Early history The first mention of the
medieval Camborne churchtown is in 1181 although in 1931 the ruins of a probable
Romano-British villa were found at Magor Farm, Illogan, near Camborne, and excavated that year under the guidance of the
Royal Institution of Cornwall. There are also early Christian sites such as an inscribed
altar stone, (now in the
Church of
St Martin and
St Meriadoc), and dated to the 10th or 11th centuries, which attests to the existence of a settlement then. Langdon (1896) records seven stone crosses in the parish of which two are at Pendarves. By the late Middle Ages
manorial holdings developed in the surrounding area, and church-paths linked the churchtown to the outlying hamlets.
Cornish medieval mystery plays were held in a
playing place and the churchyard is said to have had a pilgrimage chapel and holy well.
John Norden visited in 1584 and described Camborne as "". At this time there would have been moors and rough grazing as well as small fields in the surrounding countryside. Camborne 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.
Mining , 1893 Mining is first recorded locally in the 1400s with early exploitation of the small streams cutting through the mineralised area and from shallow mines following lodes.
Adit mining was first recorded in the 16th century. As the economic recession of the 1870s led to the first years of mining decline in Camborne, social tensions mounted. In October 1873 thousands of miners, aided and abetted by the townspeople, rioted against a hated, authoritarian police force. One of the greatest shows of mining defiance in Cornish history left the Town Hall vandalised, the Police Station ransacked, and the estimated fifty constables present in the town beaten and scattered. The militia were called in from Plymouth to quell the insurrection, and the Home Secretary,
Robert Lowe, asked to be kept informed of events. The Camborne riots were reported in the national newspapers and
Sir Colman Rashleigh, JP for Cornwall, had to address the Grand Jury regarding the tumult. The entire Camborne police force was found to be at fault and either removed from duty or transferred as a result. No rioter was ever convicted. , built in 1860
Dolcoath Mine, (English:
Old Ground Mine), the 'Queen of Cornish Mines' was, at a depth of , for many years the deepest mine in the world, not to mention one of the oldest before its closure in 1921. The last working tin mine in Europe,
South Crofty, which closed in 1998, is also to be found in Camborne. A modest quantity of South Crofty tin was purchased by a local enterprise and this gradually dwindling stock is used to make specialist tin jewellery, branded as the South Crofty Collection. Tin originally mined at South Crofty was used to form the bronze medals awarded in the 2012 London Olympics.
Camborne School of Mines Because of the prior 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 United Kingdom, until the
Royal School of Mines was established in 1851. Plans for the school were laid out in 1829, leading to the current school in 1888. It now forms part of the
University of Exeter; it moved to the university's Tremough campus (now known as
Penryn Campus) in 2004.
Steam locomotion outside Camborne Library On Christmas Eve 1801, the
Puffing Devil—a steam-powered road locomotive built by Camborne engineer
Richard Trevithick—made its way up
Camborne Hill in Cornwall. It was the world's first self-propelled passenger carrying vehicle. The events have been turned into a local song: :
Going up Camborne Hill, coming down, :
Going up Camborne Hill, coming down, :
The horses stood still, :
The wheels turn around, :
Going up Camborne Hill, coming down. ==Cornish language==