Everything about Redruth totally explained
Redruth is a town and
civil parish in the
district of Kerrier (traditionally in
Penwith Hundred),
Cornwall,
England,
United Kingdom. It lies approximately at the junction of the
A393 road and A3047, on the route of the old
London to
Land's End trunk road the
A30. It is approximately nine
miles west of
Truro, twelve miles east of
St Ives, eighteen miles north-east of
Penzance, and eleven miles north-west of
Falmouth.
History
The name
Redruth derives from its Cornish name,
Rhyd-druth.
Rhyd means 'Res', which is a Cornish equivalent to a ford (across a river). It is the 'druth' (and not the 'Red' part of the name) which means the colour red.
The town has developed away from the original settlement, which was near where the present Churchtown (around
St. Euny church) 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 to extract metals, including, tin lead and copper. The first settlers stayed by a crossing in the river, and started extracting metal ores. 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. Most miners' families, however, remained poor.
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. Andrews Church (replacing the chapel in Chapel Street) in 1883 and, opposite, the Free Library, built in 1895. By the turn of the 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 took 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.
By the end of the 19th century Britain was importing most of its copper ore and the Cornish mining industry was in decline. To find
employment, many miners
emigrated to the newer mining industries in the
Americas,
Australasia and
South Africa. Cornwall's last fully-operational mine,
South Crofty at
Pool between Redruth and
Camborne, closed in March 1998.
One of the oldest known
murder victims in
England and Wales was a Redruth resident. Sarah Ann Burke (99), was attacked in her bed at a council-owned residential home on
20 December 1992. She died in hospital
two years later.
(External Link
) Dale Hampson, 22, was sentenced to
life imprisonment on
27 July 1993 after being found guilty of Mrs Burke's murder. Two staff at the residential home were sacked for giving false evidence to police.
(External Link)
Redruth was the scene of another high profile crime on
31 August 2000. 36-year-old Lesley Ford and her four children were murdered by Lesley's husband
Lee Ford (33), who had been having a relationship with step-daughter Sarah Tranter (17). Their bodies lay undiscovered until
4 October that year. Ford was found guilty of all five murders on
24 May 2001 and sentenced to
life imprisonment at
Bristol Crown Court. The trial judge
recommended that life should mean life.
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Murdoch House
The House now called Murdoch (or, sometimes Murdock) House in the middle of Cross Street was erected in the
1660s.
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 to be so lit with this type of lighting.
In the nineteenth 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 (
Quakers).
.
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 to the House are
St. Rumon's Gardens.
Tin Miner statue
The
bronze sculpture of a Cornish miner that stands two
metres tall and produced by artist
David Annand 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 didn't 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.
A short list of five artists was selected to create further drawings and models which were exhibited in the
Cornwall Centre in December
2006 for public consultation. The feedback from the many visitors to the exhibition was overwhelmingly in favour of David Annand and one other artist. The final decision to commission David was taken by the Mining Art Group with the addition of young art ambassadors from Redruth School.
David Annand who lives in
Fife,
Scotland, has produced a wide range of
Public Artwork throughout
Britain. David said “What I felt was needed in Redruth, is a tin miner with the
accoutrements of the trade. One solitary figure standing holding his
pole pick, with a fan of candles round his neck and the esoteric helmet and candle on his head. I've gone for the era that was before the carbide and the
Davy or the
battery lamps because this era had a more quintessentially Cornish feel. Also, I felt that the 'simplest is best' approach was needed.”
Feedback and comments from the
General Public have been mixed. Some have said that the statue looks like the miner is about to launch himself into the air, and down Fore Street. Others remain perplexed at the miner’s pose and angle. However, many have welcomed this addition to the public realm designs in the town, and that it should encourage casual visitors to learn more about this important aspect of the town’s and Cornwall’s
heritage.
Today
Redruth is a small
commercial town, with a population recorded in
2001 of 12,352. It is
twinned with Plumergat and
Meriadec in
Brittany,
France and
Mineral Point, Wisconsin in the
USA, where Cornish
immigrants built many of the stone buildings still standing. A museum organised by the Old Cornwall Society is housed in the Town Council office at the bottom of the main street.
Redruth is also home to
Carn Brea, which has most historical interest. The Carn however isn't the highest point in Redruth, beaten slightly by
Carnmenellis, south west of the town centre.
Redruth also has an increasing reputation in sport, with
Redruth Rugby Football Club currently at the higher part of the national 2 league. Players such as
Phil Vickery and
Rob Thirlby have both passed through its ranks. Redruth
Soccer club hasn't enjoyed as much success but still thrives in its regular fixtures.
The actress,
Kristin Scott Thomas, the
baritone Benjamin Luxon, the opera singer
Alan Opie and the co founder of and drummer with
Fleetwood Mac,
Mick Fleetwood were all born here. The writer and comedian,
Rory McGrath, was educated at the town's secondary school. The musician
Aphex Twin grew up in Redruth. The
historian Kenneth Hamilton Jenkin was also born in Redruth, and the
Victorian philanthropist John Passmore Edwards was born in the neighbouring village of Blackwater.
Key
shops and other outlets within the
town centre include a multi-screen
cinema, a covered
market way, the
Cornish Studies Centre, an old butter market, various
antique shops, a second hand
book shop and two
supermarkets. Off the main high street (
Fore Street), there are two separate specialist shopping areas, Bond Street (to the
south of the
railway station) and Green Lane to the
north. The new street landscaping includes wooden seating, with granite furniture, new
signposts,
street lights and
litter bins, and two sets of
bronze 'dogs', which were cast from the boots of former tin miners by
sculptor David Kemp. The town has a
burgundy colour theme, which is in the new
Public Realm regeneration work to highlight the town's name. A project to light various
public buildings around the town with
LED coloured lights has already commenced. Some of the buildings opposite the railway station and the St. Rumon's Gardens have now (April
2008) been completed.
On 7th November
2007, Redruth jointly won (with
Luton) the annual UK town centre environment awards, which are run by the BCSC (a
retail property consortium). The judges praised the cast bronze 'dogs'. They also liked the large amount of work that had been done to the town in terms of landscaping the central area (mainly Fore St & the opeways).
Communications
Redruth is an important transport hub. The
railway station is a
railhead for both
Helston and the
Lizard, and there are frequent buses which connect between the three places. The railway station is served by trains from
Paddington, as well as the
Midlands and
the North. Redruth is adjacent to the main
A30 road, which gives it access to the main route out of the county, as well as routes to the
far West,
North Cornwall,
South East Cornwall and
Plymouth. Another road, the A393 road, bisects the town in a North-South direction, and links the A30 with the port of
Falmouth. A third route, the A3047, links Redruth with
Camborne, some four miles to the west.
A new road, the Barncoose by-pass, has now (March
2008) opened between the Redruth Commnunity Hospital, and the Barncoose
Industrial Estate. It is intended to reduce
HGVs using the main Camborne road, and provide a direct access to the Industrial Estate instead. It has, however, provoked some controversy, as some residents in Barncoose have lost their parking spaces to make way for the new road.
This road may be extended further towards Camborne in the near future.
Education
Redruth School is a
secondary school and
sixth form college in Redruth, for ages 11-18.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Redruth'.
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