Redruth
Exploring the Town

Railway Viaduct (1884-88)

Built from Carn Marth, Carn Brea and Devon granite, its massive arches are 70 feet (21.4 metres) high. It replaced Brunel 's wooden viaduct of 1852. Look on the pavement for the GWR boundary stone.

The Theatre

Return to the pelican crossing, cross back over. Then cross the bottom of Station Hill at the traffic lights to the Redruth Baptist Church (1877). The pre-Victorian building (once a grain store and stables), between the church

The Savings Bank

Return to the bottom of Station Hill, cross back over the road at the traffic lights and head up the hill. The elegant terrace on your left was built in 1827. The Redruth Albany Football Club building originally housed the Savings Bank (1818-1892) and then afterwards became the Redruth Urban District Councils offices (1894-1934).

Note the Clinton and Basset boundary stones in the wall of the Fair Meadow Car Park. Edward III (1327-77) granted a Charter for two annual fairs and two markets a week to be held there. Redruth also had the Butter Market, and other stalls in Fore Street and Market Strand, attracting people from miles around. During one of the three cholera outbreaks between 1833 and 1853, infected clothing was burnt in the Fair Meadow. And in the First World War (191418) horses were assembled here for military use with the army.

Turn right under the bridge along Bond Street to the top of Treruffe Hill.

On the right is the Passmore Edwards Free Library (1894-95) with its prominent castellated tower. Passmore Edwards was born nearby at Blackwater and paid for hospitals, art galleries and libraries to benefit the working classes. This fine granite building currently houses the Cornish Studies Library, with over 40,000 volumes on local subjects (moved in 2001 to The Cornwall Centre in Alma Place).

Next door is the former School of Science & Art (1883) and the Robert Hunt Museum (1890). Built as a memorial to its founder by the Miners' Association of Devon and Cornwall, the museum's large mineral collection is now at the Cambourne School of Mines.

Opposite is St Andrew's Church (1883), built on the site of Treruffe Manor House. The church and No. 1 Clinton Road were both designed by Redruth-born architect James Hicks, as well as all the buildings on the west side of Alma Place.

Retrace your steps along Bond Street. Look right up Basset Street, to see Pednan-drea Mine stack, built up in eight tiers during 1824 and one of Cornwall's highest stacks at 145 feet (44.2 metres). Pass back under the railway bridge to return to Alma Place.