March 2026

Two years ago, in March 2024, Wheal Martyn Clay Works was awarded funding by the Royal Society to engage communities with local science stories. Following the completion of this exciting engagement project, we can now share with you and celebrate some of the highlights from our successful project.

Our museum was chosen as one of 36 small museums across the UK to be awarded funding of up to £5,500 by the Royal Society Places of Science scheme. Places of Science aims to celebrate projects that will evoke curiosity, interest and enthusiasm by exploring science in a creative way, while also contributing to the museum sector’s recovery.
 
Wheal Martyn’s project, titled “Inspiring Cornwall’s Minds and Miners for Our Future”, offered local schools and education groups the opportunity to explore their clay mining heritage, an industry that has so profoundly shaped the landscape and the people of St Austell and Clay Country, and then look to the future of mining in Cornwall. A future that will support our transition to a greener economy.

Watch our short film here: Inspiring Cornwall's Minds & Miners for Our Future Film

How did Wheal Martyn’s Places of Science project achieve the project aims?

Gemma Martin, Education Officer at Wheal Martyn, has provided a summary of the main project activities for us here:

Firstly, schools and groups visited Wheal Martyn Clay Works, immersing themselves in the history of the site on a Guided Tour, and then taking part in a hands-on workshop, investigating influential characters and their roles in advancing the clay mining industry in Cornwall.

Pupils then continued their journey of discovery, experiencing the innovations of Lithium extraction at Cornish Lithium and seeing the process in action in the laboratories and demo plant.

Following this, schools and groups attended the 2-day STEM Fair at Wheal Martyn, meeting experts from the Geo-Resources sector and taking part in workshops that revealed the amazing innovations of modern mining. (STEM - Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics)

From all this inspiration, pupils were then challenged to design their own product to teach others about modern mining, entering their concepts into a competition, with 3 prize-winners being selected from across all participating schools.

To put all of this into context, through our engagement project activities, we:

• Provided 4 activity-days per school/group, including a museum visit, an industry visit to Cornish Lithium, the 2-day STEM Fair event and the STEM Challenge competition
• Delivered 11 different workshop activities for children and young people to experience
• Which were facilitated by 15 STEM professionals
• Worked with 5 new STEM partner-organisations
• Supported 6 school visits with transport costs
• Took 245 pupils, 13 teachers, 103 Home Educated children and 50 parents on the journey with us to ‘Inspire Cornwall’s Minds and Miners for Our Future’

Gemma spoke enthusiastically, saying “We are so pleased with what we achieved through this project. We really did achieve our aim of inspiring young people with STEM, fostering a sense of pride in their place and raising pupils’ aspirations for the future”

Gemma added “We were lucky to have such generous support from our partners in industry and academia, offering such engaging workshop activities and experiences for the children attending the STEM Fair. This unique opportunity to meet ‘real scientists’ and find out first-hand what cutting edge innovations are happening in the world of mining was so inspiring for our young people!”

STEM Fair A Highlight

A real success of the project was the 2-day STEM Fair, which offered workshops with teams of professionals from the Geo-Resources sector, including:

• Natural History Museum London NHM - Earth Science Department
• Cornish Lithium Ltd
• University of Exeter – Camborne School of Mines CSM
• Geothermal Engineering Ltd GEL

Offering feedback after the project, the Year 5/6 teacher form Gorran School commented “the children didn’t even know what STEM was until this event! They have been totally engaged and many now have a keen interest in these areas and have even thought of future courses and occupations in their lives.” She reflected “I think having the Natural History Museum Scientists at the STEM Fair had the biggest impact on the children – many children have not met a scientist or been lucky enough to travel to London from Cornwall. It was an inspirational project to be involved in!”

As a legacy to this project, Gemma is now working on bringing new interpretation into the museum to celebrate the modern clay mining industry and showcase how Cornwall’s geology is vital in driving towards a green future. Keep your eyes out for news on this new exhibition and exciting engagement project!

This project was made possible by funding from the Royal Society and the generous support of our partners: