A Portland couple discovered a Jurassic turtle fossil that dates back millions of years.

Diana and Mark Godden, of Easton, found the rare fossil at the Albion Stone quarry on the island.

Mrs Godden, 42, came across the historic feature at the site on Easton Street where her husband Mark is the quarry manager.

Mr Godden, 46, described it as being oval in shape and around 30cm in length.

He said: “My wife found it in the quarry when she accompanied me to work.

“It’s a very early turtle from the late Jurassic period, it’s probably around 140 million years old.

“She pointed it out to me and asked me what I thought it was, but none of us were sure.

“I emailed some palaeontologists that I knew and it came back that it was a turtle but the specimen has not been determined yet.”

He added: “I always keep my eyes open for unusual things. We found a dinosaur bone a few years ago which was quite exciting but this fossil is rare.”

The fossil is due to be removed from the stone by the Jurassic Coast team from Dorset County Council.

Mr Godden said he hoped that the fossil would then go to a local museum to be examined.

His wife, who spotted the fossil, said: “I was just looking around and I spotted something that was a different colour to all the stones around it.

“It was quite a dark colour.

“I’m not an expert in fossils but I am interested and you could see its colouring was interesting.

“I was quite excited about it – it’s not every day you find a major fossil.”

She added that the fossil features what looks like a jawbone as well as limbs.

When most other turtle fossils have been found in the past they either feature one or the other.

Mrs Godden said: “This makes this one a bit special.”

Richard Edmonds, the earth science manager from the Jurassic Coast team, agreed it was unusual to find a turtle fossil with both its limbs and jawbone.

He said: “Turtle fossils are known to be found in Portland stone but they are rare.

“I haven’t seen it yet, but it is really unusual to find the limbs and the jawbone together because the head usually falls off.”

He added: “It needs to be cut down to a manageable size and then glued back together and cleaned.

“I think this find is definitely exciting, it does look quite spectacular.”