Dippy the dinosaur's Norwich Cathedral stay ends after 234,000 visitors

Dippy the dinosaur has bid farewell to Norwich Cathedral at the end of a 16-week stay which attracted nearly a quarter of a million visitors.

The Natural History Museum’s 26-metre Diplodocus cast had been on display at the cathedral since July as the final stop of Dippy on Tour: A Natural History Adventure.

In that time, 234,605 people saw the exhibit in Norwich, with the overall total for the eight-venue national tour - which was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic - topping two million people.

The cathedral said goodbye to its prehistoric guest with an evensong service involving its girls’ and children’s choirs, who sang a song composed especially for Dippy's stay in Norwich, and Total Ensemble Theatre Company.

The Dean of Norwich, the Very Revd Jane Hedges, said: “We have been on such an amazing journey with Dippy over these last 16 weeks and it is brilliant that more than 234,000 people have been able to join us on this incredible adventure.

"The last week - with the stunning Dippy at Night illuminations and our farewell service - has been a wonderful celebration of Dippy’s time with us.

"We shall really miss our magnificent prehistoric guest but the amazing memories of Dippy’s stay in Norwich, and the impact of the important conversations about our planet that he has inspired, will last long into the future."

In Norwich more than 10,000 young people visited Dippy with their school or youth group, and more than 12,000 people also took part in the programme of wider events, which included film screenings, expert talks and story-telling sessions. 

Dippy's tour was intended to make people think about their relationship to nature, and in Norwich thousands of people made pledges about what they would do - ranging from walking to school every day to planting vegetables and recycling more.