IT WAS more than 20m long, weighed up to 50 tonnes - and is about 130 million years old.

Bones from the biggest dinosaur so far discovered in the UK have been unearthed on the Isle of Wight.

Fossil-hunters made the crucial find along a stretch of beach between Clinton Chine and Sudmoor Point.

The bones include a single neck-bone measuring three-quarters of a metre in length from the 125-to-130 million-year-old sauropod.

Researchers investigating the bones believe the huge reptile was probably more than 20m long and could have weighed between 40 and 50 tonnes.

The find is unveiled in the Cretaceous Research scientific journal.

Research team leader Darren Naish, of the University of Portsmouth, said: "It is impressively big. The bone contains a wealth of information that allowed us to work out with confidence exactly what sauropod it belonged to.

"This, coupled with the giant size, was what attracted me to take a further look."

The well-preserved cervical vertebra was found enclosed in a rock matrix called siderite, which sets like concrete and protected the fragile bone. Fossil hunters also discovered a second neck bone which probably came from the same animal but was less well-preserved.

Scientists said the dinosaur's skeleton had been eroding out of nearby cliffs and it was possible more remains had yet to be found.

The fossils originate in the best-known dinosaur-bearing rock unit in the Isle of Wight - the so-called Wessex Formation.

Experts say the giant neck-bone is certainly among the biggest ever found in Europe.

Earlier this year, researchers announced the discovery of fossilised bones from what would have been a 35m-long dinosaur weighing 50 tonnes near Riodeva in eastern Spain.