puts a little ammonite in his breast pocket. She goes to leave but stops, turns around and takes the hammer and bag out of the coffin before making her way out the door.
FADE TO BLACK.
EXT. LYME ST MICHAEL'S ANGLICAN CHURCH -DAY
The church is perched on a hill overlooking the sea, with the graveyard to one side. A motley group of POOR PEOPLE queue at the church doors.
Mary, her mother Molly, and Joseph are the head of the queue. They stop before the doors, reluctant. Molly has toddler Elizabeth in one arm and Thomas in the other. Mary has the two small children Dick and Percy by the hand. Joseph draws himself up as the man of the family, steps forward and knocks loudly. 40.
The door opens and a sour faced man, MR CLEAVER, beckons them to enter.
INT. ST. MICHAELS CHURCH - DAY
They Annings enter. A small group of local parish OVERSEERS are in the front of the church at one side. They are clearly well-to-do by their dress. The Annings make their way up the long aisle. The church's grandeur is intimidating. Light streams through large stained glass windows. The little ones' excited voices sound even louder inside this space. Mary and Molly try to shush them.
OVERSEER 1 So this is the famous Anning family.
Molly nods miserably and lowers her head. Mary does not lower her eyes and stares straight at the group.
OVERSEER 2 Remind me of who they are Mr. Cleaver.
OVERSEER 3, MR CLEAVER (reading from the record) Richard Anning, cabinet maker, a dissenter and quite the firebrand.
OVERSEER 1 Ye-es. He was the blasphemous collector of curiosities. Went about his trade on a Sunday I believe.
The other men tut,tut. Cleaver goes back to the record book.
OVERSEER 3 MR. CLEAVER We have had to help the Annings out before, have we not Madam?
Molly nods fearfully.
OVERSEER 1 Anning was one of the ringleaders from the riots on the manor in 1800. Sent to prison for twelve months.
OVERSEER 2 That mob that torched the barns?
OVERSEER 1 The very one. Sir Thomas's livestock perished as well as the winter hay and stores. 41.
OVERSEER 2 (disapprovingly) Twelve months seems very mild.
OVERSEER 3 MR CLEAVER There was a question of intent I believe. Anning claimed they did not intend to burn down the barn.
The men look knowingly at each other - as if.
MARY (bursting out) But why would they burn the very food they needed?
Molly and Joseph look terrified at Mary. All three overseers can hardly believe they have been spoken to.
OVERSEER 1 (slight menace) I beg our pardon madam
MARY (refusing to be intimidated) Why would they burn the very food they needed?
OVERSEER 2 I see we have the father's spirit in the daughter with us, quite the skipjack.
MOLLY Don't listen to her Sir. She be distraught with her dear father been taken away so sudden.
MARY They went there to petition an audience with the gentleman, so as to listen to their cause over the new fencing laws. They waited two days in the snow to be seen. Some folk had not eaten in a week.
MOLLY (pleading) Mary 1
Mary ignores her mother. 42.
MARY The fire was accidentally lit during the scuffle with Sir Thomas's men who battled them to leave on the second night. One of the soldiers torches was overturned.
By now the oversees are looking askance at the "dangerous" Annings. Molly and Joseph are looking desperate.
OVERSEER 1 Very detailed indeed. You were there young madam to tell us so?
MARY No sir but were you?
OVERSEER 2 Impudent!
Her gaze is unwavering.
MARY If my father Richard Anning said that is what happened, I know it be true.
With that Mary takes the now crying toddler from her mother and walks out of the church. The overseers are looking very sour. Molly falls to her knees and implores the men.
MOLLY Please kind sirs we are at your mercy. We have no other place to turn. I have no husband and the children have no father. I implore you.
The men look unsure.
OVERSEER 2 (looking to Mary's retreating figure) You have trouble there Mrs. Anning.
MOLLY She took it very hard her father dying. Joseph... Joseph is a good boy, very good with his hands.
Joseph keeps a respectful lowered gaze.
OVERSEER 1 What can you do Sir? 43.
JOSEPH I am some trained in cabinet making sir and am quick to learn. I am sure I could do anything.
The men take in the lad.
OVERSEER 2 Mr. Butlin is looking for an upholsterer. Perhaps he would take an apprentice?
OVERSEER 3 MR. CLEAVER Can you hold your tongue and your temper Mr. Anning?
Joseph nods emphatically.
OVERSEER 1 (checking his ledger) The girl. I see she is twelve.
OVERSEER 2 No sign of any employment yet?
OVERSEER 1 No one will have that brazen hussy as a domestic!
OVERSEER 3 MR. CLEAVER They say she still attends the school.
The other two look incredulous.
OVERSEER 1 Another Methodist radical notion no doubt. That will have to stop. Fees are already owing I suppose.
Mr Cleaver checks the ledger.
OVERSEER 3 MR. CLEAVER The parish has not been paid the year gone past.
OVERSEER 2 Tell Mr. Roberts he must stop teaching her immediately or he will not be paid.
OVERSEER 1 You will need to attend church regularly Mrs. Anning; this church. (emphatically) ...the Anglican church. 44.
Molly nods in relief.
OVERSEER 2 Three shillings a week until such time as you can support yourself.
EXT. ST MICHAEL'S ANGLICAN CHURCH GRAVEYARD -DAY.
Mary sits on one of the gravestone. She has the babe asleep in her lap. Her face is wet from tears. She looks out to sea.
EXT. LYME FORESHORE -DUSK
Anna and Mary walk along the shore, hopping from rock to rock. Mary carries her collecting bag and wears her by now very battered top hat. The tide comes in quickly. Their skirts are wet and bedraggled. Mary is quick and sure footed. Anna hesitates. She stops at a large gap while Mary strides ahead.
The water rushes in around her ankles. She is beginning to panic. Mary goes back and stands before her, thigh deep in the water below the ledge indicating she should hop on for a piggy back.
MARY Cornel
Anna is too scared. She shakes her head.
MARY (reassuring) You be fine Anna, I will give thee a ride on my back and you can giddy me up all the way home.
ANNA I daren't.
Anna is fixed on the waters as they rush in and swirl around Mary's hips. She is clearly scared out of her wits.
Mary is in no way worried by the incoming tide.
MARY (keeping it light) I insist! This horse needs her rider to take her home, she'll not go anywhere otherwise and then we'll all drown!
Anna laughs at this and at that moment Mary grabs Anna and pulls her near. She turns and offers her back to Anna. 45.
MARY Hop on Anna - there is no time.
Anna grabs Mary tightly round the neck and hops on, eyes tightly closed as the waves come in around them. She is terrified. Mary laughs and walks on steadily to safety despite the load.
MARY (shouting above the noise of the waves) I tell you good sirs, unless you are with me in this matter we cannot win.
This makes Anna open her tightly closed eyes and start to giggle. She is no longer frightened. She covers Mary's neck in grateful kisses. Mary sets her down on dry ground and they race for town.
EXT. ANNING SHOP - AFTERNOON
ClOSE ON
A hand drawing - an illustration of belemnite fossils in various cross-section and detail, (see opposite page)
Mary Anning is at a table piled high with curiosities for sale. She is focused and intent. Her skill at sketching the fossil before her is obvious.
The streets are deserted. The only sign of life is a stray COCKER SPANIEL who sniffs around Mary and the table. She pats him absentmindedly and does not notice him steal her piece of bread from the table as she writes.
EXT. ANNING SHOP - AFTERNOON - LATER
Molly comes out of the shop. Her hair has gone completely grey since Richard's death. She picks up the purse and looks inquiringly at Mary who shakes her head sadly. Molly's mouth is pinched in disappointment. Mary holds up a list to try and distract her. The DOG is at Mary's side, clearly comfortable and not going anywhere.
MARY But look! I have made a list of all father's past customers. I will write a note to each and everyone letting them know what quality finds the Anning family have here in Lyme Regis. 46.
Mary shows her a drawing of the coast and some fossils with notes to the side. Molly rolls her eyes. She then sees the Cocker Spaniel we saw earlier.
MOLLY (accusingly) And what is that?
MARY (defiant) This is Trey. He be my new assistant.
MOLLY We can barely feed ourselves let alone a stray like this.
MARY Mother I will feed him, you will not have to worry and I will train him on my fossil hunts, you'll see.
Silence. Molly is furious.
MARY (CONT'D) (placating) And I will act as guide to the gentlemen collectors if they be wanting that as well.
MOLLY (bitterly) It's been three month Mary. They'll not pay us relief forever.
MARY I would rather starve than cook and clean for some lady and her muck.
MOLLY The way things are going, you may not have long before you are tested on that.
Mary shrugs stubbornly, pats Trey and looks past Molly out to sea.
EXT. SHORELINE CHARMOUTH BEACH - DAY
It is raining. Grey sky and grey sea make the blue lias of the coastline even darker. It is very low tide with vast expanse of beach and rock exposed. Mary, her brother Joseph and Mary's small cocker spaniel,Trey, walk the shoreline below the brooding cliff, Black Ven. They carry bags and hammers. Joseph and Mary pick at the shore and discard various rocks as they talk. 47.
JOSEPH No it is hard work! We must have the braziers lit by early mornin' or we will be thrashed.
MARY (incredulous) But you be fed three times a day?
JOSEPH Aye, Mrs. Botulin is a kind woman. She brings us beer and barley in the morning.
MARY Every one?
JOSEPH Every man and boy is fed the same. On some days she even brings us boiled mutton and potatoes.
Mary looks tortured.
JOSEPH And gravy... and for tea we will have bread pudding.
Mary's eyes are round in amazement at such tales.
JOSEPH (CONT'D) (relishing her envy) ...with sweet honey and currants as big as my thumb.
Mary groans, covers her ears and runs off unable to take anymore! Joseph stops dead. There is a bulge under his foot.
JOSEPH (in a high excited voice) Mary!
He begins to carefully excavate. She is with him on the ground immediately feeling the rock.
JOSEPH (CONT'D) But what is it?
Mary paces up and down taking in its size. She is getting excited.
MARY It is big it is.
JOSEPH But why have we not seen this before? 48.
MARY Will Owen's says it is the year's lowest tide. The sea, she normally washes in to that mark on the cliff o'er there. Most days I walk above it on that ledge there.
Mary points to the tide mark on the cliffs and the ledge above them. She paces out the ground again.
MARY Look at the size of it...and rare I would say. Mabbe' rare enough to get us out of debt an' all.
JOSEPH (sceptically) One hundred and twenty pounds worth?
MARY (deadly serious) I have heard such prices paid.
EXT. CHESIL BEACH - DAY - LATER
Mary and Joseph work frantically chipping it out. The huge bulbous eyes of a crocodile like creature emerge. They are both intent.
EXT. CHESIL BEACH - DAY - LATER
They expose the long bony snout. The tide has turned and is on its way in.
MARY Get help, the sea is coming. It will be covered before sundown.
Joseph is hesitant to leave such a find.
MARY (CONT'D) Go! Run!
Joseph runs to Lyme get help while Mary's hammer rings out.
EXT. CHESIL BEACH, LATER - DAY
Mary works as if demonically possessed, trying not to damage the fossil in her haste. The dog barks at the skull top as it emerges. 49.
EXT. CHESIL BEACH, LATER - DAY
Joseph and two local MEN with tools come running down the shore but Mary stands helpless, watching the waves lapping around her feet. There is only the skull she has managed to get out on the sand above the waterline.
Mary falls to her knees and howls in frustration. She is oblivious as the water rushes in and soaks her skirts. Her dog tries to comfort her as the men and Joseph look on not knowing what to do.
FADE TO BLACK.
EXT. PHILPOT HOUSE - DAY
Mary, now a young woman (15) walks up the grand drive. Snow is on the ground. Mary wears her Top Hat and her large tweed overcoat. The hem of her skirts are wet and muddy from her work on the foreshore.
She has a parcel in one hand and a brace of books in the other, she swings them jauntily as she walks confidently to the front entrance.
Mary Philpot appears at the upper window and waves excitedly for her to come in. Mary knocks at the front door. It opens to reveal the prune faced housekeeper, JACKSON, who as usual takes in Mary's grubby attire with a withering up and down look.
JACKSON (unfriendly) Yes?
MARY I am here to see the Misses Philpots, Jackson. They are expecting me.
The maid opens the door reluctantly.
INT. PHILPOT HOUSE HALLWAY - DAY
Mary enters the hallway as Margaret Philpot comes down the stairs.
JACKSON Miss Anning, Miss.
MARGARET PHILPOT Yes thank you Jackson, please tell Misses Elizabeth and Mary that Miss Anning is here. 50.
Jackson starts to go up the stairs.
MARGARET PHILPOT And Jackson...
JACKSON Yes Miss?
MARGARET PHILPOT (firmly) Miss Anning's hat if you please.
Jackson goes back and Mary hands over the battered topper to Jackson who holds it away from her in distaste.
MARGARET PHILPOT Oh Mary dearest, please say you've not been out in this beastly weather?
Mary hands her the books. Margaret takes them distractedly.
MARGARET PHILPOT Thank you. Come, sit by the fire.
INT. PHILPOT LIVING ROOM -DAY
Margaret ushers Mary into the room and sits down with her on a sofa by the fire. Elizabeth and Mary come rushing in one after the other.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Miss Anning I am sure I saw you and your hat from afar this morning as it began to snowi
Mary nods. Mary Philpot takes Mary Anning's hands in hers.
MARY PHILPOT (dramatically) Please don't make us come and retrieve your lifeless body because you are so stubborn as to work in freezing weather!
MARY (laughing) Oh Miss Mary I promise I won't be needing you to rescue me. I am strong and have a good winter coat. Not to mention a fine pair of gloves from a certain angel of mercy be keeping my fingers warm.
She smiles warmly at Elizabeth. 51.
MARY PHILPOT Well I for one nearly froze on our last expedition. I fear if you had not been there dear Mary and carried me to safety, it is I who might have perished.
MARY How is your ankle?
MARY PHILPOT (rolling eyes) Almost better but Elizabeth has banned all outings until Dr. Vaughan gives me the all clear even though I keep telling you dear Elizabeth, I am fully recovered.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Indeed we are most grateful to you Mary. It would have been much worse but for your intervention.
Mary blushes awkwardly and waves away the compliment. Elizabeth takes an envelope from her skirts.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Oh before I forget...
She hands Mary an envelope. Mary takes it and looks inside at the money. She is shocked at the amount.
MARY I...um..oh Miss Elizabeth, I be forever in your debt!
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Nonsensei You earned it with your hard labours. Indeed we are still struggling to catalogue everything.
Elizabeth points to the half unpacked crate against the wall with labels and various diagrams scattered amongst them. Mary blushes awkwardly.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Come, you are a professional woman now Mary. That is our agreed fee for those magnificent specimens you brought last week.. It is we who are indebted. Is that not so Margaret?
Margaret Philpot smiles at Mary.
MARGARET PHILPOT Indubitably! 52.
Young Mary Philpot takes Mary's hands and spins her round.
MARY Philpot In -con - test -ably!
Dizzy, Mary starts to relax and laugh.
MARGARET PHILPOT Now, what have you here?
Eagerly, Mary reaches for her package.
CUT TO:
INT. PHILPOT SITTING ROOM - LATER
Mary and the Philpots are seated around the table, fossil specimens are littered around the room. Mary is showing them some of her sketches of the Icthyosaurus she and Joseph found and its bone shapes.
MARY It be like this, very large and almost like a crocodile, but with flippers like a porpoise...so it definitely be a sea creature not a land dweller.
Elizabeth looks thoughtfully at the sketch
ELIZABETH PHILPOT But I wonder why the eye sockets are so huge - what purpose do they serve?
Mary shakes her head.
MARY I just do not know why. I was hoping you might have a notion.
Elizabeth shakes her head, while the other two continue to pour over the illustration and fragments. There is the sound of dogs barking and carriage wheels on gravel.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT I do believe that will be Colonel Birch. I took the liberty of asking him for tea Mary. I know he would be most delighted to make your acquaintance.
Mary looks alarmed and self consciously folds her arms hiding her dirty nails. 53 .
MARY Colonel Birch? But what can such a gentleman want with me, here?
Elizabeth goes to the window.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Why to find out what you know of course ...and what you might find.
Elizabeth goes and lays a calming hand on Mary.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Mr Birch is like us, a most avid collector and dedicated to furthering his knowledge of the Antediluvians.
MARY But...
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Hush! He is one of select few who has not only read but supports Mary Wollstonecraft and...He will pay you well Mary. Just be yourself my dear.
EXT. PHILPOT GARDEN TERRACE - LATER SAME DAY
The Philpots, Mary and the Colonel sit deep in conversation at a table on the terrace. The manicured croquet lawn stretches out behind them, formal garden beds are off to the side. It is summer and the grand gardens are at their best.
The remains of afternoon tea compete with fossil specimens and paper and books on the wicker table. Jackson is serving tea and the Colonel is enthusiastically examining the new finds that Mary has brought to the Philpots. A MANSERVANT brings another packing case to sit with the others already open beside the table. They are all full of straw and fossils.
COLONEL BIRCH This is extraordinary. I do not have anything like it. Show me that sketch again.
Mary hands him her sketches of the "Crocodile Monster".
COLONEL BIRCH (sceptically) But if the thing was still in the rock how can you know such a thing? What makes you think it is like this crocodile body? 54.
MARY (offended) My brother and I once came upon what may have been the whole creature but alas the tide was too fast - we only raised the skull but even in such a short period, I was able to get a rough shape of the creature and it is very large Colonel, I can assure you. At least seventeen feet.
Margaret brings over some more pieces from the newly opened crate.
MARGARET PHILPOT Miss Anning has found many things that no one has ever seen Colonel. We are still preparing these together to send to London for the Royal Society.
The Colonel looks at them intently for a moment in silence. The atmosphere is tense as he pores over the pieces and the sketches with them.
COLONEL BIRCH Well Miss Anning I can see that Miss Philpot was right when she insisted I visit and meet you. I tell you I will pay you well for your finds, but only on one condition.
Mary looks at him expectantly.
COLONEL BIRCH (CONT'D) If I do not already have it in my collection or it is a much better specimen than mine. And I must have that creature should it re-appear. Do we have a bargain?
Mary looks conflicted.
MARY (stiffly) We have not Sir.
Elizabeth and Margaret exchange worried looks. Why is she so prickly?
COLONEL BIRCH We have not madam? 55.
MARY Lord Henley is promised the body if the creature ever shows itself again.
Birch is disappointed.
COLONEL BIRCH I see.
MARY But you have my word, any other find I make, it be yours to choose, Misses Philpots permitting of course.
Elizabeth nods. Mary extends her hand for the Colonel to shake like a man would, not as a lady. At first he is awkward and then he shakes it firmly, grinning from ear to ear.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT (relieved) Excellent! I knew you would get on. Now Colonel what news do you have from the Royal Society on the belemnites we sent you? Are we correct in our theory of flotation?
Servants have set up croquet on the lawn behind them. Margaret begins practising hitting the ball between the hoops. Young Mary Philpot comes over holding a croquet stick. She grabs Mary.
MARY PHILPOT Oh please Mary, just one game. You will love it I know. And there is just a chance that I might be your better at this which I should like for a change!
MARY (embarrassed) No I do not play ...
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Go on, see if Mary can't teach you the fine art of croquet.
Mary is slightly awkward but gets up. Mary Philpot plays as if to hit Mary on the head with mallet.
MARY PHILPOT (laughing) Mary Anning, I would think you were very good at hitting things with a mallet! 56.
Mary relaxes and laughs. She turns and races Mary Philpot toward Margaret and the croquet hoops set out on the lawn.
It is quite a contrast to see the Philpots in their finery and Mary in her muddy clothes playing croquet on the terrace.
Jackson shakes her head at this sight as she takes things inside to the kitchen.
FADE TO BLACK.
OVER BLACK 3 YEARS LATER
INT. ANNINGS LIVING ROOM - DAY
Molly sits by the fire crocheting lace. We see the rain lashing the windows and hear the sounds of the waves pounding the sea wall below the Anning's house. Mary (17) is dressed up for cold weather. She puts on her coat and hat.
MOLLY Why would you would be wanting to go out in this filth. It is not safe Mary and you know it!
Mary walks towards the door and takes her collecting bag of its hook. Her dog Trey is up in an instant and at her side, wagging his tail.
MARY It is the best time for finding when the rain fills the cliffs. They are more likely to give up their curiosities mother.
Molly shakes her head at such folly.
MARY We be needing the shillings mother. Are you wanting Mr Cleaver and his parish friends on our backs again?
Molly doesn't answer for a moment. She puts her lace in her lap.
MOLLY I lost a husband to those cliffs Mary don't make me bury you as well. Stay.
Mary comes back from the door and kisses her mother on the cheek before she leaves 57.
MARY And let others get there before me? Collecting be all the rage now mother, I am not the only one out there now.
Mary goes down the stairs. Molly watches Mary from the window as she goes out into sleeting rain.
EXT. SHORELINE CHARMOUTH BEACH - DAY
Mary walks under the cliffs with Trey. She is soaked but the rain has stopped now. She stops and checks her position. This is where she and Joseph found their creature but it is under water. Mary sits on the rocks above the waves and stares out to sea.
Above on the cliff top a man, watches her intrigued. This is HENRY DE LA BECHE, a good looking gentleman of slight build, clearly less robust than Mary. He cuts a dandy figure in elegantly tailored Frock Coat and trousers, brightly coloured waistcoat, and smart top hat. Slipping and sliding on the muddy scree, despite his attempts to protect his clothes and not lose his collecting bag or hammer, he makes his way down the steep cliff path towards Mary.
EXT. CHESIL BEACH - DAY
Mary is fossicking at the cliff base. She is soaked but carries on determined. Henry comes up behind her. Trey lets out a low growl.
HENRY I thought only I was mad enough to be out in this weather
Mary does not answer but grunts discouragingly to him. Henry takes off his hat and bows deeply
HENRY Forgive me. Allow me to introduce myself - Henry De la Beche at your service. I have heard of you, you must be the famous Miss Mary Anning.
Mary keeps at the rock and does not look up. Trey does not take his eye off Henry.
MARY (gruffly) I be her sir.
Mary goes to walk on but Henry follows. He is not used to this kind of reception at all. 58.
HENRY (charmingly) I am somewhat of a collector myself. I often occupy my time searching these very cliffs when I am staying at Charmouth. Perhaps you may be so kind to indulge me and show me if your specimens are as good as they say.
MARY It is my business Mr De La Beche, not my hobby. I do not do this to "occupy my time". My time is precious.
Mary walks off away from a stunned De La Beche. He catches Mary up.
HENRY Miss Anning, forgive me. I did not mean for you to take offence.
MARY (prickly) And none taken Mr De La Beche but as you can see I am working.
He lays his hand on her arm. Trey bares his teeth, growling a warning. Mary looks at Henry askance. He drops his arm. This is not going well.
HENRY (implores) May we start again?
Mary nods her assent. Henry gestures to Trey.
HENRY I have not had the pleasure of being introduced to your assistant here.
Mary smiles.
MARY This be Trey. He goes with me - everywhere.
Henry goes down to the dog's level and doffs his hat.
HENRY (warmly) Why of course. Well I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance Mr Trey I'm sure. 59.
Trey is thawing but is still unsure. He looks to Mary who nods. He wags his tail and offers his paw. A tension is broken and Mary and Henry both laugh at the same time. Henry takes it and gives a little shake.
MARY He seems to like you Sir, I can say there are not many. How is it that I may assist you?
HENRY My interest is mainly in the great new science of Geology. I am trying to map these cliffs.
Henry takes out the sketch book sheltered under his cloak. She has to come near him to see them. We see his sketches are very detailed and well executed.
MARY (reluctantly) You draw well Mr De la Beche.
HENRY (changing the subject) There is a Welshman who is writing a most interesting treatise.
MARY Charles Lyell.
HENRY (excited) You know of him?
MARY (drily) We do read down here Mr De la Beche.
HENRY (enthusiastically) Well I have his latest papers from the Royal Society in London. It is the most extraordinary thing. Mr Lyell is not yet finished but he believes these rocks are of an age we cannot fathom... it may well help explain much of what we find here, in these cliffs around Lyme Regis...perhaps you would like to see it?
Mary is interested but says nothing. Henry draws himself up. 60.
HENRY (CONT'D) Miss Anning, I am most interested in your work. From what I hear, I believe it could help me... in the understanding of such matters.
Mary continues to look at him directly but does not speak.
HENRY ...I ...In fact, I would be most grateful if you were to entertain the thought of coming to my house and visiting me at Charmouth...
Henry points up to Charmouth Village and looks at Mary hopefully. Mary still says nothing but raises her eyebrows at so bold a suggestion of Mary visiting him at his house.
HENRY (rushing on embarrassed) My mother, Mrs De la Beche would be there so you see, it would be most proper ...
Mary continues to look on in some amusement as De la Beche squirms in discomfort.
HENRY (CONT'D) (getting more desperate) Miss Anning, I tell you, these papers are still to be reviewed, they have yet to been seen by anyone...they contain the most extraordinary...
MARY I am not one to mind what people say Mr De la Beche
De La Beche looks embarrassed.
HENRY Miss Anning I did not mean to ...
MARY But I am very minded as to what Mr Lyell may say of these rocks Mr De La Beche, very minded.
Henry is very relieved.
HENRY Then you'll come? For tea?
MARY And geology. 61.
HENRY And geology!
Mary nods and smiles genuinely at De la Beche. Henry laughs in relief. He is quite bewitched by her. That settled they walk back together as equals, he the dandy and she in her work clothes. Trey trots along.
EXT. LYME REGIS FORESHORE - LATER
Long shadows from the cliff are cast upon the shore. Mary and Henry, haven't made much progress getting home. The strange pair of opposites walk together deep in animated conversation, their respective Top Hats bending back and forth together as they talk.
Mary directs Henry over to another site at the cliff base to point something out. Her hammer rings out as she hits the rock with a sharp practised blow and piece of rock comes away easily. She turns it over in her hand to reveal a perfect fossilised starfish.
EXT. COBB - DUSK
FISHERMEN Will Owens and Joe are coil ropes and fold nets. Will gives Joe a sharp dig as Mary and Henry dawdle along, still in animated conversation. The men watch them as they pass oblivious of others.
INT. ANNINGS SHOP - DAY
The shop is full of curiosities and rocks. Fossils are crammed into every nook and cranny, every surface is covered. Mary sits at her table with her specimens and her books. Business is slow. She burnishes a large spiral amonite, polishing it hard until it gleams as she holds its black nautilus shape up to the light. Two SCRUFFY URCHINS run in with a handful of useless pebbles.
URCHIN 1 Please Miss Mary - are they valuable?
URCHIN 2 Yes Miss what can you give us?
Mary looks at them carefully and then shakes her head. She goes to hand them back. The urchins are crestfallen.
URCHIN 2 (desperate) We be needing food in our house.
Mary looks again at the pebbles in her hand. 62.
MARY Except this one, this one I can buy.
She gets a farthing from her purse and gives it to them. They are ecstatic. They run off delighted. She pours them into the large aquarium full of anemones on her table where they settle on the floor. Molly comes in from outside.
MOLLY I saw that. You are too soft.
MARY We know what it is to be hungry mother and who knows, one day they may bring me something worthwhile.
FADE TO BLACK.
EXT. LYME REGIS VILLAGE - DAY
Anna Goodes walks down the steep lane towards the Annings Shop. She has a small parcel that she swings in a carefree way. She hums as she walks.
As she rounds the draper shop she catches sight of Mary and Henry down on the harbour and stops. They are intent, heads bent together as they talk animatedly. Mary is using her hands a lot as she talks and looks very happy.
Anna watches, getting more and more miserable as she does. Mary listens to Henry intensely. Henry shakes his head and then points to the sand with his stick. Mary watches as Henry draws whatever it is that they are talking about in the sand.
Mary shakes her head back at Henry and points to different parts of the "sketch". Anna can see they look very comfortable with each other's company.
Henry and Mary turn to come up from the beach towards Anna, still chatting away excitedly. They don't see her.
Anna panics, wheels around on the spot and races back up the hill unable to face the "happy couple".
INT. ANNING'S LIVING ROOM - DAY
Mary is pacing up and down agitated while Molly looks on bemused. Mary keeps reading and re-reading a note. We see it is an invitation to take tea at Charmouth with Mrs De la Beche and her son Henry.
MOLLY I've not seen you like this before Mary. 63.
MARY But what will I wear? I have nothing suitable? I cannot go.
MOLLY Nonsense you have already accepted though why you be leaving it 'til this late hour to be getting ready I don't know.
Mary looks stricken with fear.
MOLLY (CONT'D) Now, now I am sure we can find something. My Sunday dress. You may wear that. I will go next door to Aggie Bishop and beg some lace so that we can sew that on in a later fashion.
MARY But I have to be there at three o'clock. Mr De la Beche is bringing a carriage.
MOLLY Hushi Don't panic so. Go and draw a bath. I will attend to the dress. Timothy! Come and clean your sister's shoes.
Timothy comes in smirking knowingly at Mary and grabs the shoes. He makes "moon" eyes at Mary. Molly cuffs him and sends him off.
MOLLY Leave your sister in peace Tim and get some blacking from the cabinet in the shop. Look lively!
Mary holds out her dirty hands with their black fingernails in dismay.
MARY Look at my hands! I must scrub them.
MOLLY Mary go! I need time to do your hair before you leave.
INT. DE LA BECHE'S SITTING ROOM - DAY
In a large dark formal room, three different settees are set apart at a distance. Mary, Henry and MRS DE LA BECHE sit on one each. 64.
Mrs De la Beche (50) is a formidable looking widow in severe mourning dress although her husband has been dead some seven years.
Mary, who looks very uncomfortable with her hair plaited up into an intricate style sits stiffly in a dark green dress bedecked with ribbon and lace. Two FOOTMAN in full livery wait impassively on either side of a table with cakes and sandwiches laid out on silver in a formal arrangement. The tension in the room is palpable. Mary looks like she is on a dissecting table.
HENRY Mother, Miss Anning is collector of curiosities. Indeed she is quite famous for her fossil discoveries here in Lyme.
MRS DE LA BECHE (stiffly) Indeed.
HENRY Our friend Colonel Birch sings her praises most highly.
MRS DE LA BECHE (softening) Colonel Birch? A splendid fellow. I have been at his house to see his wife often.
HENRY Miss Anning here is responsible for much of the Colonel's collection.
MRS DE LA BECHE (suspiciously) Tell me my dear how did you learn about such things.
MARY Before he died, my father Richard Anning taught me much of what I know and then I am mostly self taught... with the help of others of course.
MRS DE LA BECHE But who gets these creatures for you?
MARY (boldly) I go out myself and do the finding. There are none other that can do it as good as I. 65.
MRS DE LA BECHE I see.
There is more silence while all three sit uncomfortably.
MRS DE LA BECHE And then what Miss Anning? What do you do with your finds?
MARY Well, I bring them back to our shop and prepare them for selling. If they are not found whole I may have to re-assemble them. It can be quite a business...
MRS DE LA BECHE (aghast) You sell from a shop Miss Anning?
MARY (defensive) Yes, that be my profession Mrs De La Beche. I find and then I sell.
There is an awkward pause. Henry smiles stiffly at Mary who is looking more and more uncomfortable.
MRS DE LA BECHE Am I likely to have known your father Miss Anning?
MARY Very unlikely Mrs De la Beche... unless he were to do some work for you.
Mrs De la Beche looks expectantly at Mary.
MARY He was a cabinet maker as well as a collector of fossils.
MRS DE LA BECHE Indeed.
MARY (proudly) There were no better in Dorset.
There is more silence. In one last effort Mrs de la Beche tries.
MRS DE LA BECHE And are we likely to see you at St Michaels on Sunday Miss Anning? 66.
MARY I think not Mrs De la Beche. I attend the Methodist Chapel. We are dissenters Madam.
HENRY (forced jollity) And a very good sermon I believe your pastor delivers...
He trails off. Mrs De la Beche is shocked. She does not say anything but her face speaks volumes.
MRS DE LA BECHE I don't think I will be taking tea after all. I don't feel very well. Good Day to you Miss Anning.
Mrs De La Beche glares at Henry before sweeping out. Henry is looking miserable but tries to make a joke of it.
HENRY (ironic) I think that went rather well don't you?.
Mary is furious and upset all at the same time.
EXT. PATH FROM CHARMOUTH TO LYME - DAY
Mary is striding along the path, pulling at her clothes, removing the lace and ribbons as she almost runs. Henry is trying to catch up.
HENRY Wait! Whoa there Miss Anning. Where are you going? I will drive you back in the carriage.
MARY You will do no such thing Mr De La Beche. Now kindly leave me to my lesser class self and take yourself back to your mother.
HENRY Miss Anning. I do apologise. My mother does not mean to offend but she is old fashioned when it comes to society ways. She will come round.
MARY I think not Mr De La Beche. I'll not be humiliated do you hear me? (MORE) 67.
MARY (CONT'D) And I'11 not be ashamed of what I do. I did not ask to be born into the lower classes but I am good as the next man or woman and I lead a respectable life, which is more than can be said for many of your class Siri
HENRY No, of course. You are right. Miss Anning, you must know that I think most highly of you.
MARY (bitterly) Indeed! Not bad for a shop girl hey Mr De la Beche?
HENRY (shocked) Miss Anning. You have my word as a gentleman and a Christian that I see you as an equal; both as a fellow scientist and human being.
MARY Despite your mother's opinion of me?
HENRY While I cannot be held responsible for my mother's views it is my earnest hope that this will not change anything, that you and I will continue to be friends.
Mary appears to soften.
HENRY Now please, allow me drive you home.
MARY No Mr De La Beche but thank you. I be needing the air.
HENRY Miss Anning, do I have your word on this matter? That we are still friends?
There is a moment while Mary struggles with her pride.
HENRY (CONT'D) (entreats her) I value our discussions and my time with you most highly Miss Anning. You must know this to be true. 68.
MARY You have my word.
Mary indicates his house below.
MARY But I'll not do this to myself again. Now good day to you Mr De la Beche.
Mary strides off leaving De la Beche watching her go.
EXT. LYME REGIS FORESHORE - DAY
Mary and Elizabeth Philpot walk along the beach. Trey trots alongside.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT My dear I know that you are offended. Henry De La Beche has told me all about tea with his mother.
MARY How dare she speak to me so?
ELIZABETH PHILPOT She will be of old ways Mary... and frightened.
MARY Frightened?
ELIZABETH PHILPOT For her son's prospects. She will be hoping for a good match.
MARY She has no worry on that score!
ELIZABETH PHILPOT No?
MARY (blushing) Miss Elizabeth!
ELIZABETH PHILPOT It is as well to ask these things.
MARY (carefully) I do care for Mr De la Beche it is true. But it is as a friend and colleague in these matters of science and more. (MORE) MARY (CONT'D) I have never met a man with such a mind where I can argue and think things out loud.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT I see. That is valuable.
They walk on in silence.
MARY I have thought we would make a great team Henry and I.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT As a partnership?
MARY Who in my situation wouldn't sometimes think of being elsewhere? Do you think I like being poor?
ELIZABETH PHILPOT (worried) Indeed not.
MARY (earnestly) Oh Miss Elizabeth, please don't misunderstand me. I am not ungrateful. I don't know what I would have done without you and your sisters moving here.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT It is alright Mary. I do not take offence as easily as you.
MARY No you are wiser than I.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Maybe less excitable my dear. But I am proud of you Mary. You are leading the way, as a scientist and a professional woman. Mrs De la Beche is behind the times. More and more women are running there own businesses... and successfully.
MARY I wish I knew them.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT I'm not sure you have to look too far afield. What about Mrs Coade who owns and manages the Coade Stone factory here in Dorset? She is rich and business is booming. 70.
MARY Yes I have heard a little.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT You will know then that there is no Mr Coade?
MARY No!
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Eleanor Coade found it suited her dealings in business much better to be called Mrs but she has no intention of marrying, ever.
MARY Why?
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Her independence. She says she is unwilling to hand over her hard earned fortune to any man.
MARY Well, well.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT There are many ways to live Mary, but if you live outside society you have to be brave, as you have been so far. But you are not alone, my dear.
Mary looks thoughtful.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Come, let's go home for some tea. Cook has promised us some of her famous strawberry fritters. I am famished.
EXT. ANNINGS SHOP - NIGHT
Mary sits at her desk writing by candle light. The shop is a mess of specimens and rocks and models of fossils that she has made out of plaster. She looks tired. She has sketches of ancient cuttlefish with annotated illustrations of their ink sacs, etc.
MARY (V.O.) I think I may have something for you Colonel. This ancient cuttle fish has not been seen by any other as far as I know. (MORE) 71.
MARY (V.O.) (CONT'D) I am sending you sketches I have made of this rarity so you may see what I have uncovered. Their ink sacs appear to be....
EXT. THE RIVER LYME - DAY
Mary and Anna walk along the river Lyme, to the reed bed. Wild swans swim past the reeds as they walk. Anna selects some reeds, and shows them to Mary to see if they are good. Mary nods. They work side by side cutting the reeds. Anna sings a Dorset song as she works. Mary harmonises with her.
ANNA The Water is wide. I cannot cross o'er. And Neither have I wings to fly.
MARY Bring me a boat that can carry two and both shall row, my love and I
ANNA AND MARY (harmonising) And both shall row, my love and I.
EXT. MOUTH OF THE RIVER LYME - LATER
They sit on the rocks, their bundles beside them. Anna holds the reed in place while Mary cuts the reeds for her writing quills. She is quick and deft in her actions with the knife.
MARY They are better than a goose quill for my sketching. A goose quill costs my family two days food. These reeds cost nothing. And we can sell the rest at the market.
ANNA I should like to try them myself for some sketching. I used to draw with the pencil.
MARY We shall make you some - I have ink you may have. You were quite the artist with your pencil and your chalk, I remember. Your portrait of me was very fine. I still keep it with me. I hope one day you will give me one of you so that I may keep that too. Remember you promised me so?
Anna flushes pleased. 72.
ANNA Not much time for that now. I am worn out after a day with the buttons.
MARY I shouldn't wonder, you burn so much wax each day for your button making, you must be exhausted.
Anna looks sadly at her red raw hands that are covered in little cuts and scratches.
ANNA My eyes hurt so...and the sheep horn is hard on my hands but I am getting stronger.
Mary grabs Anna's hands and entreats her.
MARY You are smart Anna Goodes. You will wear out your beautiful hands and eyes. Your quick mind will become slow and stupid, bone headed like the buttons you are making.
ANNA I have a family to feed. You know mother is not well and father has not worked in a month. I just wish...
MARY Work with me. I can teach you. You are clever...
Anna pulls her hands away.
ANNA Like the young gentleman they say attends you? Can you teach me what he teaches you?
Mary is shocked. Anna is jealous.
MARY Henry De La BecheI
Anna shrugs.
MARY Dearest Anna, he is my friend in curiosity. He be almost as obsessed with rocks and these creatures as I be. 73.
Anna looks at her disbelievingly.
MARY . . .he is interested, the way I am interested...... and he will walk the cliffs like me, even in the rain, even though he be some afraid of the water and a poor climber for a man. But he be full of so many ideas and notions...we never stop talking.
Anna looks at her disbelievingly.
MARY Oh Anna, that is what we talk about. Rocks.
Anna still does not speak.
MARY However, his mother is not as enthusiastic about the association. But Henry knows all of London Society people and that is important to my business Anna.
Anna looks sadly at her hands
ANNA I am not strong or learned like you Mary or rich like your gentleman and his friends. But I make more at buttons in a day than most can earn from lace making and labouring and I am good at it. There be no other way.
MARY (deadly serious) You know I would never let you starve Anna Goodes.
Mary turns and takes her friend's face in her hands and kisses her on the mouth.
Embarrassed, Anna gets up and starts to gather the reed bundles. Mary stands still looking at her intently. Anna comes back to Mary.
ANNA (kindly) You Wildhearti (she takes Mary's hand) (MORE) 74.
ANNA (CONT'D) I love you Mary Aiming, you are the dearest sweetest friend in all the world, no matter what people say of you.
They load up their reeds and walk back arm in arm along the beach.
EXT. CHESIL BEACH - DAY
The sea is calm and the tide is out very low on a fine sunny morning. Mary walks along the Lyme shore at the bottom of the cliffs throwing a stick for her dog. He runs ahead and picks up the stick but then he sits and refuses to go on.
Mary reaches her dog, looks up and checks her position. Could it be? She takes out her maps. We see her sketched map of the coastline with her various finds annotated in her scrawl.
She paces out her mark from the cliffs. It is the same spot where she and Joseph found the terrible crocodile! But the tides have brought some sand in over the rocks. She looks at it carefully and begins to move the sand and dig, getting quicker as her excitement mounts.
The depression where they excavated before is emerging. Their old chisel marks are clear on rock.
Mary stops and looks at the incoming sea. She turns to Trey.
MARY Stay!
The obedient dog lays on the creature. She runs back toward Lyme Regis to get help, almost falling in her haste.
EXT. HARBOUR SQUARE - LATER
A panting Mary at the Shipwreck bell rings out her call. VILLAGERS come running and jostle each other for the chance to help. We see her pick her men.
WILL OWENS You have forty eight hours young Mizz' before we be getting our normal tide an' you lose your crocodile.
MARY Quick, take the boats it will be faster. Each man will be paid a- shilling if we get it whole.
The men run for the boats. 75.
EXT. CHESIL BEACH - LATER
Mary and the men are at the spot where TREY patiently waited. The men dig while Mary supervises and sketches the creature that emerges.
EXT. LYME REGIS CLIFF TOP PATHS - HOURS LATER
Word has spread to the villagers and crowds gather to watch from the top of the cliffs as we see the huge crocodile-like animal takes shape below. The noise of the hammers ring out above the sea which is coming in closer.
Joseph with his apron still on hurtles down the hill from the Upholsterers workshop and joins the throng. He races down the steep slippery path, dislodging rocks in his haste to join the men who are sweaty and red from exertion.
MARY (warning) Be careful! We must keep it in one piece if we are to get a good price.
EXT. CHESIL BEACH - LATER
The Philpot sisters arrive in great excitement.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Mary, it is too large for the men to carry, even if you find a dozen strong enough. We will get our driver to bring the horse and cart to the River Mouth and along the beach if he can make it. Shall I bring our men too?
Mary looks to the sea again.
MARY Aye you are right, we are running out of time.
They go to leave.
MARY (CONT'D) And straw, we need straw for packing.
Mary strides over to a workmen and takes his shovel out of his hand to show him how. 76.
MARY No! You Tom Noddie! You be breaking it that way.
She digs it in and angles the shovel.
MARY Like this, but dig more with the pick axe...then we will lever the whole layer up. Will Owens come quick and help...
EXT. CHESIL BEACH - DUSK
The huge crocodile like monster is hoisted up onto the Philpot's cart by the team of men, grunting and groaning as the crowd watches.
MARY Careful! That be it! Will Owens quick, your end be dropping. Lift it!
We see Henry De la Beche in the crowd. He watches her with admiration as he makes a sketch of the scene. Mary is in complete control. She looks up and catches his eye. He smiles. She is muddy but exhilarated.
INT. ANNINGS SHOP - DAY
Mary and her mother count out the money they have earned into different piles for their creditors. There is a ledger they are marking off with their debts in red. With a sigh, Mary reluctantly divides a large pile of notes into envelopes marked to various creditors. The largest pile is in the envelope address to St Michael's church. Molly stays Mary's hand as she puts the last of the money into an envelope.
MOLLY At least be keeping some shillings for yourself. You have earned it lass.
One of the urchins we have seen in her shop earlier arrives breathless. Mary motions him to sit.
MOLLY You have not had a new dress or clothes in years. You are still wearing your poor fathers coat as your own.
MARY Everyone knows what we have found and what we be paid. (MORE) 77.
MARY (CONT'D) I do not want us to be beholden to them. We dissenting Annings keep our word.
MOLLY But Mary, we cannot pay all that we owe even with this latest find. Take some lass.
Mary relents takes back the last envelope and tucks it in her dress pocket. She gives the child a coin in his hand and hands him the St Michael envelope.
MARY Quick Billy Wiggin 'afore I change my mind.
We seem him shoot past their window and up the hill towards the church.
EXT. RIVER LYM - DUSK
Mary walks by a group of hovels by the river. She comes to Anna's house. Inside Mary sees Anna working by the poor light of a smoky fire.
INT. ANNA'S HOUSE - DUSK
Anna comes to the door delighted to see her friend. They embrace warmly.
ANNA I cannot stop. I have an order to be done this last day.
Mary looks around at the mess everywhere. Beyond in the back Anna's mother, FANNY, lies listless on the bed, and coughs weakly. Mary motions Anna to go back to work.
Anna sits and works as she talks, her nimble fingers moving fast. She is surrounded by her work. There are buttons and button-making paraphernalia everywhere, rasps, awls and saw. She points, rasp in hand to some large polished ammonites that grace the mantle piece and smiles at her friend.
ANNA See, I feel you watching over me.
She starts stringing a card of finished sheep horn button.
Mary stays her hand.
MARY Stop those hands for just a minute can you? 78.
Anna stops surprised.
MARY (CONT'D) Close thee eyes and hold out thee hands.
From her collecting bag she gives her a plain parcel. Anna unwraps it and is shocked to find a beautiful brocaded shawl. She looks up at her friend overwhelmed.
MARY It be French, for the finest ladies in Paris.
Anna looks at Mary, how?
MARY From Will Owen, the last ship that came onto the rocks. He gave me a good price.
Mary puts it round Anna1s shoulders and stands back to admire it. She is pleased.
MARY It suits you well.
ANNA (embarrassed) But it is too fine for me, I cannot wear it. You must sell it Mary.
MARY (hotly) It is a gift Anna from me to thee. Promise me you will wear it and never sell it.
ANNA I promise you dearest Mary. Come here.
Anna gets up and embraces Mary tightly as she traces the fine material with her cheek.
ANNA I promise.
EXT. LYME REGIS FORESHORE - DUSK
Mary out on the beaches again. She is looking older. The sky is dark and the rain lashes the coast. She passes the fishermen at the Cobb.
WILL OWENS Howz' your collecting Mary? 79.
She shakes her head, shows them her empty bag and keeps walking home.
EXT. LYME REGIS FOOT OF CLIFFS - DAY
De La Beche and Mary pace out a stretch of rock shelf.
MARY I have found nothing significant these past eight months.
HENRY Patience Mary.
She shakes her head wearily.
MARY How long will it be this time before they show themselves to me?
HENRY You know that I must go away Mary, for some time. Our estate in Jamaica is in need of attention.
MARY (dismayed) For what time will you be away?
HENRY It may be a year. I will do geological survey work for the government as well.
Mary walks on in silence for a few steps.
MARY The Philpots will miss you.
HENRY I will miss you and our fossicking trips here in Lyme.
Mary face flushes with embarrassment.
MARY There may be little left in these cliffs.
HENRY Promise me one thing Miss Anning.
She looks at him expectantly. 80.
HENRY That you will never give up your fossilling. This brave new Science needs you.
Mary looks disappointed but hides it quickly.
MARY No need for promises Mr De la Beche, I have no choice. I could not give it up if I tried. They find me as much as I find them. It were meant to be.
She walks on ahead of Henry who looks after her thoughtfully.
INT. ANNINGS SHOP - DAY
The Colonel is in Mary's shop turning over various specimens in his hand as Mary shines and burnishes "Lady Finger" fossils to sell on the front counter.
COLONEL BIRCH Find me a whole Icthyosaur like the one you sold to Lord Henly and I will pay you well Miss Anning.
Outside there is a commotion. We see SOLDIERS frog march some PRISONERS past the shop window towards the prison. The men are shackled.
PRISONER 1 (calling out) Ahoy! Mary! Mary!
The soldiers are brutal and bash the men with their musket butts and abuse them as they yell. Mary rushes to the door.
PRISONER 1 Tell the missus they are taking us to prison!
PRISONER 2 Tell them we need food.
MARY Aye lads I'll do that - stay strong! Our prayers be with you.
Molly goes to Mary and brings her back inside the shop.
COLONEL BIRCH What is the commotion for? 81.
MARY They are protestin' the new Corn Laws. There are many here in these parts Colonel who cannot eat for these new laws.
Panicked, Molly rushes over to Mary and places a restraining hand on her.
MOLLY Pay no mind to the young firebrand here Sir, she is young and easily stirred.
Mary shakes her hand off and faces the Colonel head on
MARY (hotly) Mother! I know what is good and true Colonel and these laws are not!
There is an awkward pause.
COLONEL BIRCH Well I am inclined to have some sympathy for the poor wretches Mrs Anning.
Both Mary and Molly look in shock at the Colonel.
COLONEL BIRCH Yes you may be surprised at my opinion but I served in the Napoleonic Wars and was often in charge of large numbers of men. An army marches on its stomach so why would these men be any different? The country needs to feed its workforce not lock them up.
He walks to the door.
COLONEL BIRCH (CONT'D) As soon as you have anything I may be interested in, mind you remember our bargain Miss Anning.
MARY (seriously) I keep my word Sir, good and true, on that you can rely.
COLONEL BIRCH I know that Mary Anning. Good Day to you ladies. 82.
He smiles, doffs his hat and exits the shop.
EXT. CHESIL BEACH - DAY
Mary and her dog walk along the beach near Charmouth after a day fossicking. She wears her usual clothes and carries her hammer and collecting bag. She is muddy and her top hat is very battered. She hears a loud BRAYING sound.
She takes the path up from the beach and passes under the cliffs. She looks around but cannot fathom such a sound or its source and keeps walking.
EXT. CHESIL BEACH ROAD - DUSK
Mary rounds the corner. We see a rotund comical figure with a large straw hat upon a DONKEY. The donkey is laden with baskets full of rocks. The man, REVEREND WILLIAM BUCKLAND, tries to make the donkey go forward without much success. Every time he digs in his heels the animal stands firm and brays deafeningly.
He gets off and tried to push the animal from behind to no avail. He is getting very red and perspiring profusely with the exertion.
Mary comes up behind him.
MARY I wonder if I may be of some assistance Sir?
Buckland jumps in the air. He has not seen Mary until now.
BUCKLAND What! Oh madam. You are most kind. I fear I am no horseman and the donkey knows it! I must make a fine sight to see...
Mary cannot stop herself from smiling.
MARY Well Sir, it be quite a sight...
BUCKLAND I knew it! I am an ass!
Both he and Mary laugh at this joke against himself. 83.
BUCKLAND Allow me to introduce myself. I am Reverend William Buckland, Reader in Mineralogy at Oxford and enthusiast for all things to do with the brave new world of Undergroundology. Who do I have the pleasure of meeting?
MARY I be Mary Anning.
BUCKLAND Not the Miss Anning? Oh how simply splendid! I planned to come to your shop in the morning, if I can ever leave this beautiful idyll that is.
They both laugh. Buckland indicates his by now grazing donkey.
BUCKLAND You are not by any chance, talented with living creatures as well as the dead are you Miss Anning?
Mary smiles and pats the donkey.
MARY Do you have any bread in your satchel Sir?
BUCKLAND Bread? Oh I see! Why what a splendid idea! Yes, yes, now let me see, I know it is here somewhere...
He hands Mary bread from his saddle bags. She takes the bridle and leads the donkey on in steps while tempting it with the bread. Buckland walks beside her.
BUCKLAND Well upon my word Miss Anning! That is very good, very good. Mr Henry De la Beche is my very good friend and he tells me I have a great deal to learn from you Miss Anning.
MARY Does he indeed?
Buckland almost scrapes the ground with an exaggerated bow.
BUCKLAND I am your most humble servant Miss Anning. (MORE) 84.
BUCKLAND (CONT'D) I do hope you will do me the honour of teaching me - everything!
Mary cannot help herself and laughs at his flamboyancy. They walk up towards Lyme together companionably as Buckland chatters away pointing to his finds in the baskets on the donkey.
INT. ANNING'S SHOP - DAY
Mary writes out labels for her specimens. Trey is at her feet. He thumps his tail as the bell to the shop sounds. The door opens to reveal Anna. She carries a covered basket.
MARY (thrilled) Anna? What a steal! I did not think I be seeing you 'til Sunday
ANNA I know but I have something for yee.
MARY That be exciting. What have you there?
Anna reveals fresh oysters still in their shell and two bottles of beer.
ANNA Have you time to come out for lunch? I gathered them myself this morn' before everyone else was up.
MARY We have no other customers hey Mr Trey? I think we could shut up shop for a few moments. (gravely) I do hope he is included in our feast.
ANNA Of course, how could I bring oysters and not include that great sea faring dog, Trey.
Mary pats the expectant Spaniel.
MARY (beaming) You see Mr Trey, we are among true friends here. Come on then!
Trey's tail wags madly. They all three make a dash for the door. 85.
EXT. LYME REGIS FORESHORE, ROCK PLATFORM - DAY
Anna and Mary walk arm in arm towards a rock platform, away from Lyme, the cliffs in the distance. Trey walks very close to the oyster basket on Anna's arm. They arrive at their spot.
ANNA And I have another purpose for lunch and our being here. I have finished something for you. Close thee eyes and sit.
Mary sits, closes her eyes and waits impatiently. Anna ties a ribbon around Mary's eyes. There is something attached to the back.
ANNA (CONT'D) Now, you may take off your blindfold.
Mary takes off her blindfold and finds that it is a deep green ribbon with a cameo brooch made from Sheep "Ivory", painted by Anna. She looks at it closely and we see that it is a miniature of Mary and Anna, walking arm in arm by the sea at Lyme with the cliffs in the distance. It is a perfect match for where they are now. Mary is overwhelmed.
MARY Oh Anna dearest, it is beautiful. You have made it from the sheep horn.
ANNA Aye. I used it from that order of large buttons.
MARY Tie it on me Anna.
Anna gets up and ties it round Mary's neck.
ANNA You thought I had forgotten my promise. It took many an hours to get it right.
Mary looks at it again before tucking it into her bodice.
MARY I shall wear it always, close to my heart. 86.
ANNA Goodl Now let's be having those oysters before I have to make more buttons and you have to write another hundred labels!
Trey barks his assent excitedly. They both laugh as they see Trey has almost got the cover off the basket.
INT. ANNING'S SHOP - DAY
Mary is at her desk. She looks at a detailed sketch of a complete Icthyosaur with annotations as to the size and to each part of its anatomy. The scale model is before her. She starts to write again.
MARY (V.O.) My dear Colonel, this new specimen is quite magnificent and the largest that I have known, unlike any other I have found before. It came to me after the wildest storms Dorset has seen for many a year caused a landslip over Chesil Beach. Two poor wretches died that night.
However, as to this creature I have before me, I can state that near every bone is intact - my conjecture as to this creature's anatomy appear well founded. Interest is high but it is yours if you wish it. Please let me know at your earliest convenience. I remain obliged to you, your humble servant...
INT/EXT. ANNINGS SHOP - LATER THAT EVENING
Buckland is at Mary's shop. They sit at her desk surrounded by papers and fossils. There are many candles lighting up all the curios and great shadows are cast up the walls. There is a scaled model of an Icthyosaur on the table. Buckland is concentrating fiercely.
BUCKLAND Now tell me again where I am mistaken.
Mary gets up and walks around to the model, pointing to it as she speaks. 87.
MARY You see here, although it is like the crocodile we know from the Nile, the flippers here are for swimming only.
BUCKLAND Ah! Like the terrible lizard you wrote to De La Beche about?
Mary shakes her head in frustration.
MARY No sir, listen and we will get there yet. This is an Icthyosaur. You mean another creature entirely.
BUCKLAND Miss Anning, Minerals I know but fossil anatomy alas seems beyond my grasp.
MARY It be quite simple. All creatures whether they be ancient or living follow certain principles of anatomy. Monsieur Cuvier clearly states that a carnivore from the ancient world will have the kind of teeth, limbs and organs required for the carnivore that we know today. Know your anatomy well and you can make much sense of even fragments of yesterday's monsters.
Buckland listens and watches intently, making notes and sketches as he goes.
MARY So you see the row of long teeth here - they be blade like, see the two sharp edges stretching from the crown. They be sharp and serrated for tearing flesh not flat for chewing vegetable matter. This be a carnivorous reptile Reverend Rock!
EXT. ANNINGS SHOP - NIGHT
PEOPLE pass by the shop and peer in. They look at their timepieces and shake their heads disapprovingly as to the late hour of Mary's visitor. 88.
INT/EXT. CARRIAGE LONDON PICADILLY - DAY
William Buckland is in a carriage with REVEREND WILLIAM CONYBEARE. They drive past a large crowd of people queuing around the block in Piccadilly Circus. Boys sell pies, chestnuts braziers are alight and trading, doing brisk business with the paper sellers and others.
NEWSPAPER BOY (bellows) Monster crocodile found in Lyme Regis. Monster on display in London. Buy your copy now.
There is an air of great bustle and excitement. They pass Bullcock's Museum where the queue ends. The billboard announces the "Monsters of the Deep" Exhibition in huge lettering with fanciful illustrations.
BUCKLAND It is quite wonderful, my dear friend, Colonel Birch has asked me to write up this latest Icthyosaurus discovery for the Royal Society.
CONYBEARE (shocked) He has asked you?
BUCKLAND My dear chap yes it is quite an honour. This is most important. We will show the French that we are serious about this new science, that we in Great Britain can lead in the field just as much as Monsieur Cuvier and prove that we are right about the deluge without harm to the word of God, or that all of this new science is blasphemy.
Conybeare looks out the window for a moment.
CONYBEARE Forgive me Buckland but you are not famous for your grasp of Anatomy, just what do you know of this creature?
BUCKLAND Ahi I have been most occupied this last month with Miss Mary Anning.
He points to the queue outside. 89.
BUCKLAND That is her find in the museum they are all queueing up to see. This proves the public has an appetite for this new science. She has sent another to the Colonel which I may have full access to. Don't you see my dear fellow this will put us on the map!
Conybeare looks in amusement at his friend's vanity and turns to look out the window.
INT. ANNINGS SHOP - EVENING
Mary Anning sits by the fire and reads to a lace making Molly from the London Times. Mary is excited.
MARY Such was the exhibition's success that the crowd refused to leave, even paying to see the ancient crocodile by candle light. The poor exhausted Torch Boys could hardly keep their arms aloft when some wag reported that the monster had begun to weep. While this is unconfirmed, tempers became so frayed that the London Constabulary were called in to keep the peace.
Mary shows Molly a comic illustration of exhausted boys trying to keep torches aloft as the crocodile "cries" for them.
MOLLY (wryly) There be no mention of who found it then?
Mary shakes her and looks thoughtful.
EXT. LYME REGIS MAIN ROAD - DAY
Anna and Mary walk up the hill from Lyme regis towards both Churches. Mary is fizzing with excitement.
MARY My dearest Anna you would not believe the fuss this creature of mine has made. The Royal Society is fit to explode!
ANNA But why do they care? 90.
MARY It be all about time Anna, about time. Do you realise we are but a speck of dust in this world of ours. These creatures have been here, millions of years before us.
ANNA (shocked) But the bible!
MARY There are many who say that it is not a real account, the bible is only a story...these creatures are much older than the bible1
ANNA Hush Maryi Such ideas...
MARY Oh Anna, I do not mean to say I do not believe in God Almighty. I do and he be wondrous in all he hath made. But don't you see Anna? We be at a cross roads. This new science tell us much more than anyone could have dreamed. And what's more I be a part of it, me. Mary Anning from Lyme regis1
Mary beams at her friend in her excitement. She is literally full of herself. Anna is shocked. She turns towards St Michael's Anglican Church up on the hill.
ANNA I must leave you here.
MARY But the chapel, our choir?
ANNA We have no choice Mary since Mother died. We are on poor relief from St Michael's now, even with me working. The Anglican Church has our debts with added interest.
MARY (resigned) I will walk with yee.
ANNA No. Please Mary. I must walk on my own.
Mary is shocked and offended at her friend's choice. 91.
ANNA Dearest Mary you must be more careful. This fossil business of yours be a compromise to your reputation
MARY (incredulous) My reputation?
ANNA As a lady I You are said to have many gentlemen call... at all hours.
Mary snorts in disbelief.
MARY And you would believe them Anna Goodes?
ANNA 'Tis not I that matter Mary.
She takes Mary's arm.
ANNA (CONT'D) (earnestly) You would be better served to attend the Anglican Church Mary. These are dangerous times to be thought a dissenter. (meaningfully.) ...and worse.
Mary pulls her arm away and strides up the other path to the Chapel, crying bitterly at her friend's betrayal.
Anna left alone on the hill top path watches her go.
INT. VICTORIA GENTLEMEN'S CLUB PIMLICO - DAY
Colonel Birch sits in leather backed lounge chairs in a very proper club, enjoying port and cigars with some other GENTLEMEN. They are served by a BUTLER. One man, MR HAVETT- ALTIMES, a large bear of a man is waving a newspaper at them.
MR HAVETT-ALTIMES By Jove this is what I was telling you chaps about. (reading) The steamer HMS Nelson will set sail from East India Dock for the American Colonies on Monday the 2nd May, 1820. (MORE) 92.
MR HAVETT-ALTIMES (CONT'D) It Is anticipated to dock at Boston Harbour on Monday the twenty-eighth of May, 1820. What do you make of that?
MR DURHAM By my reckoning that is twenty six days. Is that possible? By sail our shipments usually take sixty days.
MR HAVETT-ALTIMES Twenty Six days gentleman, twenty six days! We are in the new era of progress. Half the time is half the cost. It is a sure thing we will make a handsome profit.
MR WATSON Progress is upon us gentlemen. I have recently installed a new mechanical loom on my factory floor in Manchester which has raised my output by one thousand percent.
MR HAVETT-ALTIMES I tell you good Sirs only the foolish or idle can lose money these days. To Progress!
The men all join the ebullient Mr Havett-Altimes in a toast. Colonel Birch has reminded silent and looks thoughtful as the men noisily celebrate their anticipated good fortunes.
EXT. VILLAGE SQUARE LYME REGIS - DAY
A gaggle of angry poor FARM WORKERS with pitch forks, staffs, some carry burning torches, etc. gather around a SPEAKER. A few nervous soldiers are on duty.
SPEAKER 1 All over England these industrial beasts are taking our jobs, our livelihoods. How is a man supposed to eat if he can find no work and how can he find work if these machines do the very job a man does? It is evil I tell you and we must make a stand.
The crowd is getting agitated, various people heckle and call out.
VILLAGER 1 And we all know that a machine needs no feeding like a man does. 93.
SPEAKER 1 You mark my word, as these machines come, so men will starve.
VILLAGER 2 Up yonder, Top Withins have just got a new threshing machine.
VILLAGER 3 Now they tell me I are not wanted. How will I feed my family?
VILLAGER 2 Aye, me 'an all.
SPEAKER 1 And how many men would normally work on the harvest?
VILLAGER 3 Twenty, more if it be a good year.
The various villagers nod their assent at this figure.
SPEAKER 1 You see. Where will it end? We must do something or all of us will starve.
The crowd is getting agitated and shake their tools in the air.
SPEAKER 1 We must go to them and tell them where we stand.
VILLAGER 2 I say we burn the devilish things! Then they will need us for harvest.
VILLAGER 3 Aye burn them all!
With a great cheer the crowd surges forward and push past the soldiers trying to hold them back. There are scuffles and the villagers take the soldiers weapons and march up towards the hill.
EXT. BROAD ST LYME REGIS - DAY
Mary back from collecting walks tiredly up the narrow street towards her shop. She carries an empty bag. She hears the noise and turns round to see the angry MOB pour into her narrow and rush towards her. She flattens herself into a doorway as the mob rushes past. 94.
INT/EXT. HENLEY MANOR, BARN - AFTERNOON
A threshing machine is smashed with sledge hammers by a MOB. Some hold back Manor STAFF desperate to stop them, others wreck havoc.
EXT. TOP WITHINS, BARN - EVENING
Barns blaze as the mob rush from outhouse to outhouse.
EXT. TURNPIKE RD TO LYME REGIS - DAY
A carriage turns down the steep road towards Lyme Regis below.
EXT. ANNINGS SHOP - DAY
Furniture is stacked outside the shop. Joseph is bringing out the last piece with Mary. The Annings' mood is grim. They both look very drawn and thin
The carriage we have seen before pulls up and the Colonel steps down and removes his hat.
COLONEL BIRCH Good day to you Miss Anning, Mr Anning.
MARY And to you sir.
COLONEL BIRCH But what is this Miss Anning? Are you moving?
Mary looks at Joseph warning him not to say otherwise.
MARY You may say that Sir.
COLONEL BIRCH (jovial) I can well understand. My wife says we shall have to move if I keep bringing home more fossils! There is hardly space for our own company. (laughing) She holds you responsible you know Miss Anning!
Mary looks puzzled. 95.
COLONEL BIRCH (CONT'D) I daresay you are at fault for much of my collection Miss Anning, though not as much as I would have liked this last twelve months I might add.
Mary looks worried at this.
COLONEL BIRCH (quickly) But I assure you, your finds are the most rare in my collection Miss Anning, ...and the most complete! ...And for that, I and the Royal Society will always be grateful.
He bows. Mary smiles tensely. Joseph looks desperate.
Molly, looking shockingly older and more gaunt comes out of the shop with some smaller items to lay on the pile.
COLONEL BIRCH Ah Mrs Anning. Good Day to you.
MOLLY Good day to you Sir.
COLONEL BIRCH Mrs Anning I was just telling Miss Anning here how I understand why you have to move. I myself am under siege from my fossil collection. Will you be moving to much larger premises?
Molly shoots Mary a questioning look. Mary is mortified.
MOLLY (gravely) I am afraid you are quite mistaken Colonel Birch. The furniture you see before you is for selling on account of us not having a proper find in over a year now.
Mary cannot bear it any longer and rushes off.
The Colonel is aghast.
COLONEL BIRCH Madam, I had no idea. 96.
EXT. ANNINGS SHOP, LATER - DAY
The Colonel is listening intently to Molly Anning as Joseph and another man load the furniture onto a cart.
MOLLY So you see Colonel we be destitute. This here is all we have left - to be sold so as to pay the debtors and to put food on table. Mary be too proud to tell you.
She looks around and comes closer to confide in him.
MOLLY Who knows Colonel perhaps now she will even consider marriage before she is an old maid and give her mother a grandchild before she is in her grave. (Almost to herself) Although I be bearing ten babies, with Richard gone, Joseph and Mary are all I have left in the world, all I have left.
COLONEL BIRCH We all worry for our children Mrs Anning. Is there someone special?
MOLLY (sadly) There is talk Colonel but truly, the only sweethearts Mary be havin' are those creatures in the cliffs you both so love so much.
The two stand in awkward silence.
MOLLY She does not know it but I have even found her a position at Charmouth Lace factory to work with me. By rights she be too old to start but she is strong... and clever. She will learn.
COLONEL BIRCH (shocked) I must say Mrs Anning I am most distressed. Miss Anning's discoveries and knowledge is pushing the very frontiers of this brave new science. Without her... (MORE) 97.
COLONEL BIRCH (CONT’D) I am sorry but I am bound to say it, if Mary Anning were to give up her collecting to make lace, it would be Great Britain's loss and nothing less.
MOLLY That may be Sir and you are very kind to say so but my family cannot eat ideas and lace making is a fine Dorset profession, especially for widows and their daughters. It will feed us. And now if you will excuse me, I be helping Joseph now.
With that Molly Anning starts to load the cart with the two men in front of an embarrassed Colonel.
EXT. SHORELINE CHESIL BEACH, LATER - DAY
Mary sits on a rock under the cliffs and looks out to sea, all the while fingering the brooch that Anna gave her. Trey sits at her feet. Mary bends down and strokes the dog who anxiously tries to lick the tears from her face.
EXT. KEW GARDENS - DAY
Buckland and Colonel Birch stroll alongside the great glass houses. Buckland carries a newspaper and is excited. Birch is distracted.
BUCKLAND (reading) The honourable Reverend William Buckland of Oxford University in his latest lecture, proposes that the fossils are of ancient hyena like creatures that once roamed the Wiltshire moors...I never said Wiltshire!
Buckland holds up a full size cartoon which shows him teaching his class at Oxford surrounded by dinosaur students.
BUCKLAND Do you see Colonel? I think they make quite a fine likeness of me these days.
Buckland is immensely pleased with himself although he does feel his generous waist a little self consciously in reference to the picture showing him as quite fat. Birch is distracted.
BIRCH Hmmm. 98.
BUCKLAND We are this close to pipping those Frenchmen on this Colonel, this close! I am ready to publish in a matter of days. I am waiting on Miss Anning's final opinion on the subject and then I will deliver! Prepare to be astounded by your friend here Colonel, simply astounded!
BIRCH (exploding) Goddamitt man, you have no idea do you do you?
BUCKLAND (shocked) I beg your pardon Sir!
BIRCH The Annings are selling their furniture for food. They have nothing. They are having to leave the shop, their home.
BUCKLAND But Miss Anning, Mary... she never said anything...
BIRCH No, too damn proud to say anything.
BUCKLAND This is very grave indeed.
BIRCH (drily) Indeed Sir, if Mary Anning were to shut up shop, there may be precious little to show in your new papers to the Royal Society?
Pause.
BIRCH (CONT'D) Who will teach you your fossil anatomy then?
For once Buckland is at a loss what to say and looks out the carriage window very worried.
INT/EXT. LONDON AUCTION ROOMS - DAY
CLOSE ON: A sign. 99.
Auction of the Honourable Colonel Birch - Complete collection of Curiosities and Fossils - all to be sold on this day 20th May, 1822. Complete catalogue available on request.
A crowd is squashed into the Auction rooms. The excitement is high as the bidding starts. There are many GENTLEMEN, some LADIES from both England and overseas, and business is brisk. Through the windows we see more people crowded looking in.
AUCTIONEER Now what am I bid for this extraordinary specimen, the like of which has never been seen before.
He holds up a large skull with long snout and huge eye sockets. SKETCH ARTISTS from the London Times and the Daily Telegraph hurriedly make sketches of both the fossils and the people bidding.
AUCTIONEER Come my good Sirs, I know we have many keen collectors here, this will be a fine addition to any serious collection. Will someone start with Two Guineas?
In the crowd we see Henry De la Beche with a young woman, EMILY BENNETT- she is obviously something to him and he to her by the way that she touches his arm, etc.
A GENTLEMAN in the crowd indicates a bid with an incline of his head.
AUCTIONEER Two Guineas from Sir James.
Another GENTLEMAN, a French man with wild red hair and dressed in decorative fashion indicates his bid with his cane. The Auctioneer plays to the crowd.
AUCTIONEER And we have two guineas and one shilling From Monsieur Cuvier, Bonjour to you good Sir.
The crowd ripples at this. Another bid is made from a gentleman at the back. The Auctioneer nods. The bidding is quick, the atmosphere tense as the auctioneer follows the BIDDERS round the room.
AUCTIONEER Two guineas and two shillings... And three shillings... and four... and five and...
DISSOLVE TO: 100.
INT. LONDON AUCTION ROOMS - AFTERNOON
The hammer comes down sharply.
AUCTIONEER One Hundred and twenty pounds! Sold to the Swiss gentleman.
The crowd gasps. This is an enormous sum of money. At the back Colonel Birch looks quietly pleased.
The Sketch Artists and REPORTERS start to make for the door as the auction breaks up. Henry looks across the room and tips the Colonel his hat as he escorts his companion out.
EXT. ANNINGS SHOP - DAY
The Colonel is astride his horse outside the closed and boarded up shop where Molly and Mary stand. Molly stares in shock at the purse he has given her. Mary is awkward.
COLONEL BIRCH It is yours Mrs Anning. All of it. Your family has earned it. There is Four Hundred Pounds there.
Molly starts to cry.
COLONEL BIRCH But there is one condition.
MOLLY Anything Sir, anything.
COLONEL BIRCH You must promise me Mrs Anning, Mary must not make lace. Ever.
MARY (confused) Lace?
COLONEL BIRCH Mrs Anning do we understand each other?
Molly shakes her head defeated and laughs.
MOLLY Completely Sir.
Satisfied the Colonel goes to leave.
MARY Colonel! 101.
The Colonel stays his horse. Mary steps forward, and kisses his gloved hand in passionate gratitude. The Colonel is embarrassed.
MARY God Bless you Sir, God Bless You.
On the lane outside shops just above the Annings, VILLAGERS note what is happening and tut tut disapprovingly at Mary's passionate gesture.
EXT. ANNA'S HOUSE, AUTUMN - DAY
The trees have lost their leaves. Mary walks down the path by the river Lym on her way Anna's house. She is pleased with herself as she carries a tray of pies as a peacemaking present for her friend. She carries a bag full of food over her shoulder as well.
Mary knocks at the door of the hovel. There is no answer.
There is a great thrumming sound of beating wings. Mary looks up. It is the wild swans taking off from the river. Mary watches them go.
Mary sees there is smoke coming out the chimney. She knocks harder again.
A pale young girl, NANCY, Anna's sister opens the door a crack.
NANCY We all be sick with the ague, you must not come in.
MARY But I have fresh pies from the bakery and meat in my bag.
Nancy is very interested in the food but holds the door fast.
NANCY People leave it on the cart over there. I'll fetch it when you go.
Mary does not move.
NANCY You'll catch it if you come close. Father is already gone from us yesterday.
MARY (panicked) Anna? 102.
NANCY She be in the back. But you can't...
Mary pushes past the shocked youngster.
INT. ANNA'S HOUSE - DAY
Mary goes into the gloomy cottage and places the food on the table and goes past two small listless bodies on a cot to the back where Anna lies almost unconscious with the fever. She lies on the shawl that Mary gave her earlier.
Mary wraps her in the shawl, takes her in her arms and rocks her, smoothing her hair and kissing her brow.
MARY Now now my pretty don't you be leaving me, don't you be leaving me Anna Goodes.
Mary tries to get the comatose Anna to take a drink but fails. Still holding her close, Mary talks into Anna's ear.
MARY Oh Anna, my Anna who will I be in this world without you? Please dearest, I beg you, don't leave me. Don't leave me.
Mary starts to weep while the young girl looks on miserably.
EXT. DOCTOR'S HOUSE - DAY
A SERVANT is polishing the Dr's Brass plate. Mary bangs on the door furiously. The servant looks nervously at the dishevelled Mary.
MARY Where is he?
SERVANT You be needin' the back entrance Missey, they don't take too kindly to callers like us at the front, especially when he be havin' his luncheon with the Mrs.
Mary pounds the door harder. A shocked MAID opens the door.
MARY Tell the Doctor he be needed - NOW! 103.
MAID (loudly and haughtily) I am afraid Dr. Vaughan is not available for visiting. Please come back in one hour.
The maid then quietly steps forward to Mary who she obviously knows and whispers urgently.
MAID What has got into you Mary Anning, banging on doors and shouting for the Doctor like a mad woman?
MARY (hissing) Becky Tanner, I have fed your two cousins Will and Jack more times than I remember and I have hidden a keg or two for your family from the custom men so you be going in that parlour and telling that worm Dr. Vaughan I need him here. NowI
Becky realises it is futile to argue. She beckons Mary in.
INT. DOCTOR'S HOUSE, LIVING ROOM - DAY
Mary rushes into the living room after the maid. The Dr and his wife are having lunch and are shocked to be interrupted like this.
MAID Miss Anning Sir...on a most urgent matter.
She withdraws looking at Mary imploringly before she can get into more trouble.
MARY I need your services Sir, now.
DOCTOR VAUGHAN That may be so Miss Anning but I am not accustomed to being interrupted at my table nor spoken to in such a manner in my own home.
The Doctor's wife shakes her head in disbelief at the cheek. Mary controls herself with difficulty.
MARY I beg you Sir, there is someone very ill down by River Lym. They have the Ague very bad Sir. She will die unless you come, now. 104.
MRS VAUGHAN (outraged) The Doctor does not go to that slum by the River!
Mary steps forward and shows her purse.
MARY I have coin. I will pay you double your normal fee.
The Doctor is reluctant but looks greedily at the purse. He feigns ignorance of who Mary is.
DOCTOR VAUGHAN I am sorry Miss...
MARY Anning, Mary Anning.
The sight of the money suddenly helps him remember.
DOCTOR VAUGHAN Oh yes... the fossil lady. Look I am most sorry, it is very wretched this thing but...
MARY Three times your normal fee. And I will pay you here, now, but you must come immediately!
The Doctor looks at his wife - really this is too much money to turn down. She nods but still managing to show her distaste puts her hand out. Mary starts to count the coins out as the Doctor rises and goes for his bag and hat on the sideboard.
EXT. ST MICHAELS ANGLICAN CHURCH, GRAVE YARD - DAY
NANCY, in her patched and ill-fitting Sunday best, stands in the churchyard with two smaller sisters on one side of an open grave. Mary stands grief stricken on the other side. They are in the part of the graveyard without headstones. Too poor for coffins, Anna and her fathers' bodies lie in their cloth shrouds beside the grave, the upper half of Anna's body is wrapped in the bright shawl Mary gave her.
Various VILLAGERS stand in attendance including the sailors and marketplace people we have seen already. The new parson, MINISTER DURRELL, attended by Joseph Mary's brother, addresses the gathering.
Mary and Anna's sister watch as the bodies are lowered into their common grave. 105.
MINISTER DURRELL And so we commit George and Anna Goodes to God. I cannot do this before drawing to your attention this young woman; despite having almost nothing herself, her acts of charity are known to all far and wide here in Lyme. There is 'nare a soul who has not had some kindness from this lass who lived her life as our lord would have wanted.
Wild Flowers are thrown onto the shrouds. Mary throws roses onto Anna's shroud as earth begins to fall on the bodies as the GRAVE DIGGERS do their work.
Joseph hands the minister the incense burner which he swings over the bodies as they are buried.
MINISTER DURRELL Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.
EXT. WALL OF ST MICHAEL'S GRAVEYARD - DAY
Mary, tears streaming down her face, can take no more and leans on the wall for support. She turns to leave.
JOSEPH Mary. Wait I
Mary starts to walk. Joseph her brother catches her hand.
JOSEPH Wait will ye? I told you to wait!
Mary looks at him, her tear stained face in agony at Anna's death.
JOSEPH I want you to meet the new Minister.
MARY (steely) I have no need of this church Joseph.
JOSEPH Mary please 1
The new minister is on his way over.
JOSEPH I beg you - be civil! 106.
Mary snorts in derision and goes to leave. But Minister Durrell is there already and greets Mary warmly while Joseph looks on anxiously at his hot headed sibling.
MINISTER DURRELL Miss Anning!
JOSEPH This is who I was telling ye about Mary. This be our new Minister, Mr Francis Durrell, recently from Axminster.
Mary is stiff and uncivil in her glare. She acknowledges the Minister with a curt nod.
MINISTER DURRELL May I take this opportunity to thank you for your donation to Nancy and her younger sisters. They will be able to stay in their own home due to your kindness.
MARY It was nothing more than Anna would have wanted.
MINISTER DURRELL Indeed Miss Anning I have heard from many here today that you are not far behind your dear departed friend when it comes to charity in this village.
Mary is embarrassed and flushes, waving away the compliment awkwardly. She begins to walk away again. He is undeterred and follows her.
MINISTER DURRELL Miss Anning, I know that you have had a great loss but I would like to make your acquaintance better. Perhaps there is another time you could come...I could offer you supper after a long day collecting? I hear it is hard work.
Mary stands gobsmacked.
MARY I am not much used to having my company sought Minister Durrell. If you are looking to your future, you would be wise to perhaps do otherwise.
The Minister appears amused. 107.
MINISTER DURRELL I think you will find things much changed here at St Michael's now Miss Anning.
Mary looks at him, how?
MINISTER DURRELL God does not divide us Mary, people do.
They all walk together.
MINISTER DURRELL I think that you should know that I am a keen collector of curiosities myself.
MARY Does that not make you rather a danger to your own church Mr Durrell?
MINISTER DURRELL On the contrary. I am one of those in the church that believe these wonderful monsters... these creatures you find in our cliffs, only serve to prove the infinite wonder of our Lord's world.
MARY (earnestly) I do believe in God Sir, most fervently.
MINISTER DURRELL I don't doubt it. My new warden here Joseph has told me so much about your work in this new science...and your father's work.
Mary looks to Joseph who is wearing an "I told you so" look by now.
MINISTER DURRELL I would appreciate if you can spare some of that precious time of yours to help me learn about this great mystery we have here in Lyme Regis.
The parson stops and extends his hand to Mary. She takes it and shakes it firmly.
MARY It will be my pleasure. 108.
INT/EXT. ANNINGS SHOP - NIGHT
It is dark outside. Mary is bent over at her desk. Books and fossils compete for space. The candles cast great shadows of skeletons and fossils against the walls.
On a long table against one wall, there is an almost complete plesiosaur skull and neck set in plaster.
We see that Mary is painstakingly copying the drawings and text out of George Cuvier's treatise, Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles des Quadrupedes into English.
CLOSE ON:
Text in French below the drawing. Mary's finger traces it as she speaks it aloud, haltingly in her attempt at the French. She stops at one word she does not understand, moving her lips as she writes it. She stops.
MARY Encorne? Le crane Encorne?
She takes a battered tiny French /English dictionary from the shelf and looks up a word that has stumped her. A carriage of well-to-do visiting HOLIDAY MAKERS goes by, the figures within pointing at the shop as they pass.
EXT. LYME REGIS CLIFF TOP PATHS - DUSK
Mary (27) is walking home with Trey from Charmouth on the top path. We see their silhouette, she with her top hat and her collecting bag on the skyline as the sun goes down. She is thoughtful as she walks. Mary looks up as far off, a ships bell sounds.
EXT. LYME REGIS CLIFF, ABOVE LYME REGIS HARBOUR - DUSK
On the harbour side, there are people everywhere. Mary strokes Trey and she watches a large ship being unloaded. Men jostle for the right to take cargo. People and luggage come off the ship still.
Then a figure in top hat and brocaded frock coat emerges from the crowd. He scans the people on the cobb to no avail. Then he looks up to the cliff and sees Mary and Trey. He doffs his hat to her and makes a most exaggerated bow up to her.
EXT. LYME REGIS CLIFF, ABOVE LYME REGIS HARBOUR - DUSK
Mary laughs. She doffs her old battered top hat to him in exaggerated style. Trey senses her excitement, wags his tail and barks. 109.
EXT. CLIFFS, LYME REGIS BAY - AFTERNOON
A huge wave crashes at the foot of towering black cliffs. Gradually see that there are two small figures picking their way along the base of Black Ven. Trey trots on after them. The long shadow of Black Ven on the sand is covered, as the sea rushes in.
The two figures stop and examine part of the cliff above them. It is Mary in her large much mended overcoat and battered top hat and Henry in his top hat and smart coat. She takes a small hammer from the basket at her side and chips away at the shale above. She is looking at a rock shelf below her with fierce concentration.
He reaches up to catch the fragment. Heads bent together, they are animated in their conversation as he turns it over in his hands.
The sea pulls back and forth across the shale as the tide comes in. Clouds are gathering on the horizon. Mary looks out across the bay deep in thought.
MARY Every day I look upon her countenance and every day she bears me a new expression. I never know what each will bring.
HENRY I have missed you Miss Anning.
She ignores him and looks out to sea. There is silence except for the wind. Henry looks anxiously to the horizon.
HENRY I think we should consider our position, it would appear the predicted South wind is coming in.
MARY (affectionately) You be a worry-wort Mr De la Beche.
With a nod, Henry acknowledges it is true he is a worrier but continues to look anxious.
MARY The sea be my mistress but I know her well. She only leaves me what she is finished with. We be fortunate today, I have only seen it so low when my dear father was alive. Cornel
Henry looks puzzled and follows. 110.
EXT. ROCKS, LATER - DAY
HENRY and MARY stand on a a large rock platform near the base of the cliffs. MARY is pacing up and down gazing at the rock surface while HENRY looks on perplexed. To us it looks just like that - a rock.
EXT. ROCKS, LATER - DAY
Henry is sitting on a rock in the distance, sketching on his knee, while Mary works at the rock platform with her hammer. She is very intent. He gets up and comes over to her.
HENRY Here, what do you think?
It is a cartoon sketch of Mary in her top hat and tweed coat fossicking. Mary points to a small figure in the drawing's background.
MARY What might that be?
HENRY That be me, Miss Anning. Henry De La Beche - at your service.
MARY You're very good at sketching Mr De La Beche. You have caught me well.
They both laugh. We can see it is a good likeness. (See opp)
EXT. ROCKS, LATER - DAY
The SHAPE of a plesiosaur (ancient lochness like creature) is emerging from the rock as MARY chips. HENRY is standing back, making a sketch. They are intent. Shadows have lengthened. The sea creeps in.
EXT. ROCKS, LATER - DAY
MARY almost has the head out now and is deeply engrossed, chipping away at the rock. HENRY is excavating the other end. Sleeves rolled up, sweat on both brows, they look up at each other and smile a smile of pure elation.
EXT. ROCKS, LYME REGIS BAY - LATER
The waves are near the edge of the shelf. MARY There is nothing like it I know
HENRY Do you know what you are saying?
MARY I do but you must admit it is too strange. There is nothing like it.
Henry looks at her quizzically.
MARY (forcefully) ) I know it. There are none like this anywhere on this earth.
Henry paces agitated.
HENRY The deluge, the great flood has wiped them out surely?
MARY You said yourself, the rock formations tell us - these creatures must have lived much before then, much before.
HENRY What is your explanation madam? Are you a supporter of Lamarck and his ideas of transformation?
MARY I am not sure what I believe but I know that it is foolish to discount his ideas.
HENRY Do you not believe in the word of God? Would you have the old testament a fancy?
MARY It is the word of man that impresses me less...Who are we to say this is not God's plan?
HENRY What does Reverend Buckland say of your queer theories? 112.
MARY If the good Reverend knows as much about the bible as he does of anatomy, I fear for his parishioners.
Henry laughs.
HENRY What will he make of this I wonder?
MARY (bitterly)) Another new paper to the Royal Society, with himself as author I should imagine. Anything that becomes him more of a big wig than he already is. His name in Society Papers would seem to cast aside his theological doubts.
Henry smiles wryly.
HENRY But Miss Anning you know that Buckland is one of your most fervent admirers and The Royal Society does not allow women...
MARY (angrily) Why! When this woman here before you be knowing more than those men up in London giving their papers?
Mary is warming up to fury. She paces up and down swooping in on the more timid Henry to make her points.
MARY I may not have the education ...or the privilege of your class Mr De la Beche or your manners and I may have to be soaked by the rain day after day to earn my living by these creatures but you know it be true that I know more of this science than many of your fellow society members, who write paper after paper from their desks...
HENRY That is true. 113.
MARY The very same men who come down here and suck my brains out for information, take what I give them - freely, and then take the credit. Am I not their equal sir?
HENRY You are indeed and more so Mary Anning.
MARY They use me ill, Mr de La Beche, they use me ill.
HENRY (seriously) If I can help it, you will have your proper due one day Miss Anning. I promise you.
Mary stops in her rage and looks at Henry.
MARY Since my Anna died, I believe you are my dearest friend in this world Henry De la Beche.
He looks expectantly at Mary but her fury is spent and the fossil awaits them.
MARY Come. We must finish.
EXT. CLIFFS- EVENING
The light is fading and the sea has climbed much higher and is wild. HENRY and MARY are picking their way along the base of the cliffs. Basket clasped to her side, hand outstretched, Mary beckons to him to follow her along the narrow ledge. Henry hesitates as a great spray of surf rises behind her. He looks down at the rocks below in obvious fear.
The sea is pounding the rocks below. She stretches out her hand to him.
MARY Come! You must not tarry, she will not wait her tide for us. The storm be nearly in.
HENRY (frozen to the spot) I fear I cannot. 114.
MARY You must or we will...
But as she speaks, a great wave comes up the base of the cliff behind him and drowns out the rest of her sentence. Henry is shocked and starts towards her. She leans into the cliff wall, calm, but as he moves forward, he slips and falls down the side of the cliff.
HENRY Oh Help! Oh my Lord!
MARY Mr. De la Beche!
Mary leans forward and offers her hand to pull him up. He is now holding onto the ledge for dear life with both hands, scrabbling to find a foothold for his feet below.
MARY Here, Mr. De la Beche!
Henry is too terrified to move.
HENRY (screaming) Miss Anning, save yourself! Stay back!
Mary leans over with her leg braced to take the strain.
MARY Mr. De La Beche, I beg you, take my arm. I am strong.
The sea continues to come in. Henry can't stop looking down.
HENRY I cannot.
MARY (above the roar of the waves) What?
HENRY I cannot ask a member of the fairer sex to put herself at risk because of my stupidity, my clumsiness.
Mary shakes her head in frustration at his misplaced chivalry. The waves are now at Henry's feet.
MARY Henry! The tide is returning fast. Give me your hand or you will be lost upon the rocks. 115.
Henry shakes his head.
MARY (CONT'D) I will stamp upon your fingers.
HENRY Miss Anning I beg you - save yourself and go!
Mary looks out to the sea and then to Henry. De la Beche is obviously paralysed with fear, unable to move.
MARY Henry, I will count to three and then I will bring my boot down upon your hand.
HENRY Miss Anning! I must protest!
The waves crash. Mary raises her foot.
HENRY Miss Anning! Go!
Mary stamps it down hard beside the fingers of De la Beche. At the movement, he lets go in fright. Mary swoops down, grabs his hand and pulls him up to safety onto the ledge. She is strong.
He collapses to her breast and looks up to her face.
HENRY It is I who should be saving you dear Mary.
MARY (wryly) I know.
HENRY Oh Mary, my dear sweet Mary, I...
They look at each other for a moment before Henry kisses her passionately on the mouth while the sea rages below, waves crashing near their feet.
Mary breaks free from his embrace.
MARY Do you know what you are doing Sir?
EXT. LYME REGIS BAY - EVENING
Mary and Henry walk in heavy silence along the shore towards Lyme Regis. The gloomy mass of Black Ven is behind them. 116.
HENRY I wish that I were as brave as you Mary Anning
MARY (ruefully) I wish you were too.
HENRY What are you saying?
Mary stops and looks away from Henry towards Lyme Regis with a heavy heart.
MARY There be talk sir... of a beautiful and well bred lady, that even lowly folk from far flung villages such as Lyme are privy to.
Henry realises what she is saying and blushes. He tries to take Mary's arm but she walks ahead. He rushes to catch her up.
HENRY Mary, listen I...
Mary stops and points to the cliffs beside them.
MARY We be like these fossils in that there cliff's strata - from different worlds.
Henry takes both Mary's hands and looks into her eyes.
HENRY I have you in my heart Mary Anning.
MARY I know and you be in mine but as a dear friend Henry. We cannot change Society.
HENRY But Society is changing! Do you not see, we are in the middle of a great flux? There are machines to pull us along where once there were only horses; there are lights where once it was dark.
Henry gestures to the rocks and cliffs. 117.
HENRY There is all this, which will change our very thinking of the world!
Mary keeps looking out to sea.
MARY So you will bring me to Charmouth Ball Rooms, to meet your mother in public? You will have me by your side in London as your equal?
Henry looks agonised by the impossibility of such a request.
HENRY Mary, you know I am a poor man without my mother's favour...
Mary, as if struck by blow goes very still. Controlling her disappointment, she takes her hand from his and shivers. There is the low rumble of thunder.
MARY We will never speak of this again.
Mary looks to the horizon.
MARY We must go or we will perish.
She strides on ahead leaving Henry standing watching her go. The distance between them lengthens. The waves rush around his feet.
EXT. LYME REGIS MAIN BEACH - DAY
It is summer and the tourist season has begun in Lyme. The gentry and upper middle classes have come to Lyme for their holidays. Bathing machines pulled by horse move onto the beach. Rowing boats with signs "For Hire" bob as they are moored to the Cobb. CHILDREN with hot potatoes and pies, sing out their wares. The streets are full of bustling activity. Several COUPLES and FAMILIES stroll along the promenade and the Cobb. A small gang of CHILDREN pester their parents for some coins. They run off towards Mary's shop singing as they go.
CHILDREN She sells seashells by the seashore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore, I'm sure she sells seashore shells. 118.
INT/EXT. ANNING SHOP - DAY
Through the window we see them race up the lane still singing as they enter Mary Anning's Shop. Mary (29) is assembling a model of a small fossilized reptile. She looks up from her work and smiles at them generously.
CHILD 1 Please Miss, what great creatures have you to sell us?
MARY That would greatly be dependant on your budget young lady. Fossils are very expensive.
CHILD 2 Do you have any dragons Miss Anning? We heard you have dragons...
MARY Well now I think dragons may be beyond your budget - they are the most expensive. But here let me see what you have.
The children whisper together as they pool their pennies and count their coins and then bring them to her.
CHILD 1 We have six pence.
Mary looks at them gravely.
MARY That be a serious amount.
The children are relieved.
MARY Let me see what I have here.
She looks through her collection and finds a piece for each child.
MARY These are worthy specimens. You have history in your hands
They scamper off delighted. Mary smiles and returns to her work. 119.
INT. PHILPOTS HOUSE/DINING ROOM - EVENING
A formal dinner table is set out with great style. In the middle of the table there is an ice carving of an Ichthyosaurus. The three Philpot sisters sit chatting amongst their guests.
Buckland, Conybeare, Colonel Birch, and Henry De la Beche among OTHER MEN. There is an empty chair at the table where a first course lays untouched. Elizabeth indicates to the servant to take it away. The door opens and a breathless and dishevelled Mary bursts forward to apologise as she sees Elizabeth.
MARY Miss Elizabeth I am so sorry to be late but I. ..
Margaret Philpot leaps up and rushes over to her, shushing her with a finger to her lips. Taking her by the hand she brings her to the gathering.
MARGARET PHILPOT Ladies and Gentlemen I give you our very own Miss Mary Anning, eminent fossilist and scientist of Lyme Regis.
Mary blushes deep red and hastens to sit down. She notices the ice sculpture and is stunned. Everyone laughs in delight at her shock.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT This dinner is in your honour Mary. The Royal Society may not recognise who finds all these specimens that are causing such a stir but we know, don't we gentlemen?
The men all nod.
MARGARET PHILPOT Bullcock's Museum has put your Icthyosaur specimen on permanent display in central Piccadilly.
MARY PHILPOT Hundreds of people have queued for a chance to see it Mary!
Elizabeth shakes a newspaper at Mary.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Cuvier has been forced to admit that you were right about the plesiosaur. (MORE) 120.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT (CONT'D) It was published in Paris last week and will be in The Times tomorrow.
COLONEL BIRCH The world cannot ignore you now Miss Anning - you are quite famous!
BUCKLAND A toast! To Mary Anning!
ALL To Mary Anning!
Mary looks from the amazing ice sculpture in the table to her friends in a happy daze. She allows herself to look at Henry De la Beche who salutes her with his glass. They smile awkwardly.
HENRY Miss Anning
MARY It be some time Mr De la Beche.
HENRY (embarrassed) Yes I... I... have been most preoccupied with this geological survey in the north of England for the National Coal Board. It keeps me from these parts.
MARY And how do you find married life Mr De La Beche.
Henry blushes scarlet and can barely stammer an answer.
HENRY Very...agreeable. My wife Emily...
Mary cuts him short and turns her attention to Birch.
MARY Ah Colonel Birch, how is your wife?
BIRCH (beaming) Thank you Miss Anning. Very well. She sends her best.
MARY And I mine to her Sir.
DISSOLVE TO: 121.
INT. PHILPOTS HOUSE/DINING ROOM
The remains of the meal are evident with the ice sculpture almost completely melted into its dish. The guests are variously at the table and at chairs nearby. Fossils dominate the room and many items are out on the table along with sketches and books. Much wine has been, and is being, drunk to make a rowdy atmosphere. Buckland is thumping the table at De la Beche across from him.
BUCKLAND But I tell you it is preposterous It is madness if not blasphemy.
Henry shrugs his shoulders and smiles at him.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Much of England would have said the same of you Mr Buckland!
COLONEL BIRCH It is lucky you are Dean of Westminster or you would have been thrown out of the very same church for some of your theories only five years ago!
HENRY, PHILPOTS Hear, hear!
CONYBEARE But gentleman, ladies, be reasonable, surely we cannot countenance the idea that these primeval creatures that grace our ladies table here have somehow made themselves into more intelligent life by process of adaption. I mean really...
BUCKLAND (drunkenly to himself) Catastrophe yes, but adaption no...
HENRY And yet gentlemen there are so many things that we are finding, for which we have no serious explanation. The geology surveys I am conducting are telling us that the bible, as a document of history, of time at least, is a nonsense!
BUCKLAND Sir I must protest! 122.
BIRCH Oh shut up will you Buckland, there's a good fellow. He did not say he did not believe in God, just the bible as fact. I know you are in doubt yourself or you would not be so upset.
Buckland is quite drunk and distraught.
MARY We must be brave enough to look outside our own ideas from the past gentlemen or we be finding ourselves knowing nothing, trying to fix our round rocks into square theories.
HENRY Miss Anning is quite right. It is bravery that is needed now.
Mary smiles at Henry cautiously. Buckland tries to focus on Mary.
BUCKLAND (slurring and repeating) I have told my very, very, very good friend the Prime Minister Lord Melbourne about you Miss Anning. He was most impressed, most impressed, most...
Buckland collapses in a stupor.
COLONEL BIRCH Come gentlemen let's get the good reverend home to bed.
The other men help Buckland out while Henry goes to Mary's side of the table. The Philpot sisters escort the others out.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. PHILPOTS HOUSE/DINING ROOM - LATER
The other guests are all gone but Henry and Mary remain in deep conversation at the table, books and sketches scattered around them. Elizabeth comes into the room.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Apologies friends I must bid you good night. Margaret and Mary have already retired.
Henry stands. 123.
HENRY Miss Philpot, my most sincere apologies, we have kept you up. I will go immediately.
MARY Dear Elizabeth, this dinner, everything...you be spoiling me.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT Nonsense. Now you two still have much to talk about I can see that. I will leave you to see yourselves out. Let me get Jackson to stoke the fire.
MARY No. I mean, thank you Elizabeth but I must go. Mother will be worried.
HENRY Miss Anning, allow me to take you in my carriage
MARY Thank you Mr De la Beche. I be needing the walk and the air.
HENRY I will walk with you then.
MARY (firmly and formally) You are most kind Mr De la Beche but I assure you, I walk much of the time on my own and on more dangerous ground than the cobbled streets of Lyme. I be quite safe.
With that she leaves Henry and Elizabeth Philpot watching her go.
HENRY There goes an extraordinary and brave woman Miss Philpot.
ELIZABETH PHILPOT I agree, quite extraordinary Mr De la Beche.
FADE TO BLACK.
OVER BLACK
Mary Anning died in poverty of breast cancer in March, 1847 at the age of 47. 124.
Her friend Henry De la Beche kept his promise. In 1848 she was made an honorary member of the Geological Society in recognition of her life's work, fifty years before women were allowed to join.
Mary Anning contributed to almost every important dinosaur discovery that we know of. Although famous in her lifetime, she fell into relative obscurity because the gentlemen collectors she sold to were credited with her finds. Today scholars at the Natural History Museum in London are in the process of correctly attributing her name to the many specimens she discovered.
She is remembered in a series of stained glass windows in St Michael's Church and lies buried with her brother Joseph in the graveyard above the cliffs of Lyme Regis in South Dorset where important fossil discoveries continue to be made even today.
Mary Anning. May 21,1799 - March 9,1847.
FADE TO:
EXT. CLIFFS, LYME REGIS BAY - DAY
Waves smash against the crumbling base of the cliffs in Lyme Regis.
ROLL CREDITS
125
EXEGESIS
In this Exegesis I will explore my research processes throughout this project as I examined the life and times of Mary Arming and her peers. I will look at the challenges faced by converting a real life into a feature film drama and what demands that would make on the narrative form, especially in relation to her character. I will explore Mary’s life in relation to the social, religious and intellectual climate of the time looking in particular at gender and class. Finally, I will look at the role of landscape, language and love in the telling of Mary’s story as a film script.
Fiction or “Faction” ?
One of the first issues I had to deal with was what form would the film take? Clearly the main character was a real person but not of recent historical time. Quite early on I decided I wanted this to be a standard dramatic narrative rather than a documentary or dramatic reconstruction. Although I knew my mission was to restore Mary’s neglected reputation I also wanted to write a compelling drama.
The first step was to research as much as I could about Mary Anning. Who was she? What was it that she had discovered that was so unknown in her time? Why was it so explosive? This led me on a journey, both virtual and real, throughout Britain; into the bowels of the Natural History Museum closed sections, onto The National Museum of Wales, The Oxford University Museum, The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences at Cambridge University and of course visiting Mary’s birthplace, the spectacular Jurassic coastline of Fyme Regis in Dorset. It would have me re-acquainting myself with pre and early Victorian literature and inhabiting a strange time warp as I read enormous quantities of original source materials, letters, journals and books about the world of the early pioneers of Geology and Palaeontology.
The initial challenge of tracking Mary Arming ’s discoveries was made more difficult by the common museum practice to display the name of the donor. Thankfully an ongoing project by Associate Keeper of Palaeontology at the Natural History Museum (NHM) in Fondon, Dr Angela Milner to correctly re-assign specimens to Mary Anning has helped enormously. However Mary Anning scholars are jealous of their unsung heroine and it took quite some persuading to be allowed, as a non-PhD Geology or Palaeontology 126
student, into the closed collection of the NHM. Armed with white gloves and for a “period of strictly thirty minutes only”, I was able to a take precious look through Mary’s personal papers, see her notebooks and sketches and get a feel for who she was by looking at her handwriting and reading her correspondence and journals (see attached appendix for copies of her various letters and sketches). Sadly, unlike her colleagues, very few of Mary’s original papers survive. The question, when Mary was responsible for some of the major dinosaur discoveries of the day, is why?
Because of her class and gender Mary was denied membership of the scholarly societies, the arena where scientific papers were published and reviewed by their peers (Pierce, 2006). But we know Mary was in constant correspondence with Buckland, Conybeare, Murchison, De la Beche and many other scientists about the new fossil discoveries she made (Torrens, 1993), putting forward her ideas and theories and demonstrating her considerable knowledge of anatomy (She sells Seashells, p. 87), and preparing her finds for just such presentations that Buckland talks of with his friend Reverend Conybeare (She sells Seashells p. 88). So it was their papers that were presented and reviewed, their name that was put forward for new species and their name that was on record when scholars went back and reviewed the documents at a later date. As Tickell (1996) points out, despite discovering so many new fossils, Mary Anning had only two species named after her by the prominent Swiss Scientist Agassiz, not her British colleagues. A quick Internet search of the name Buckland, and the resulting number of “Bucklandi” suffixes in both geology and palaeontology fields tell a very different tale to Mary’s. Searching under the name Conybeare brings up similar items (see the accompanying illustration of the plesiosaurus in Wards Catalogue in Appendix which bears the suffix Conyb). As the saying goes, “She was robbed. ”
It is perhaps hard to imagine the cut and thrust of the time and the intellectual ferment caused by what was called a “Brave New Science ” as each discovery called into question the received wisdom of the time. The race to find and publish new discoveries was not a pretty one. Many of Mary Arming ’s close colleagues were key members of these societies and elbowed others out of the way in order to present papers and have new discoveries named after themselves before anyone else could make similar claims. However to present one had to be a member of the newly created Science Societies and generally one had to be a “gentleman ” to get in, i.e. a man and of a certain class. Mary was neither. 127
New members were only accepted by approval and nomination of existing members, which served to keep a small circle very small. Mary was not the only person who was kept out despite ability and obvious merit. Two brilliant men of humble origins, Gideon Mantell and William Smith, stand out from a number of cases where treatment at the hands of these so-called “gentlemen ” of the Geological Society was appalling and both Buckland and Conybeare are implicated (Cadbury, 2000 and Winchester, 2002). There is not room to describe their cases in detail but their stories and many others helped me understand just how bitter Mary might be by the end of her life.
Timelines
This led me to another decision - where to end the film? I knew I wanted to right the wrong of Mary slipping away into obscurity and to make people aware that the “she” in the tongue twister, She Sells Seashells by the Seashore was Mary Anning, who the science historian Stephen Jay Gould (1992) asserts is ‘probably the most important unsung (or inadequately sung) collecting force in the history of palaeontology...” After writing a number of versions and having discussions with my supervisor it was agreed that while we wanted the audience to understand her incredible challenges and to feel the injustice of her situation it was important to also honour the character of Mary. Rather than dwell on her later misfortunes and her long and slow death from breast cancer, it was more important to concentrate on her earlier discoveries and to give her an enduring moment of triumphand recognition in the film’s final stages, one that she was denied in real life.
After all, despite being born into poverty, only going to school to the age of eleven, and being female, Mary did become one of the top fossil collectors of her day contributing greatly to the knowledge of these ancient creatures. Mary was obsessed. She taught herself Latin, read voraciously, and became an expertnot just on the location and excavation of fossils, she also demonstrated great skill and intelligence in their sketching and assembly. She seemed to have an acute understanding of the actual workings of the animals of the Lower Jurassic. As a Lady Silvester noted in 1824
"... the extraordinary thing in this young woman is that she has made herself so thoroughly acquainted with the science that the moment she finds any bones she knows to what tribe they belong. She fixes the bones on a frame with cement 128
and then makes drawings and has them engraved... It is certainly a wonderful instance of divine favour - that this poor, ignorant girl should be so blessed, for by reading and application she has arrivedto that degree of knowledge as to be in the habit of writing and talking with professors and other clevermen on the subject, and they all acknowledge that she understands more of the science than anyone else in this kingdom."
Mary was only twenty-five at this time was written (Torrens, 1993). By this time she had already discovered two complete Ichthyosaurs and later that year the first complete Plesiosaurus. Such was the excitement in England with the plesiosaur discovery that Reverend Conybeare wrote to Mary’s friend Henry De Le Beche in Jamaica of his inability to prepare his Sunday Sermon when first informed. “Buckland ...brought important news - that the Annings had discovered an entire plesiosaurus and that it had been offered to the Duke of Buckingham for 200 pounds.” No wonder Conybeare was excited. It was he had proposed the name for a possible creature calling it a ‘Plesiosaur’ on the slender basis of a few isolated bones and now Mary Anning had found the complete animal. Her discovery meant he was going to be credited in the papers and journals of the day, again! He details the “very fair drawing by Miss Anning of the most magnificent specimen” but also goes on to tell of the mayhem it caused him, with his sister-in-law having to finish his sermon such was his rush to impart the news to the meeting of his Philosophical Society at the Bristol Institution. After his presentation, people ran off to get the story into print and Conybeare felt he had to follow “.. .to prevent some strange blunders...thus did not get home till midnight. ” (Cadbury, 2000). I try to impart some of the excitement that such finds generated in both scientists ’ and public imagination in the scene of the auction of Colonel Birch’s fossil collection with the frenetic bidding and the rush of reporters to file their copy.
Mary’s Plesiosaurus specimen was so extraordinary that when Georges Cuvier the great French Anatomist first saw her drawings he announced it a fake (Clarke, 1998). Cuvier’s assertion that it as a fake was a great blow for Mary Anning. He was seen as a giant in the scientific community and his word was greatly respected. Mary after all was someone who made her living from selling fossils. Maybe she had augmented her find to inflate the price? The suggestion would have affected her standing in the scientific community greatly, not to mention disastrous for her business. There were quite well 129
known fakers and there is no doubt as to Mary’s disapproving opinion of them, especially one very eager collector, Thomas Hawkins, who was said by Mary to be “such an enthusiast that he makes things as he imagines they ought to be; and not really as they are found,” (Lang, 1939).
A special Meeting of the Geological Society was called to determine the genuineness of the plesiosaur find. But the creature was so large that it could not be brought into the Society Meeting rooms and had to be examined by torchlight in the hallway of the Geological Society rooms in London, (Torrens, 1995). Mary was not there as the debate raged but Conybeare and Buckland presented their case for the plesiosaurus to be recognised as a new and unique reptile, using their own and Mary’s notes and of course, her magnificent new specimen. Finally it was accepted that the evidence was insurmountable and it was agreed that her find was indeed genuine. This was very significant and a turning point in Mary’s career. She was vindicated in her scientific abilities as well as her integrity, which she valued enormously (Cadbury, 2000). It is this moment of triumph where I choose to have the celebratory dinner scene at the Philpotts and end the film except for the postscript.
Brave New Worlds
Mary also contributed spiritedly to the debates around time and geology, theories about extinction and the bible as well as being a sharp satirist, ‘I do so often enjoy an opposition among the big-wigs ’. (Lang, 1956).
I tried to bring the latter into the final triumphant dinner scene (She sells Seashells p.l 19) where the various characters argue about the implications of their new discoveries. She also writes to a Mrs Solly in 1844:
“...from what little I have seen of the fossil world and Natural History, I think the connection or analogy between the Creatures of the former and present World excepting as to size, much greater than is generally supposed...”
(Owen, 1894). This and other quotes clearly put Mary in the camp of believing in extinction, a major controversy of the day because it drew into questionthe bible. The “establishment ” belief was that all these extraordinary fossil finds were simply of 130
animals still living in parts of the world yetto be discovered. It also raised deeply disturbing questions about time, again at variance with the bible. This is what Henry and Mary are referring to in the scene on the beach (She sells Seashells p. Ill) when they come upon the plesiosaur discuss how upsetting it is to a person like Reverend Buckland who is desperately trying to straddle being a scientist and a clergyman.
In the script I tried to convey the ferment of the time, the intense competition between the various collectors as well as the sharp rivalry between the English and French Scientists especially so soon after the Napoleonic Wars. At the crucial Society meeting it was Reverend Conybeare who presented a paper on Mary’s plesiosaur, which was then seen as the definitive scientific paper on the Plesiosaurus. This helps us understand how Mary lost out to her male colleagues. She was not able to present her finds or research except through men such as Conybeare, De La Beche and Buckland, as only Geological Society members were allowed this opportunity.
Although a great friend of Buckland, her opinion of his abilities in anatomy is clearly detailed by the mineralogist Thomas Allan in his journal (Lang, 1936) after visiting her: “...she is perfectly acquainted with the anatomy of her subjects, and her account of her disputes with Buckland, whose anatomical science she holds in great contempt, was quite amusing.” To highlight the irony of Mary’s extraordinary grasp of the anatomy of the Jurassic, far and above that of the very men who received the credit for many of her discoveries, I needed a number of scenes. Thus we have the late night cramming sessions with Buckland in her shop (She SellsSeashells, p. 86) as he desperately prepares for his next presentation to the Geological Society, by gleaning every detail he can from her as well as the scene where she caustically remarks to Henry on the beach (She sells Seashells p. 112) about Buckland’s struggle to reconcile his scientific knowledge with the theological constraints of the day. These were most famously expressed in his Bridgewater Treatise Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference to Natural Theology. Buckland was a hugely entertaining character by all accounts and I hope I have rendered him such in the script.
Social, Intellectual and Religious Climate The poverty of the countryside after the disastrous Napoleonic Wars and the advent of the new Com Laws (which drove the price of grain up) meant that food riots were 131
common while the Upper classes continued to live a life of unparalleled riches. Certainly my research into the Georgian and Regent table habits revealed ostentatious displays of wealth in the upper classes while around them many people actually starved to death, (Stead, 1985 and Grey, 1997).
This was also the time when the Luddite movement began in reaction to the mechanisation of labour, which I am only able to touch on in the script. The character of Mary’s father, the dissenter Richard Anning, and his radical ideas are intended to express much of what was going on in Lyme as well as show the importance of the new movements in Wesleyan Methodism in supportingthe chartist notions that Mary adopts.
It is perhaps hard for us today in our relatively egalitarian society to imagine the huge gaps between the social classes and indeed between the town and country. People of Mary’s class lived almost completely separate lives to people like Buckland or Sir Thomas, and if from the lower class you were not even supposed to meet the eye of your ‘superior’, nor speak unless spoken to. The rules for social interaction were extremely prescribed and although I thought I was aware of the gap I was not prepared for the written rules that existed for anyone seen as a lower class (Himmelfarb, 1984).
Mary had a reputation as a bold and forthright character who spoke her mind, did not suffer fools gladly, and also presumed she had a right to be as she wanted. (Taylor and Torrens, 1987). These attitudes caused her to be criticised or even seen as mad. Her friend Anna Pinney writes in her journal, (Lang, 1956)
“Went out at 11 ’oclock with Mary Anning. She is a woman of low birth. . .She has been notice by all the cleverest men in England, who have her to stay at their houses, correspond with her on geology, etc. This has completely turned her head, and she has the proudest most unyielding spirit I have ever met with. Much learning has made her mad. She glories in being afraid of no one and in saying everything she pleases. She would offend all the world were she not considered a privileged person.”
My research only served to convince me even further how important it was to show Mary’s bravery to defy such disapproval and circumstance when the consequences 132
could be so severe. I hope that I have done this throughout the film especially in the excruciating scenes with the Church Overseers and with De la Beche’s mother where for once Mary tries to fit in but to no avail.
The contrast in circumstance is also highlighted by Mary going back and forth between the two environments - from the comfortable homes of the wealthy to her own very modest life, at times living in such abject poverty that they did not have enough to eat. Colonel Birch really did sell his entire collection because the Armings were selling their furniture to buy food. The difference musthave been very hard to bear at times. It would seem from my research that the general poverty of Lyme was such that if someone earned money there were usually many more mouths to feed than just the immediate family. It is noted by both Anna Pinney and other locals how generous Mary was, giving away whatever she had at the time and tending to the sick and the poor even to the detriment of her own health (Lang, 1949).
The demands of narrative on character
For much of the film I had to compress the narrative mercilessly and was not able to detail all Mary’s achievements. Scene after scene would be written and then discarded as I realised I had to stick with the most streamlined and singular narrative. Thus I had to combine Mary’s many important discoveries, which stretched out over a period of thirty years into justtwo major finds to service the form of a two-hour feature. At times this felt enormously disloyal to Mary. She had struggled so much in her lifetime to be recognised and here was I, her champion, reducing her major finds to one great scene.
And so, despite my research having brought to life such a rich cast of characters in Mary’s world I was also forced to make hard choices as to how many people could populate this narrative. I had to decide upon a select few to take on the mantle of many. I think that Colonel Birch, Buckland, Conybeare and De la Beche do this quite well. De la Beche comes in for special consideration in another area of course but more on that later. The other important characters in Mary’s life were Anna, her family and the Philpotts. Again, the Philpott sisters truly deserve greater prominence but in this script they serve as Mary’s mentors and provide a sort of turbo-charged portal into the rarefied world of the upper classes as well as being her great supporters. Their continued 133
generosity and encouragement of a fellow female scientist was an important element to give contrast to Mary’s struggles as well as providing a small window onto the progressive world that existed outside the narrow working class Lyme Regis circle. Hence the importance of such scenes with Mary and Jackson their servant (She sells Seashells p.35) and also the discussions about not needing to be married (She sells Seashells p.70), that there were alternatives as the businesswoman “Mrs” Eleanor Coade had discovered (Trenchard, 1994).
Mary remained devoted to her family and again I had to simplify the complex web of family relationships that perhaps today would be more common to put under the microscope. Mary’s close relationship with her father Richard, the firebrand dissenter and riot ringleader creates an obvious tension with her mother Molly. In fact, although Molly initially resisted the fossil business she later became Mary’s greatest advocate and they remained devoted to each other until Molly’s death in 1842. However once again I had to take the broad brush and sacrifice the more subtle changes that occurred between Mary and Molly over the years to service the main drama. If there has been a major loser in this process I would say it has been the myriad of sub-plots, lovingly crafted and then unceremoniously ditched, as the page counting got serious. The same with minor characters; there were many who did not make the final cut. I hope to perhaps tinker with this balance in further drafts and deepen existing characters and relationships as I also hope with distance and time to come back and look at the role of subtext and perhaps insert this in the action. But for now the important bones of the story are in their rightful place.
Language. Landscape and Love
Finally I need to detail the role of language, landscape and love in the film. Dorset was a long way from London. Mary would have spoken with a distinctive thick regional accent of the West Country, where the local dialect constantly plays with the syntax and vocabulary of what we see as “Standard English ”. I had to make a decision whether to include this or to ignore it and go for a kind of uniform BBC Costume drama “voice”. In the end I decided having dialect adds to the richness of the piece and keeps an honesty of who Mary was. It felt impossible to ignore especially as one who has lived in the UK for over twenty years where people’s accent plays a vital role. 134
The dialect also helps the viewer keep in mind the huge contrasts between the worlds that co-exist. There are also delightful “Dorset 'isms” where “I be ” is still quite commonly substituted for “I am” just as in Ireland today it is quite common for people to substitute Ye, thee and thou for the modem while discussing anything from Big Brother to the football! I hope that I have managed to show the shifting back and forth that takes place with the ever-changing nature of language. Just as when people are brought up in a home where a different language is spoken to the one in the outside world, so people who speak dialect often move back and forth seamlessly between the two. In the script, Mary keeps some important Dorset dialect but is inevitably a influenced by her time around others who speak differently, especially when Anna is gone. I think I have managed to steer a course between one that may have been more realistic but impenetrable and one that overly compromised her Dorset roots. I hope it is an authentic voice that Mary and all the characters speak with. It was a pleasure to research the Methodist hymns and local folk songs that are used in the script as well as go back and re-read Thomas Hardy who is of course from the West Country as well as reading more widely with Jane Austen and Charles Dickens.
Landscape and Weather.
Both of these are as important as any main character in the film. The opening of the film says it all. I knew from early on that it was too good to be true, to have a real life character for your script who at the beginning of their life has not only been hit by lightning but seems revived by such a thing. (Land, 1959 and Roberts, 1834). Hence her father’s comment in the second scene of Mary being “Neptune’s little tuning fork”. The visual promise and payoff of such a powerful opening scene was almost too daunting to write. I had to let go and run with the absolute drama of it. Lyme Regis is a dramatic place as is the whole of the Dorset Coastline. In Writers in a Dorset Landscape, (Stinton, 2004) Llewellyn Powys who lived in an area near Lyme Regis eloquently sums up the endlessly changing and dramatic nature of the weather,
“On White Nose cliff after a November gale I have often picked up seaweed, though the top of the headland stands 600 feet above the waves. The winds there would be so violent as to blow in the windows of the coast-guard cottages and to send slates from our roof flying over the ploughlands behind the houses as 135
lightly as though they were sycamore leaves. And then, as soon as ever the wind went down, a sea mist would suddenly descend upon us enveloping us utterly...”
The brooding cliffs that dominate the precipitously perched town of Lyme on its steeply cobbled streets and the ever-shifting mood of the sea are important elements and serve to add drama to the narrative. Although storms were of course destructive and dangerous for Mary and her family (with the sea even flooding their home at times), they also provided the best opportunities for finding fossils revealed by mudslides as well as the potential of shipwreck booty (see the exegesis cover picture of a wild sea hitting the Cobb at Lyme Regis, which I kept by me at all times as I wrote).
Love
Mary was a passionate and free spirit. There is plenty of evidence that she was enthusiastic in her affection from both Anna Pinney and also to her friend Miss Lister to whom she sent “a mouthful of new years kisses” in a letter dated 1840, (Torrens, 1993). I decided early on that I had to trust the veracity of my feeling for who Mary was and who she would love. There has been speculation that Mary was a mistress to both De La Beche and to Colonel Birch with little real evidence for either except that Birch sold his collection to benefit the Annings and that De La Beche spent so much time with Mary they were immortalised as a pair of nodding ceramic doll fossilists. Famous or infamous people of the day were often caricatured in this way as cheap mass production techniques became available (Irtz, 1994).
As I wrote her relationship with both Henry and Anna emerged. While it is very likely she had many more people in her life than just those two I decided that it was they who would bear the responsibility of receiving Mary’s deep emotions. With her childhood friend and sweetheart Anna, Mary could truly be herself but such a relationship would bring up a range of conflicts, not to mention Anna being jealous of Henry and insecure that Mary is trying to leave her for a better more comfortable life. While it is a dangerous time as Anna says, “to be seen as a heretic or worse”, Mary lived outside of the norm in every way and it seemed natural that she would be either foolhardy or brave enough to follow her heart in this direction. If anyone is any doubt as to there being women leading a full lesbian life in this period I would direct them to the journals of Anne Lister of Halifax, West Yorkshire, I Know My Own Heart, published in 1992. 136
An upper-class woman who lived from 1791-1840, Lister left behind her diaries, and along with describing her daily activities, these journals also explicitly describe her romantic relationships with women. These were not the "vaguely romantic" relationships that Victorian English might allude to but clearly passionate and sexual affairs that she pursued exclusively with women, throughouther life. I have been unable to ascertain if she is the same Miss Lister that Mary Anning sends a mouthful of new years kisses to but it is an intriguing thought. Lister had many affairs, travelled widely, was highly educated and agitated for the greater education and increased participation of women in society. The difference was that Anne Lister was independently wealthy and could therefore more or less do as she chose. By virtue of her birth Mary had less freedom.
In her relationship with Henry I wanted to show a real meeting of minds as well as their very genuine friendship and attraction. As she says to Elizabeth Philpott, “I have never met a man with such a mind and who I can argue with”. She clearly feels Henry is her equal but the weight of Victorian Society is too much for Henry. Again this relationship is entirely of my own invention but came early and felt very right for both of them. I had to discard my last lingering concerns for any historical accuracy and follow the truth of each character as they spoke to me.
I wanted it to be clear Henry was in love with Mary but that he was too weak to take the risk of stepping outside the boundaries of his class to marry her. Again it can be hard for the modern reader to fully comprehend the strictures of living in the provinces in the 1800’s and how shocking it would have been if they had married but I hope I show with the various scenes between Mary and Henry, that despite their real affection for each other, they have too many obstacles in their path, including their own personalities. That Henry is too weak is a tragedy for both.
The last element that I am yet to weave in is the death of Mary’s faithful dog Trey who accompanied her on every outing, waiting by any finds as Mary ran back to get help. He was crushed one afternoon by a landslide that narrowly missed both Mary and Elizabeth Philpott. She was said to be devastated by the loss. (See her affectionate sketch of Trey in appendix). I hope to insert this scene in a later draft just before the 137
Philpott’s celebratory dinner scene but I am at my maximum length and it will need to be traded for some other action.
In summary, I am pleased with the final product. I think that I have been able to hold to a truth for Mary and her story despite having written approximately four more screen hours of vitally important people, essential facts and not to be missed happenings, which with the steely help of my supervisor, have been killed off along the way. I felt a terrible parallel with Molly Anning who gives birth to ten children only to have two survive and somewhat under the shadow of Darwin ’s Natural Selection. But I have discovered one must be brutal to deliver a compelling narrative. Of course as the master Alan Bennett says in his forward to his screenplay of The Madness of King George, “Film is drama at its most impatient,” and that is what makes it so exciting. I hope the reader will gallop home with me on this one and feels that I have done justice to Mary Anning and her amazing story, “She Sells Seashells by the Seashore”. APPENDIX
Annotated copies of original illustrations 138
Duria Antiquior - 'a more ancient Dorsetshire' an 1830 watercolour, by Mary’s friend Henry Thomas de la Beche, of the seas of ancient Dorset, designed to highlight her discoveries and made into lithographs for her financial benefit This copy retrieved on-line at:- http://www.gtj .org.uk/en/item 1 /26475 139
Ammonites of the Kimmeridge Clay
Rasenia involute Spath Aulacostephanus pseudomutehilis (de Loriol)
Pictonia baylei Saif eld Pavlovia pailasioides (Ne avers on)
DORSET AMMONITES
Kimmeridge Clay is a layer of sedimentary rock found in England most notably through out the Jurassic Coast of Dorset.
Ammonites vary in size enormously but can be very large and weigh half a ton or more. Mary Arming had to excavate her finds, get them back to the shop for preparation and arrange transport to her buyers all over the country and Europe.
Reproduced with permission, Natural History Museum, London and Ian West, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) and Southampton University From http://www.soton.ac.uk/~imw/jpg/kmbmns.jpg 140
Reproduced from Mary Anning of Lyme Regis by Sir Crispin Tickell, (1996). Lyme Regis: Lyme Regis Philpot Museum publications.
Note the discussions of price in the document as well as description of the specimen in her letter to Dean Sedgwick. 141
Mary Arming ’s sketch of her extraordinary Plesiosaurus find, 1824. Note the displaced vertebrae near the top of the neck that Aiming faithfully renders as found. Cuvier used this as the basis on which to accuse her of using the head of one fossil and the body of another.
From her notebooks, Natural History Museum, London. Image reference: 39742 Title: Plesiosaurus Pen and ink annotated drawing by Mary Arming, 1824 from the manuscripts collection of Mary Arming (1799-1847). 142
SKELETON on slab. This species is distinguished by the relatively larger size of the ATALOGUE head and thicker neck. The neck is three times the length of the head; and the posterior paddles are longer than the anterior pair* In this very perfect specimen* belonging to OF the Earl of Enniskillen, Ireland, the vertebral column is thrown into an arched position: the cervicals and dorsals forma continuous series; the tail is imperfect CASTS OF Three paddles are exposed, and the upper part of the cranium with the orbits and the FOSSILS jaws and teeth are clearly defined. The original was discovered in the Lyme-Regis, England, by Miss Mary Arming, and described by Dr. Buckland. Size 2 ft 9 in. x 2 ft 6 in. FROM THE Price. $12.00 REPTILIA 61 PRINCIPAL MUSEUMS OF EUROPE AND AMERICA
WITH SHORT 'INSCRIPTIONS AND ♦LUSTRATIONS BY
HjENRY A. WARD, A. M., F. G. S.,
Professor of iatural Sciences, i the University of Rochester * * * 3C HESTER, N. Y.
BENTON AND if *0 ANDREWS, PRINTERS Ward ’s No. 227 1866 No* 227 Plesiosaurus tnacrocephalus, Conyb.
Note that the Plesiosaurus name in this catalogue Of 1866 of casts has Conb as the suffix for Reverend Conybeare and that Mary Aiming is credited as discovering the original. This is now considered to be a juvenile specimen of a Plesiosaur
Henry A. Ward catalog of fossil replicas of 1866. © 2005 by Mike Everhart 143
Image reference: 39903 Title: Belemnites. Drawing from the manuscripts collection of Mary Arming (1799-1847). Natural History Museum. 144 145
References
Bennett, Alan. (1994). The Madness of King George. London: Faber and Faber.
Buckland, William. (1836). Geology and mineralogy considered with reference to natural theology. Treatise VI. Vol. 1; xvi + 599 p; Vol. 2; vii + 128 p. London: William Pickering.
Cadbury, Deborah. (2000). The Dinosaur Hunters. A True Story of Scientific Rivalry and the Discovery of the Prehistoric World. London: Fourth Estate.
Clarke, Nigel J. (1998). Mary Aiming 1799-1847: A Brief History, Clarke (Nigel J) Publications.
Cole, Sheila. (2005). The Dragon in the Cliff: A Novel Based on the Life of Mary Aiming. iUniverse.com.
Coneybeare, W. D. (1824). On the Discovery of an Almost Perfect Skeleton of the Plesiosaurus. Transactions of the Geological Society of London, 1, p. 381-389.
De la Beche, H.T., and W. D. Conybeare, (1821). Notice of the discovery of a new animal, forming a link between the Ichthyosaurus and crocodile, together with general remarks on the osteology of Ichthyosaurus. Transactions Geological Society, London. Vol. 5, 559-594.
De La Beche, H.T. (1822). Remarks on the geology of south coast of England from Bridport Harbour, Dorset, to Babbacombe Bay, Devon. Transactions of the Geological Society, London. Series 2, vol 1, 40-47, Plates iii-viii.
De La Beche, H.T. (1826a). On the Lias of the coast, in the vicinity of Lyme Regis, Dorset. Transactions of the Geological Society, London. Vol 2, 21-30, pis. iii, iv.
De La Beche, H.T. (1826b). On the chalk and sands beneath it (usually termed Green sand) in the vicinity of Lyme Regis, Dorset and Beer, Devon. Transactions of the Geological Society, London. Series 2, vol. 2, 109-118.
De la Beche, H.T. (1848). Presidential Address / Proceedings at the Annual General Meeting, 18th February, 1848. Journal of the Geographical Survey of London, 4.
Forest Tracks. (2005). Folk Songs From Hampshire And Dorset. (CD recording). Various Artists. 51 Tracks. Ref. Ftbt2cdl.
Goodhue, Thomas W. (2004). Fossil Hunter: The Life and Times of Mary Arming (1799-1847). Academica Press.
Gould, Stephen Jay. (1992). Finders, Keepers. Pimlico.
Guy, John. (1997). Georgian Life. London: Ticktock Publishing. 146
Hawkins, T. (1834). Memoirs of Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri. London: Folio.
Himmelfarb, Gertrude. (1984). The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age. New York: Knopf.
Irtz, H. (1994). ‘Mary Arming ’ in Antiques and Collecting, September.
Lang, W.D. (1935). Mary Arming of Lyme, collector and vendor of fossils, 1799-1847. Natural History Magazine. Vol. 5, 64-81.
Lang, W.D. (1945c) Three letters by Mary Arming 'Fossilisf of Lyme Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. Vol 66:pp. 169-73.
Lang, W.D. (1950a). More about Mary Arming, including a newly-found letter. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Vol. 71: ppl84-8.
Lang, W.D. (1956e) Mary Arming and Anna Maria Pinney. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. Vol. 76: pp. 146-52.
Lang, W.D. (1959d) Mary Anning's escape from lightning. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. Vol. 80: pp. 91-3.
Lang, W.D. (1960). Portraits of Mary Arming and other items. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, Vol. 81 : pp. 89-91.
Lang, W.D. (1963). Mary Arming and a very small boy. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. Vol. 84: pp. 181-2.
Lister, Anne. (1992). I Know My Own Heart (Helena Whitbread, ed.). New York University Press.
Owen (ed.), R.S., (1894). The Life of Richard Owen, 2 vols. London. John Murray.
Pierce, Patricia. (2006). Jurassic Mary: Mary Arming and the Primeval Monsters. Sutton Publishing.
Roberts, G. (1834). History and Antiquities of the Borough of Lyme Regis and Charmouth. London: S. Bagster.
Stead, Jennifer. (1985). Food and Cooking in 18th Century Britain. English Heritage.
Stinton, Judith. (2004). Writers in a Dorset Landscape. Dorset books.
Tickell, C. (1996). Mary Anning of Lyme Regis. Lyme Regis: Lyme Regis Philpot Museum publications.
Thackray, J. C. A. (1995). A catalogue of portraits, paintings and sculpture at the Natural History Museum London. Mansell: London, xii, 70pp.
Torrens, H. S. (1981). Mary Arming's ancestry: Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries, v. 34, pg. 341. 147
v. 34, pg. 341.
Torrens, H. S. (1995). Presidential Address: Mary Aiming (1799-1847) of Lyme : ‘the greatest fossilist the world ever knew ’. British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 28, pp.257-284.
Trenchard, Diana. (1994). Women of Dorset. Dorset books.
Walker, Sally M. (2000). Mary Aiming: Fossil Hunter. Carolrhoda Books.
Winchester, Simon. (2002) The Map that Changed the World. Harper Perennial. 148
Select Bibliography
Anholt, Laurence. (2006). Stone Girl Bone Girl: The Story of Mary. Frances Lincoln Publishers.
Anon. (1828). "Another discoveryby Mary Aiming of Lyme. An unrivalled specimen of Dapediumpolitum an antediluvian fish." Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 108, 5599, pg. 2.
Atkins, Jeannine. (1990). Mary Aiming and the Sea Dragon. Farrar Straus Giroux.
Austen, Jane. (1818). Persuasion. Penguin.
Bennett, Alan. (1994). The Madness of King George. London: Faber and Faber.
Brown, Don. (2003). Rare Treasure: Mary Aiming and Her Remarkable Discoveries, Houghton Mifflin Co.
Buckland, William. (1836). Geology and mineralogy considered with reference to natural theology. Treatise VI. London: William Pickering.
Cadbury, Deborah, (2000). The Dinosaur Hunters. A True Story of Scientific Rivalry and the Discovery of the Prehistoric World. London: Fourth Estate.
Carruthers, Margaret W. and Clinton, Susan. (2001). Pioneers of Geology: Discovering Earth’s Secrets. John Wiley & Sons
Clarke, Nigel J. (1998). Mary Aiming 1799-1847: A Brief History, Clarke (Nigel J) Publications.
Cole, Sheila. (2005). The Dragon in the Cliff: A Novel Based on the Life of Mary Aiming. iUniverse.com.
Coneybeare, W. D. (1824). On the Discovery of an Almost Perfect Skeleton of the Plesiosaurus. Transactions of the Geological Society of London, 1, p. 381-389.
Crews, Frederick. (2005). The Literary Animal: Evolution and the Natureof Narrative (Rethinking Theory). Northwestern University Press
Darwin, Charles. (1859). On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection. Darwin London: John Murray. 1st Ed.
Darwin, Charles. (1859). On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection. Broadview Press.
Darwin, Charles. (1839). The Voyage of the Beagle. Penguin.
Day, Marie. (1995). Dragon in the Rocks: A Story Based on the Childhood of the Early Paleontologist, Mary Aiming. Maple Tree Press. 149
De la Beche, H.T., and W. D. Conybeare, (1821). Notice of the discovery of a new animal, forming a link between the Ichthyosaurus and crocodile, together with general remarks on the osteology of Ichthyosaurus. Transactions Geological Society, London. Vol. 5, 559-594.
De La Beche , H.T. (1822). Remarks on the geology of south coast of England from Bridport Harbour, Dorset, to Babbacombe Bay, Devon. Transactions of the Geological Society, London. Series 2, vol 1,40-47, Plates iii-viii.
De La Beche, H.T. (1826a). On the Lias of the coast, in the vicinity of Lyme Regis, Dorset. Transactions of the Geological Society, London. Vol 2, 21-30, pis. iii, iv.
De La Beche, H.T. (1826b). On the chalk and sands beneath it (usually termed Green sand) in the vicinityof Lyme Regis, Dorset and Beer, Devon. Transactions of the Geological Society, London. Series 2, vol. 2, 109-118.
De La Beche, H. T. (1834). Researches in theoretical geology. London: Charles Knight.
Dean, Dennis R. (1999 ). Gideon Mantell and the Discoveryof Dinosaurs Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dickens, Charles. (1861). Great Expectations. Penguin.
Draper, J. (2004). Mary Arming's Town - Lyme Regis. Dorset: Dorset CountyCouncil Printing Services.
Fielding, Henry. (1749). Tom Jones. Penguin.
Forest Tracks. (2005). Folk Songs From Hampshire And Dorset. (CD recording). Various Artists.D51 Tracks. Ref. Ftbt2cdl.
Fradin, Dennis B. (1997). Mary Arming: The Fossil Hunter (Remarkable Children), SilverBurdett Press.
Gillispie, Charles Coulston. (1996). Genesis and Geology: A study in the relations of scientific thought, natural theology, and social opinion in Great Britain, 1790-1850. Harvard University Press.
Goodhue, Thomas W. (2004). Fossil Hunter: The Life and Times of Mary Aiming (1799-1847). Academica Press.
Gould, Stephen Jay. (1992). Finders, Keepers. Pimilico.
Gould, Stephen Jay (Editor). (2001) The Book of Life: An Illustrated History of the Evolution of Life on Earth, Second Edition. Norton Academic.
Guy, John. (1997). Georgian Life. London. Ticktock Publishing.
Hammond, J. L. and Barbara. (1962). The Age of the Chartists, 1832-1854: A Study of Discontent. Connecticut: Archon Books. 150
Hardy, Thomas. (1872). Under the Greenwood Tree. London: Macmillan and Co.
Hardy, Thomas. (1887). The Woodlanders. London, Macmillan and Co.
Hawkins, T. (1834). Memoirs of Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri. London: Folio.
Himmelfarb, Gertrude. (1984). The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age. New York: Knopf.
Irtz, H. (1994). ‘Mary Aiming ’ in Antiques and Collecting, September.
Jones, Penny. Smuggler’s Tales. (1983). Clarke (Nigel J) Publications.
Lang, W.D. (1935). Mary Arming of Lyme, collector and vendor of fossils, 1799-1847. Natural History Magazine. Vol. 5, 64-81.
Lang, W.D. (1945c) Three letters by MaryAiming 'Fossilist' of Lyme Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. Vol 66, 169-73.
Lang, W.D. (1950a) More about MaryAiming, including a newly-found letter. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Vol. 71, 184-8.
Lang, W.D. (1956e) Mary Aiming and Anna Maria Pinney. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. Vol. 76, 146-52.
Lang, W.D. (1959d). Mary Arming's escape from lightning. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. Vol. 80, 91-3.
Lang, W.D. (1960). Portraits of Mary Aiming and other items. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, Vol. 81, 89-91.
Lang, W.D. (1963). Mary Aiming and a very small boy. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. Vol. 84,181-2.
Lister, Anne. (1992). I Know My Own Heart (Helena Whitbread, ed.). New York University Press.
McGowan, Christopher. (2001). The Dragon Seekers: How an Extraordinary Circle of Fossilists Discovered the Dinosaurs and Paved the Way for Darwin. Perseus Publishing.
Moorehead, Alan. (1969). Darwin and the Beagle. □ □ Penguin Books.
More, Hannah. (1808). Coelebs in Search of a Wife, Comprehending Observations on Domestic Habits and Manners, Religion and Morals. 2 vols., London: Cadell and Davies.
Owen (ed.), R.S., (1894). The Life of Richard Owen, 2 vols. London. John Murray.
Pierce, Patricia. (2006). Jurassic Mary: Mary Aiming and the Primeval Monsters. Sutton Publishing. 151
Roberts, G. (1834). History and Antiquities of the Borough of Lyme Regis and Charmouth. London: S. Bagster.
Rudwick, Martin J. S. (1985). The Great Devonian Controversy: The Shaping of Scientific Knowledge among Gentlemanly Specialists. University of Chicago Press.
Sharpe, T. & McCartney, P.J. (1998) The Papers of H. T. De la Beche (1796 - 1855). National Museum Of Wales.
Stanger LeathesD F., (1882). Some Account of Lyme Regis. J Shackleford.
Stead, Jennifer. (1985). Food and Cooking in 18th Century Britain. English Heritage.
Stinton, Judith (1995). Under Black Ven. Dorset Books.
Stinton, Judith. (2004). Writers in a Dorset Landscape. Dorset books.
Thackray, J. C. A. (1995). A catalogue of portraits, paintings and sculpture at the Natural History Museum London. Mansell: London, xii, 70pp.
Tickell, C. (1996). Mary Aiming of Lyme Regis. Lyme Regis: Lyme Regis Philpot Museum publications.
Torrens, Hugh S. (1981). Mary Anning's ancestry: Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries, v. 34, 341.
Torrens, H. S. (1995). Mary Aiming (1799-1847) of Lyme : ‘the greatest fossilist the world ever knew’ . British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 28,257-284.
Walker, Sally M. (2000). Mary Aiming: Fossil Hunter. Carolrhoda Books.
White, Andrew Dickson. A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, 2 vols. (1896), online at Gutenberg, retrieved June 16th, 2006 from http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/505
Winchester, Simon. (2002) The Map that Changed the World. Harper Perennial.