This list of museums in Cornwall , England, in the United Kingdom, contains museums which are defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scientific, or historical interest and make their collections or related exhibits available for public viewing. Also included are non-profit art galleries and university art galleries. Museums that exist only in cyberspace (i.e. virtual museums) are not included.
Name | Image | Town/City | Region | Type | Summary |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Antony House | Antony | Cornwall | Historic house | Operated by the National Trust, early 18th century estate with gardens, features fine collections of paintings, furniture and textiles | |
Barbara Hepworth Museum | St Ives | Cornwall | Art | Studio and works by 20th-century sculptor Barbara Hepworth | |
Bodmin Jail | Bodmin | Cornwall | Prison | Former jail and exhibits of local criminals | |
Bodmin Town Museum | Bodmin | Cornwall | Local | website, history, culture, industry, natural history, transport | |
Callington Heritage Centre | Callington | Cornwall | Local | website, history, culture, mining, agriculture | |
Camborne School of Mines Museum | Tremough | Cornwall | Mining | Mining and geology | |
The Castle, Bude | Bude | Cornwall | Multiple | Website, history, culture, Bude Canal, maritime, railway, art exhibits; formerly the home of Victorian inventor Sir Goldsworthy Gurney. The Castle is accredited by Arts Council England. Free entry. | |
Charlestown Shipwreck & Heritage Centre | Charlestown | Cornwall | Maritime | website, history of diving, salvage and shipwrecks, also mining and minerals | |
Constantine Museum | Constantine | Cornwall | Local | website, history, culture, mining, agriculture | |
Cornish Mines and Engines | Pool | Cornwall | Mining | Collection of engine houses, beam engines and an industrial heritage discovery centre | |
Cornwall's Regimental Museum | Bodmin | Cornwall | Military | Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry regimental artifacts and history | |
Cotehele | Calstock | Cornwall | Historic house | Operated by the National Trust, Tudor house featuring tapestries, textiles, arms and armour, pewter, brass and old oak furniture, gardens | |
Davidstow Airfield Cornwall at War Museum | Davidstow | Cornwall | Military | History of former WW II airfield, military life in region | |
Davidstow Moor RAF Memorial War Museum | Davidstow | Cornwall | Military | Housed in the former sergeants' shower block, pictorial history of the airfield's wartime years with local memorabilia | |
Elliott's Shop | Saltash | Cornwall | History | website, historic grocery store, operated by the Tamar Protection Society | |
The Exchange | Penzance | Cornwall | Art | Satellite location of Newlyn Art Gallery, contemporary art | |
Falmouth Art Gallery | Falmouth | Cornwall | Art | Features work by Old Masters, major Victorian artists, British Impressionists, maritime artists, children's book illustrators, automata, contemporary painters and printmakers | |
Flambards Experience | Helston | Cornwall | Multiple | Amusement park with museum exhibits of Victorian shops and homes, life in Britain during The Blitz, aviation and science | |
Fowey Museum | Fowey | Cornwall | Local | information, history, culture, shipping | |
Geevor Tin Mine | Pendeen | Cornwall | Mining | Former tin mine | |
Gerrans Parish Heritage Centre | Gerrans | Cornwall | Local | website, history, culture | |
Godolphin Estate | Godolphin Cross | Cornwall | Historic house | Operated by the National Trust, Tudor/Stuart mansion, complete with early formal gardens | |
Grampound with Creed Heritage Centre | Grampound | Cornwall | Local | website, history | |
Hayle Heritage Centre | Hayle | Cornwall | Local | website, operated by the Harvey’s Foundry Trust | |
Heartlands | Pool | Cornwall | Former Tin Mine, Local, Art | Regeneration of former mining land. Features an interactive exhibition about Cornish mining heritage, a restored beam engine house, botanical gardens, artist studios, adventure playground and the Red River Cafe. Free entry | |
Helston Museum | Helston | Cornwall | Local | History, culture, art, archaeology, mining, fishing, farming, costumes | |
Isles of Scilly Museum | Hugh Town, St Mary's | Cornwall | Local | website as of 2023 [update] "Museum on the Move" as former building has been condemned; new Cultural Centre and Museum under development | |
Jamaica Inn | Bolventor | Cornwall | Multiple | Features a museum with exhibits on smuggling in the area and the inn's role, and author Daphne du Maurier [1] | |
John Betjeman Centre | Wadebridge | Cornwall | Biographical | website, works and memorabilia of poet and author John Betjeman, located in the Wadebridge railway station | |
King Edward Mine Museum | Camborne | Cornwall | Mining | Former tin mine | |
Lanhydrock | Helston | Cornwall | Historic house | Operated by the National Trust, high Victorian style country estate with gardens | |
Launceston Steam Railway | Launceston | Cornwall | Railway | Heritage railway with museum of vintage transport and machinery in station | |
Lawrence House Museum | Launceston | Cornwall | Local | 1753 Georgian house with displays about local history | |
Leach Pottery | St Ives | Cornwall | Art | 20th century studio art pottery | |
Levant Mine and Beam Engine | Trewellard | Cornwall | Mining | Visitor center for former copper and tin mine, working steam-powered beam engine | |
Liskeard and District Museum | Liskeard | Cornwall | Local | website, local history, mining interpretation, tin toys, plastics and the environment | |
Lizard Lighthouse Heritage Centre | Lizard Point | Cornwall | Maritime | History and role of the lighthouse | |
Looe Museum | Looe | Cornwall | Local | information, 15th-century guildhall and prison, exhibits on history, culture, fishing, mining | |
Lostwithiel Museum | Lostwithiel | Cornwall | Local | information, history, culture, mining | |
Luxulyan Museum and Heritage Centre | Luxulyan | Cornwall | Local | information, history, culture | |
Marazion Museum | Marazion | Cornwall | Local | website, history, culture, mining, agriculture | |
Mary Newman's Cottage | Saltash | Cornwall | Historic house | website, 17th century period Elizabethan cottage, reputedly the home of explorer Sir Francis Drake's first wife, operated by the Tamar Protection Society | |
Mevagissey Museum | Mevagissey | Cornwall | Local | website, history, culture, fishing, shipping, smuggling | |
Moseley Industrial Narorow Gauge Tramway and Toy Museum | Tolgus Mount | Cornwall | Toy, Railroad | website, open by appointment, vintage toys, model trail layouts, railroad memorabilia, narrow gauge train rides | |
Mount Edgcumbe House | Cremyll | Cornwall | Historic house | 16th century great house restored to 18th century period, with art, tapestries, porcelain, gardens, | |
Museum of Witchcraft | Boscastle | Cornwall | History | Witchcraft and Wiccan artifacts | |
National Maritime Museum Cornwall | Falmouth | Cornwall | Maritime | Home of the National Small Boat Collection, exhibitions on Cornwall's maritime history, boat conservation and experimental boat building. Also houses the Bartlett Library of books and archives, particularly relating to Falmouth's maritime history. | |
Newlyn Art Gallery | Newlyn | Cornwall | Art | Contemporary art | |
Newquay Heritage Archive & Museum | Newquay | Cornwall | Local | website, operated by the Newquay Old Cornwall Society | |
North Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery | Camelford | Cornwall | Multiple | Local history, art, agriculture and household items, Cornish and Devonshire pottery, industrial and tradesmen's tools | |
Padstow Museum | Padstow | Cornwall | Local | website, history, culture, maritime | |
Pencarrow | Bodmin | Cornwall | Historic house | 18th-century mansion and gardens | |
Pendennis Castle | Falmouth | Cornwall | Military | Fortress built by Henry VIII, displays through WW II | |
Penlee House | Penzance | Cornwall | Art | Paintings by members of the Newlyn School | |
Penryn Museum | Penryn | Cornwall | Local | information, history, culture | |
Perranzabuloe Museum | Perranporth | Cornwall | Local | website, history, culture, mining, fishing, farming | |
Poldark Mine | Wendron | Cornwall | Mining | Former tin mine | |
Polperro Heritage Museum of Smuggling and Fishing | Polperro | Cornwall | Maritime | website | |
Port Eliot | St Germans | Cornwall | Historic house | Country mansion estate, gardens, museum of folklore | |
Porthcurno Telegraph Museum | Porthcurno | Cornwall | Technology | History of telegraph cables | |
Prideaux Place | Padstow | Cornwall | Historic house | Country mansion with royal and family portraits, fine furniture, the Prideaux Porcelain Collection, gardens | |
Redruth Old Cornwall Society Museum | Redruth | Cornwall | Local | information, history, culture, mining, household items | |
Royal Cornwall Museum | Truro | Cornwall | Multiple | Art, archaeology, local history, natural history, geology, decorative arts, coins, Egyptian and world culture artifacts | |
Saltash Museum | Saltash | Cornwall | Local | website, operated by Saltash Heritage, local history, culture, records, photographic and document archive, archeology unit | |
Shire Horse Farm and Carriage Museum | Redruth | Cornwall | Transportation | website, working horse farm and collection of horse-drawn carriages | |
St Agnes Museum | St Agnes | Cornwall | Local | website, history, culture, mining, minerals, maritime | |
St Hilary Heritage Centre | St Hilary | Cornwall | Local | Located in the parish church, | |
St Ives Museum | St Ives | Cornwall | Local | information, history, culture, mining, fishing, agriculture | |
St Michael's Mount | St Michael's Mount | Cornwall | Historic house | Operated by the National Trust, tours of the island castle | |
Stuart House | Liskeard | Cornwall | Local | website, late medieval town house, exhibits about the English Civil War | |
Tate St Ives | St Ives | Cornwall | Art | Work by modern British artists, including work of the St Ives School | |
Tintagel Old Post Office | Tintagel | Cornwall | Philatelic | Operated by the National Trust, 19th century period post office in a 14th-century yeoman's farmhouse | |
Tolgus Tin Mill | Tolgus Mount | Cornwall | Mining | website, working tin mill, also hosts the Redruth Old Cornwall Society Town Museum | |
Trerice | Newquay | Cornwall | Historic house | Operated by the National Trust, Elizabethan manor house, orchard, lawn mower collection | |
Valhalla Museum | Tresco | Cornwall | Maritime | Outdoor exhibits including figureheads, name-boards and other decorative carvings from the days of sail [2] | |
Wayside Folk Museum | Zennor | Cornwall | Local | Local history and culture | |
Wheal Martyn China Clay Country Park | Treverbyn | Cornwall | Industry | website, china clay mining industry, local clay communities and the modern china clay industry |
St Ives is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial emphasis, and the town is now primarily a popular seaside resort, notably achieving the title of Best UK Seaside Town from the British Travel Awards in both 2010 and 2011. St Ives was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1639. St Ives has become renowned for its number of artists. It was named best seaside town of 2007 by The Guardian newspaper.
Penzance is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about 64 miles (103 km) west-southwest of Plymouth and 255 miles (410 km) west-southwest of London. Situated in the shelter of Mount's Bay, the town faces south-east onto the English Channel, is bordered to the west by the fishing port of Newlyn, to the north by the civil parish of Madron and to the east by the civil parish of Ludgvan. The civil parish includes the town of Newlyn and the villages of Mousehole, Paul, Gulval, and Heamoor. Granted various royal charters from 1512 onwards and incorporated on 9 May 1614, it has a population of 21,200.
Camelford is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, situated in the River Camel valley northwest of Bodmin Moor. The town is approximately ten miles (16 km) north of Bodmin and is governed by Camelford Town Council. Lanteglos-by-Camelford is the ecclesiastical parish in which the town is situated. The ward population at the 2011 Census was 4,001. The town population at the same census was 865.
Penwith is an area of Cornwall, England, located on the peninsula of the same name. It is also the name of a former local government district, whose council was based in Penzance. The area is named after one of the ancient administrative hundreds of Cornwall which derives from two Cornish words, penn meaning 'headland' and wydh meaning 'at the end'.
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham CBE was one of the foremost British abstract artists, a member of the influential Penwith Society of Arts.
George Peter Lanyon was a British painter of landscapes leaning heavily towards abstraction. Lanyon was one of the most important artists to emerge in post-war Britain. Despite his early death at the age of forty-six he achieved a body of work that is amongst the most original and important reappraisals of modernism in painting to be found anywhere. Combining abstract values with radical ideas about landscape and the figure, Lanyon navigated a course from Constructivism through Abstract Expressionism to a style close to Pop. He also made constructions, pottery and collage.
Saint Piran's Day, or the Feast of Saint Piran, is the national day of Cornwall, held on 5 March every year. The day is named after one of the patron saints of Cornwall, Saint Piran, who is also the patron saint of tin miners.
The evolution of transport in Cornwall has been shaped by the county's strong maritime, mining and industrial traditions and much of the transport infrastructure reflects this heritage.
The St Ives School refers to a group of artists living and working in the Cornish town of St Ives. The term is often used to refer to the 20th century groups which sprung up after the First World War around such artists as Borlase Smart, however there was considerable artistic activity there from the late 19th Century onwards.
The North Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery is a privately owned local museum and art gallery in Camelford, north Cornwall, England, UK.
A civil parish is a country subdivision, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 218 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Cornwall, which includes the Isles of Scilly. The county is effectively parished in its entirety; only the unpopulated Wolf Rock is unparished. At the 2001 census, there were 501,267 people living in the current parishes, accounting for the whole of the county's population. The final unparished areas of mainland Cornwall, around St Austell, were parished on 1 April 2009 to coincide with the structural changes to local government in England.
Richard Vernon Francis Cook is a British painter living and working in Newlyn, Cornwall. Cook has been exhibiting for over twenty five years and has received awards from the British Council and the Arts Council. In 2001 he was given a solo show at Tate St Ives, with a related publication, and a major painting was acquired for the collection in 2006. Further works are held in the British Museum collection.
Jack Pender (1918–1998) was a British artist.
John Stuart Lloyd Barnes was a British film historian specialising in the early history of cinema. He co-founded the Barnes Museum of Cinematography with his brother William. The museum was one of the first museums devoted to film and became a focal point for scholars worldwide. Barnes is best known for a five-volume history of film titled The Beginnings of the Cinema in England, 1894-1901.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Cornwall: Cornwall – ceremonial county and unitary authority area of England within the United Kingdom. Cornwall is a peninsula bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall is also a royal duchy of the United Kingdom. It has an estimated population of half a million and it has its own distinctive history and culture.
Presented below is an alphabetical index of articles related to Cornwall:
Peter Hugo McClure is a British artist, poet and architect who is classified as a Geometric abstractionist.