Museums & Galleries
Mining and maritime heritage, art collections and the curious corners of Cornish history.
35 places reviewed by Oliver Howes
& industrial
history
Showing 35 of 35
Botallack Mine
I had been here before but decided to take a closer look at the extensive remains of Botallack Mine during a walk in the area in October 2006. I parked at Pendeen Watch and then wa
Charlestown
Charlestown may well be familiar from such TV and movies as ‘The Eagle has Landed’, ‘Poldark’, ‘The Onedin Line’ and ‘Charles Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle’. The harbour and pictur
China Stone in the Tregargus Valley near St. Stephen-in-Brannel
Tregargus Valley near St. Stephen-in-Brannel
Classic Air Force - I am unsure whether this still exists at Newquay Airport
This museum was previously situated near Coventry but moved down to Cornwall in 2013. It is now on the Aerohub site on the old St. Mawgan Airfield, on the opposite side from Newqua
East Pool Mine at Pool - formerly Cornish Mines and Engines
Camborne was Britain's major centre of copper and tin mining during the 19th century. Around 1870, as the copper became exhausted, the 'Great Flat Lode' of tin was discovered at a
Falmouth Art Gallery
That Falmouth's art gallery has surprisingly good collections is largely thanks to South African businessman Alfred de Pass who honeymooned in Falmouth in 1888 and built a holiday
Geevor Mine Museum
Geevor is at the northern end of the massive St. Just complex of former tin mines that runs from Pendeen Watch to Cape Cornwall - Geevor, Levant, Owles, Botallack, Edward, Kenidjac
Harveys Foundry of Hayle - The Great Cornish Engineers
Walking around the run-down town of Hayle these days, you would never guess that the industrial heart of Cornwall once beat strongest here. Yet in the mid-18th century Hayle boaste
Heartlands
Camborne, Pool and Redruth suffered badly from mine closures. The Heartlands project has been central to plans to regenerate a run-down part of Pool. Completed at a cost of �35 mil
Industrial History and Museums
Cornwall has an incredibly rich industrial history. Tin and copper were mined from the bronze age right through the to the end of the twentieth century. Gold, silver, lead, arsenic
King Edward Mine near Troon
Edward Mine near Troon
Kresenn Kernow, the Cornwall Centre in Redruth
When I walked part of the Redruth and Chacewater Trail in June 2008, I had time to spare to wander around Redruth. I was glad I did because, on Alma Place off Fore Street, I encoun
Levant Mine near St. Just in Penwith
Cornwall's oldest working beam engine lay idle for 60 years after Levant Mine closed. Built in 1840, to power lifts taking miners down 1800 feet, and tin and copper ore up, it oper
Man Engine
Cornishman Will Coleman is author, film maker, musician. educationalist and former director of Cornwall's renowned Kneehigh Theatre. He is also funder of Golden Tree Productions wh
National Maritime Museum Cornwall
Hot 2003 museum news was the opening of Cornwall's brand new National Maritime Museum in Falmouth. Until 2002 a small maritime museum was oddly tucked up an alleyway on the landwar
Newlyn Gallery and Exchange Gallery
July 2007 - Newlyn Gallery must have come into some money recently. Not only has it built a new caf� and bookshop extension to the original Passmore Edwards building on the eastern
North Cornwall Museum at Camelford
Unusually, North Cornwall Museum in Camelford is privately owned. Entirely appropriately for a museum that is concerned with the countryside and its trades and skills, the buiildin
Penlee House in Penzance - Home of the Newlyn School
Built in 1865, and standing in a pleasant small park near the centre of Penzance, not far from Morrab Gardens and the seafront, Penlee House was completely refurbished in 1997. It
Poldark Mine at Trenear near Wendron
The history of this site as an industrial museum began in 1972 when Peter Young, intending to buy a wardrobe at auction, instead somehow bought Wendron Forge! Here he set up his co
Porthcurno Telegraph Museum
Cornwall has always been in the forefront of communication technology. The first submarine cable network, the first radio transmissions by Marconi, the first transatlantic satellit
Prince of Wales Slate Quarry, Trewarmett
Prince of Wales Quarry near Trewarmett opened in 1871 but was only worked for just over 20 years., extracting blue slate from the Upper Devonian Penpethy Beds. The building housed
Richard Trevithick
Trevithick
Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro
Opened in 1818, at about the time when Cornwall’s tin-mining prosperity was first beginning to wane, the Royal Institution of Cornwall was founded primarily to promote knowledge ab
South Caradon Mine
Caradon Mine
Tate Gallery, Hepworth Sculpture Garden & Leach Pottery
Tate Gallery St. Ives
The Gunpowder Works at Kennall Vale, Ponsanooth
Kennall Vale, Ponsanooth
The Kenidjack Valley at St. Just-in-Penwith
Kenidjack Valley at St. Just-in-Penwith
The Luxulyan Valley
Luxulyan Valley
The Marconi Centre at Poldhu Point on the Lizard Peninsula
Marconi Centre at Poldhu Point on the Lizard Peninsula
Tolgus Tin - an updated entry - September 2012
A fascinating place with an interesting history, now fulfilling its great potential. It is on Treasure Park on the Redruth to Portreath road; don't be put off by the very touristy
Trevithick Day in Camborne
We would have gone to Trevithick Day in Camborne in 2005 but the steam parade had been cancelled for 'health and safety' reasons. Happily, such nonsense didn't happen in April 2006
UNESCO World Heritage Status for Cornwall and West Devon Mines
World Heritage Status for Cornwall and West Devon Mines
Upton Towans at Hayle
At the end of Sepember 2007 I did a walk from Godrevy National Trust car park - busy with surfers - to Hayle and back to investigate Upton Towans to see how much I could find of it
Wheal Martyn Museum of China Clay
Cornwall’s tin-mining industry may be long gone with the collapse in the price of tin but, with the demand for kaolin for porcelain, paper, medical and many other applications, chi
Wheal Peevor at Radnor near Redruth
Peevor at Radnor near Redruth