Pengelly Museum

About the museum

The museum belongs to the William Pengelly Cave Studies Trust, a volunteer-run charity founded in 1962 and named after the 19th-century geologist William Pengelly. The Trust was created to support the Centre at Higher Kiln Quarry in Buckfastleigh, on the edge of Dartmoor. The quarry was bought mainly because of Joint Mitnor Cave, where excavations in the 1940s and 1950s found the remains of animals that lived more than 100,000 years ago, when the climate was much warmer. The cave is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is regarded as one of the most important in Europe.

The quarry, fields and buildings were first leased to the Devon Trust for Nature Conservation, now the Devon Wildlife Trust, with the aim of developing a cave studies centre. Volunteers, including cavers, geologists and palaeontologists, extended the buildings to provide a museum, teaching rooms and residential accommodation, and cleared routes through the quarry to the caves.

The museum occupies one of the two original buildings. The ground floor has displays on bats, cave conservation, stalactites and stalagmites, local rocks, a hippo skull, past plants and animals and a bone cave, and the displays continue up the staircase to a workroom on the top floor. A geological garden in the courtyard shows local rocks, including Dartmoor granite.

Highlights

• Displays on cave life, bats and the bone cave
• Hippo skull and fossils from the Buckfastleigh caves
• Geological garden with local rocks in the courtyard
• Guided walks to Joint Mitnor Cave and bat walks in summer
• Set in a former quarry within Dartmoor National Park

Permanent exhibition

• The Museum at the Pengelly Centre – Displays on bats, cave conservation, local rocks, fossils such as a hippo skull and a bone cave, with a geological garden outside.

Founded

1973

Operated by

William Pengelly Cave Studies Trust

Admission & discounts

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Access to the quarry and caves is not possible for wheelchair users and involves flights of steps. The small room above the museum is reached only by stairs. Toilets are available, including one for disabled use.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops

Walks are suitable for adults and children of primary school age and older, and families with children are particularly welcome on the bat walks.

Getting there & parking

From Exeter leave the A38 at the A384 junction for Buckfastleigh; from Plymouth leave at the Dean Prior and Buckfastleigh junction.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop

A bookstall and shop with publications are open during guided walks.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent

Up to 30 guests.

A lecture room seats up to 30 people, and a common room can be used for meetings. The Centre also offers residential accommodation for up to 20 people in bunk rooms with a kitchen.

Plan your visit