Redruth
Redruth is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England. Redruth lies approximately at the junction of the A393 and A3047 roads, on the route of the old London to Land's End trunk road, and is approximately west of Truro, east of St Ives, north east of Penzance and north west of Falmouth. At the 2021 census the population of the parish was 15,626 and the population of the built up area was 15,455.
Toponymy
The form Unyredruth is recorded in 1563. Earlier forms are Ridruthe, Rudruth and Riddruth.The name Redruth derives from its older Cornish name, Rhyd-ruth, meaning 'red ford' — literally 'ford-red': the first syllable rhyd means 'ford'; the second ruth means 'red'. It is therefore the -ruth and not the red- part of the name which means the colour red.
Rhyd is the older form of res, which is a Cornish equivalent to a ford, a common Celtic word: Old Cornish rid, Welsh rhyd, Old Breton rit or ret, Gaulish ritu-, all from Indo-European prtus derived word in -tu from the root *per, 'to cross, to go through', Proto-Germanic furdúz, Latin portus, all cognate to the Celtic word.
Béroul's Roman de Tristan features a location in Cornwall called Crois Rouge in Norman French, 'red cross' in English.
Geography
Redruth forms the eastern part of a loose conurbation which stretches to Camborne, to the west. At the 2011 census, the Office for National Statistics defined what it called the Redruth built up area, which extended to Camborne and had a population of 42,690, making it the largest built up area in Cornwall. Cornwall Council similarly defined what it called "Camborne/Pool/Redruth", which had a population of 55,400 in 2011. Following a change in methodology for the 2021 census, Redruth is now considered a separate built up area by the Office for National Statistics, with a population of 15,455.History
Traditionally in the Penwith Hundred, the town has developed away from the original settlement, which was near where the present Churchtown district of Redruth stands today. This location is a steeply wooded valley, with Carn Brea on one side and the now-called Bullers Hill on the other. The presence of shallow lodes of tin and copper lying east to west made it an advantageous site for extracting metals, including, tin, lead and copper. The first settlers stayed by a crossing in the river and started extracting metal ores, and this process turned the colour of the river red.Historically, Redruth was a small market town overshadowed by its neighbours until a boom in the demand for copper ore during the 18th century. Copper ore had mostly been discarded by the Cornish tin-mining industry but was now needed to make brass, an essential metal in the Industrial Revolution. Surrounded by copper ore deposits, Redruth quickly became one of the largest and richest mining areas in Britain and the town's population grew markedly, although most miners' families remained poor.
Redruth was connected to the electric telegraph network in 1863 when the Electric and International Telegraph Company opened stations at Truro, Redruth, Penzance, Camborne, Liskard and St Austell.
In the 1880s and 1890s the town end of Clinton Road gained a number of institutions, notably a School of Mines and Art School in 1882–83, St. Andrew's Church in 1883 and, opposite, the Free Library, built in 1895. The Mining Exchange was built in 1880 as a place for the trading of mineral stock.
By the end of the 19th century, the Cornish mining industry was in decline and Britain was importing most of its copper ore. To find employment, many miners emigrated to the newer mining industries in the Americas, Pachuca, Mexico, Australasia and South Africa. By the turn of the 20th century, Victoria Park had been laid out to commemorate the Golden Jubilee and this part of town had taken on its present appearance – a far cry from the jumble of mining activity that had taken place there in the early 19th century. Redruth was making its transition from a market town dominated by mines and industry to a residential centre. Cornwall's last fully operational mine, South Crofty at Pool between Redruth and Camborne, closed in March 1998.
Governance
There are two tiers of local government covering Redruth, at parish and unitary authority level: Redruth Town Council and Cornwall Council. The town council is based at the Civic Centre on Alma Place. The building had been completed in 1880 and was originally the Redruth District Bank and the town's main post office. The building now serves both as the town council's headquarters and a library.Since the 2010 general election the town has formed part of the Camborne and Redruth constituency. The seat was won at the 2024 general election by Perran Moon of the Labour Party.
Administrative history
Redruth was an ancient parish in the Penwith Hundred of Cornwall. In 1837 the Redruth poor law union was created, grouping several parishes around Redruth together for the purposes of administering their responsibilities under the poor laws. They built a workhouse just west of Redruth in 1838, which eventually became the Camborne Redruth Community Hospital.In 1853 the parish of Redruth was made a local board district, administered by an elected local board. Such local board districts were reconstituted as urban districts under the Local Government Act 1894. The 1894 Act also established rural districts based on the poor law unions; the parts of the Redruth poor law union that were not included in urban districts became the Redruth Rural District.
Redruth Urban District Council established its headquarters in a former bank at 2 Station Hill, remaining there until the council's abolition. Redruth Urban District was abolished in 1934. The area was then merged with the abolished urban district of Camborne, the parish of Illogan and parts of the parishes of Gwennap and Wendron to become the new Camborne–Redruth Urban District. Camborne-Redruth Urban District Council based itself in Camborne.
Camborne–Redruth Urban District was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, when the area became part of the Kerrier district.
The area of the pre-1974 Camborne-Redruth Urban District became an unparished area at the time of the 1974 reforms. Eight new civil parishes were subsequently created in 1985 covering the area of the former urban district, including one called Redruth. The new parish council adopted the name Redruth Town Council.
Kerrier district was in turn abolished in 2009. Cornwall County Council then took on district-level functions, making it a unitary authority, and was renamed Cornwall Council.
Education
, a Technology College, is a secondary school, for ages 11–16. It used to have a sixth form, for students aged 16 to 18, however, it closed applications for new students in 2016 and officially closed in 2020 due to funding cuts.The town used to have a coeducational independent school, Highfields Private School, but it closed in 2012.
Primary schools within the town include Pennoweth School, Treleigh School, Treloweth Community Primary School, Trewirgie Infant School and Trewirgie Junior School. The Curnow Community Special School caters for students with special needs.
The Passmore Edwards Free Library was built in 1894. Its architect was James Hicks who used a castellated baronial style; there is a prominent octagonal tower. The reading room was once the school of Thomas Collins, where Collins, who had been headmaster of Trewirgie School, taught local children and the children left behind by parents who had emigrated overseas. The former School of Science and Art is also the work of James Hicks; the later additions were built for the School of Mines.
Notable buildings
The Parish Church of St Uny, which is some distance from the town centre, is of Norman foundation but was rebuilt in 1756; it is grade II* listed. The patron saint is also honoured at Lelant. The tower is two centuries earlier and the whole church is built of granite. A chapel of ease was built in the town in 1828 but it is no longer in use. The parish of St Euny is part of a group ministry with the parishes of Pencoys, Lanner and Treleigh. Other places of worship include the Wesleyan Church of 1826, the Free Methodist Church of 1864 and the Quaker Meeting House of 1833.The Mining Exchange building was used as a housing advice centre.
The Old Courthouse was completed in 1850 and served as a courthouse until 1977. It also served for some years as offices for the solicitor who acted as clerk to the Redruth Rural District Council.
Murdoch House
The house now called Murdoch House in the middle of Cross Street was erected in the 1660s as a chapel and it afterwards became a prison. William Murdoch lived in it from 1782 to 1798. During this time, he worked on local tin and copper mines, erecting engines on behalf of Boulton and Watt.He fitted the house out with gas lighting from coal gas – this was the first house in the world with this type of lighting. In the 19th century, the house was used as a tea room, run by a Mrs Knuckey. In 1931 Mr A. Pearce Jenkin, a leading citizen of Redruth purchased the house and gave it as a gift to the Society of Friends. Murdoch House has since been fully restored and is now regularly used by the Redruth Old Cornwall Society, as well as the Cornish-American Connection and the Redruth Story Group. Next door are St. Rumon's Gardens.
Kresen Kernow
, on the site of Redruth Brewery, houses the archives and collections of the former Cornwall Records Office and Cornish Studies Library. It also holds the Cornwall Tapestries which depict the history of Cornwall in embroidery.Tin Miner Statue
A bronze sculpture of a Cornish miner by artist David Annand standing at 6 feet 7 inches was erected in April 2008.The sculpture was commissioned by the Redruth Public Realm Working Party's Mining Art Group in response to comments received during the consultation process, that the town did not have anything to represent the history of the men who worked down the tin and copper mines in the area.
David Annand was selected from over 70 artists who responded to an advert placed by Cornwall Arts Centre Trust, the project managers, for expressions of interest in August 2006.