Camborne & Redruth with Portreath Visitor Highlights
Things To Do
The capital of Cornish mining
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 most views of Camborne and Redruth, serving as a reminder of the geology that underpinned their rapid growth.
This Area features essential rail links to Portreath harbour, historic mining cottages, the Great Flat Lode, (an extensive flat-dipping mineral vein extremely rich in tin), and South Crofty, Cornwall’s last operating tin mine.
It includes rugged open countryside, a lovely sandy beach, and bustling towns with the remains of its mining history ever-present.
The Camborne and Redruth Mining District became significant internationally for the pioneering technological progress made here, such as Richard Trevithick’s steam engines, William Bickford’s invention of the safety fuse, (which saved countless miners’ lives), and William Murdoch’s house, being the first in the world to be lit by gas (in 1792). A visit to the Cornish Studies Library in Redruth and East Pool Mine reveals the story of this Area and its huge achievements.
This is classic Cornish Mining landscape, with the highest concentration of historic mining sites anywhere in the world.
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 mining sites 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 Cornish Mines & Engines, and seeing the interiors of two complete engine houses with 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 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