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Camborne & Redruth with Portreath


This was the centre of the Cornish mining industry, and home to many of its most important mines and individuals. The impressive bulk of Carn Brea – a high granite ridge with jagged outcrops and fantastic 360° vistas – frames the view of Camborne and Redruth, serving as a reminder of the geology that underpinned their rapid growth.


Featuring essential rail links to


Portreath Harbour, historic mining cottages, the Great Flat Lode, and South Crofty, Cornwall’s last operating tin mine. The Area includes rugged open countryside, a lovely sandy beach, and bustling towns with remains of its mining history ever-present.


Highlights


• Cycling or walking along the Great Flat Lode trail, which, along its extent of just under four miles, has the highest concentration of historic mine buildings of anywhere in the world.


• Climbing up to the Basset Memorial on Carn Brea, which dominates the Area, and then seeing the spectacular views from its summit.


• Visiting East Pool Mine, and seeing the interiors of two complete engine houses with their engines in situ.


• Walking along the headland at Portreath, and imagining the harbour in its industrial heyday as a bustling copper port.


• Exploring Wheal Peevor, which has three fine preserved engine houses close to the A30.


• Witnessing the unique collection of restored tin processing equipment at King Edward Mine, a former training centre for mining students dating from the turn of the 20th century—one of only a few remaining mine sites with extensive collections of machinery in Cornwall.


Mining Heritage B


etween roughly 1770 and 1920, Camborne and Redruth was the most populated and innovative metal mining district in the entire Site, with some of Cornwall’s richest, deepest and most famous copper and tin mines. A slump in copper prices had hit the area hard, but thanks to the discovery of tin in the Great Flat Lode (1870), the mining workforce were able to find employment. Mines such as Wheal Uny, South Wheal Frances and Wheal Grenville soon became renowned for the large amount of tin being produced. The steep rise in output also sustained important rail transport links - particularly to Devoran and Point along the Redruth and Chasewater Railway. The area saw the establishment of King Edward Mine in 1897, a miners’ training school based at the former South Condurrow site. The Camborne and Redruth Mining District became significant internationally for the pioneering technological progress made there, such as Richard Trevithick’s steam engines, William Bickford’s invention of the safety fuse, and William Murdoch’s house, being the first in the world to be lit by gas (in 1792).


Sites within the district Click on each site to find out more.


• Cornish Studies Library • East Pool Mine • King Edward Mine • •


Heartlands Mineral Tramways For travel information click here.


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Did you Know? Humble beginnings Trevithick began his research into steam locomotives by making models that could run on his kitchen floor.


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