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Camborne, (Cornish: Kambronn, 'Crooked Hill') is a small ex-industrial town located in the far west of Cornwall, England, forming the western end of the greater Camborne, Pool, Redruth conurbation. It is best known as a centre for the former Cornish tin and copper mining industry, having it's working heyday during the later 18th and early 19th centuries. The last tin mine in Europe, South Crofty, was to be found in Camborne until it's closure in 1998.
Apart from the mines themselves, Camborne was home to world-renowned foundries involved in the design and production of mining machines and equipment. Of these, Holmans of Camborne was by far the largest and most successful. A family business founded in 1801, Holmans soon found themselves producing everything from boilers to rock drills, and at it's height spread over 3 tram-linked sites within the town, employing thousands. Despite Britain's industrial decline, Holmans still survives today, albeit in a downsized form, as the countries largest specialists in compressed air equipment.
Camborne is also notable as the home of Richard Trevithick, the miner's son who's work in high pressure steam boilers led to one of the worlds first locomotive engines. His 'Puffing Devil' road locomotive, was first tested in Camborne in 1801, and is still remembered in the popular Cornish folk song, 'Going up Camborne Hill'. However, despite his many achievements and innovations, he died a poor man, much of his work forgotten by the world at large. His statue can be found standing outside the public library, and his achievements (not to mention steam power, mining, and Cornish culture as a whole) are celebrated every last Saturday of April as the town's 'Trevithick Day'.
Despite a poor reputation as a depressed region throughout much of Cornwall, Camborne, Pool and Redruth are at the centre of a £150 million redevelopment scheme which hopes to reverse decades of social-economic decline in this former industrial heartland of Cornwall. 'CPR Regeneration', one of the government's 19 'URCs' or Urban Regeneration Companies, oversee one of the largest urban renewal projects in the country, driving the regeneration of up to 150 hectares of land with the aim of creating more than 4,000 jobs and increasing wages in the area by 15%.
Because of the importance of metal mining to the Cornish economy, the Camborne School of Mines (CSM) developed as the only specialist hard rock education establishment in the U.K.. It is now part of the University of Exeter in Cornwall, and has relocated to the University's Tremough campus. CSM graduates are to be found working in the mining industry all over the world.
The town name is repeated in Camborne, New Zealand, a seaside suburb of Porirua City developed by an investment company headed by a Mr Arthur Cornish. Most of its street names are of Cornish origin.
External link
- Camborne Web Directory (http://www.plymouthcity.com/Directory/Cornwall/Camborne/index.html) - a comprehensive directory of Camborne related websites and services.
- CPR Regeneration (http://www.cprregeneration.co.uk/) - An introduction and outlining of CPR and it's aims.
- Trevithick Day (http://www.trevithick-day.org.uk/) - Information on Trevithick Day.
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