Redruth

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Redruth Rysrudh
Coordinates: 50.2330° N 5.2248° W
Population	12,352 (Civil Parish, 2001)
OS grid reference	SW700420
Parish	Redruth
District	Kerrier
Shire county	Cornwall
Region	South West
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	REDRUTH
Postcode district	TR15
Dial code	01209
Police	Devon and Cornwall
Fire	Cornwall
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	Falmouth and Camborne
European Parliament	South West England
List of places: UK • England • Cornwall

Redruth (Cornish: Rysrudh) is a town and civil parish in the Kerrier district of Cornwall in England, UK. 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.

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 Queen's 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 founding fathers of gas lighting, William Murdoch (1754–1839, later known as Murdock) lived in Redruth and from 1792 is said to have used gas to light his house. If true, this would have been one of the first uses of town gas for lighting.

Today, Redruth is a small commercial town, with a population recorded in 2001 of 12,352. It is twinned with Plumergat et 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 Societyis housed in the Town Council office at the bottom of the main street (see web site for details).

Redruth also has a increasing reputation in sport, with its rugby 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 football club has not enjoyed as much success but still thrives in its regular fixtures.

The actress, Kristin Scott Thomas, and drummer of Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood were both born here. The writer and comedian, Rory McGrath, was educated at the town's secondary school.

[edit] See also

• List of topics related to Cornwall

[edit] External links

• Redruth OCS
• Redruth local information and business directory
• Redruth at the Open Directory Project (suggest site)
• Redruth School
• Redruth RFC
• BBC Nation on Film
• Redruth Geneology On Line

Civil Parishes of Kerrier District
United Kingdom |  England | Cornwall
Breage | Budock | Camborne | Carharrack | Carn Brea | Constantine | Crowan | Cury | Germoe | Grade-Ruan | Gunwalloe | Gweek | Helston | Illogan | Landewednack | Lanner | Mabe | Manaccan | Mawgan-in-Meneage | Mawnan | Mullion | Porthleven | Portreath | Redruth | St Anthony-in-Meneage | St Day | St Gluvias | St Keverne | St Martin-in-Meneage | Sithney | Stithians | Wendron