Wheal Martyn wins five at Cornwall Heritage Awards 2026

Most teams would be thrilled to win one award. The team at Wheal Martyn Clay Works left the Cornwall Heritage Awards 2026 with five.

The St Austell museum, which tells the story of Cornwall’s china clay industry, had a night to remember at the ceremony led by Cornwall Council and held at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth.

Representatives from museums, galleries and heritage centres across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly gathered on the 19th of May to celebrate their achievements in 2025. The event was hosted by Mark Trevethan, Principal Lead for Culture & Creative Industries at Cornwall Council, alongside Daphne Skinnard from BBC Radio Cornwall.

Wheal Martyn was shortlisted for four of the eight awards on offer, plus the final ‘Spirit of The Award’ category. By the end of the night the team had collected five.

A winning night across the board

The museum took the Winner for Collaboration award for its Royal Society, Places of Science Project, ‘Inspiring Cornwall’s Minds & Miners for Our Future’. The Royal Society-funded project saw Wheal Martyn work with industry and academic partners including The Natural History Museum to connect communities and pupils with real science, heritage, innovation and future STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers. It included workshops at Wheal Martyn and in schools, along with a two-day STEM Fair that drew over 250 children.

Three Highly Commended results followed. Wheels at Wheal Martyn took Highly Commended for Innovation, a monthly classic car gathering set up partly to recruit volunteers. It brought in 12 new skilled museum volunteers, boosted income for the charity and pulled in new visitors.

The Metal Conservation Project earned Highly Commended for Best on a Budget of under £1,000. The museum trained volunteers in metal conservation and worked through a programme of treatment for the many industrial objects on display. Structured documentation and maintenance regimes have improved collections care, volunteer skills and pride, strengthened public confidence and supported long-term preservation of large metal heritage artefacts.

Volunteer Ben Knight was Highly Commended in the One to Watch category. Ben made an exceptional impact in just six months, with deep site knowledge, conservation skills, creative problem solving and versatility that strengthened collections care, displays and daily operations.

The big one

The standout result came in the final category. Wheal Martyn Clay Works won the Spirit of the Award, a special recognition of its commitment to rootedness and connection, community impact, collaboration, values-led practice, leadership and inspiration.

Wheal Martyn’s Education Officer Gemma Martin, who attended with colleagues and volunteers, said: “Wow, what a night. We are delighted to have scooped five awards at this year’s Cornwall Heritage Awards.

“A real triumph was winning the overall Spirit of the Award. We were surprised but utterly delighted. Thank you to all our staff, our amazing volunteers and our kind supporters. What a team we are!”