Rocks containing fossils fell to the beach of Brighstone Bay on the southwestern coast of the Isle of Wight.

The rocks were part of plant debris bed L9 within the variegated clays and marls of the Wessex Formation dating from the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous, about 125 million years ago.

In the latter institution paleontologist Alan Jack Charig determined that the bones belonged to two kinds of animal: Iguanodon and what would later become Neovenator.

[1] The holotype was discovered from strata of the Wessex Formation dating from the early Barremian, at least 125 million years old.

The ridged inner maxillary tooth sides are shared with an as yet unprepared specimen from Wight, IWCMS 2001.445, that is possibly referable to Brighstoneus.

[1] Brighstoneus has an elongated and low bump on the snout, due to an abrupt transition of the higher front of the nasal bone into a lower rear.

Along the back, a relatively high crest is present, reaching its tallest point over the tail base, where some neural spines equalled over 370% of the vertebral centrum height.

In most analyses, it was found to be more basal in the Hadrosauriformes, in a polytomy with related forms including the British Barilium, Hypselospinus, Iguanodon and Mantellisaurus.