Torquay Museum Is Awarded Designated Status

Torquay Museum Is Awarded Designated Status - Torquay Museum

By: Barry Chandler
Added: 24 May 2016

Torquay Museum has been awarded designated status by the Arts Council for its Quaternary Cave Collection and Archive, which spans the last half million years.

The Designation Scheme identifies the pre-eminent collections of national importance held in England’s non-national museums, libraries and archives, based on their quality and significance and capacity to deepen our understanding of the world.

The Quaternary Cave Collection consists of around 30,000 items from many local cave sites including Kent’s Cavern, Joint Mitnor Cave, Buckfastleigh and Cow Cave in Chudleigh, along with an associated archive of research materials which go back to the very beginning of the search for human origins in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Dr Rob Dinnis, University of Oxford, said: "As this award recognises, Torquay Museum's Quaternary Cave Collections and Archive are critical for those of us piecing together the fascinating distant past of our own species. I have no doubt that more waits to be learned from this wonderful and unique resource."  

Torquay Museum has spent the last 16 years meticulously documenting, researching and interpreting this collection through a series of exhibitions. The collection contains the earliest physical evidence of modern humans found anywhere in North West Europe. It is the subject of ongoing research projects with the University of Oxford and the Natural History Museum in London, and recently staged an exhibition with the Natural History Museum entitled Britain’s First Humans.  

Professor Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum and Torquay Museum patron, commented: “Achieving Designated Status for the Quaternary Cave Collections and Archive is a wider recognition of what we specialists have known all along – these collections are truly of international significance, both in terms of their historical and their continuing research value.” 

Some highlights of the collection include:

  • Father John MacEnery’s manuscript exploration notes completed in 1841;

  • the two largest single site collections from the last Ice Age and Interglacial housed anywhere in the UK;

  • some of the oldest handaxes ever discovered in the British Isles;

  • evidence for the Neanderthal occupation of the South West region


Barry Chandler, Collections Manager, Torquay Museum, said: “Torquay Museum has joined a select group of just over 140 museums and archives in the UK with pre-eminent collections. This award recognises the extraordinary research history and potential of our Quaternary Cave Collection. It is the most important research collection in Devon; hopefully it will help us attract the funding we need to secure the Museum’s future.”

The Designation Scheme aims to build a strong understanding of our shared heritage, reveal the strengths of England's leading collections and guard against the neglect or disposal of the nation's treasures.

Designated organisations may benefit from strengthened support from their governing bodies and enhanced ability to raise funds to support the collection. Designation can also help to raise the museum’s profile at a national level.

Darren Henley, Chief Executive of Arts Council England, said: “We are delighted to be awarding this prestigious accolade to Torquay Museum’s Quaternary Cave Collections and Archive which offer a fascinating and important insight into the history of the nation, and should be celebrated and shared with new audiences.”