The beloved Crystal Palace Park dinosaurs are getting a much-needed makeover worthy of the Victorians.

Conservation work has started on the Iguanodon, one of thirty prehistoric beasts that grace the park, as part of a package of improvements.

The statues are Grade I listed – the highest available – after being constructed in the 1850s, before Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species was published.

The Victorians were rumoured to hold dinner parties in the majestic statue due to its great size.

Below, inside Iggy the Iguanodon. Probably no room for a feast

Your Local Guardian:

Funded by London mayor Boris Johnson and Bromley council, £400,000 out a £2.4m pot for park improvements has been allocated for the ancient replicas.

This means not all the dinosaurs in the park, off Crystal Palace Park Road, will be restored.

But group Friends of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs is trying to secure a further £800k of funding to revamp all the statues.

The eagle eyes volunteer group spotted cracks and tails and toes falling off the historic landmarks around three years ago, and have been working with numerous organisations around repairing the damage. 

The current restoration work should take around six weeks to complete.

Further work to protect the beasts will continue next spring.

MORE TOP STORIES Leader of Bromley Council coun Stephen Carr said: “The dinosaurs are internationally recognised and the park’s most unique asset.

“The Iguanodon, the first dinosaur to undergo treatment, is perhaps the most iconic of all the dinosaurs and we will soon be able to marvel at this fantastic feature just as the Victorians did over 150 years ago.”

Additional plans to improve the dino park include a new ‘dinosaur interpretation’ panel to be installed in the coming months.

For more information visit: cpdinosaurs.org/