Tuckingmill, Camborne, Cornwall
Roskear and Tuckingmill were medieval settlements, and the are records of mills in the valley of the Red River as early as the 13 th century. Tin streaming was practiced from the middle ages.
Deep mining for copper was developed in the late 17 th century. By the early 19 th century various industrial and manufacturing industries to service the mines had been set up in Tuckingmill – leather works, ropewalks, Bickford’s fuse works (1831), Vivian’s Foundry (1833) and by 1834, the first Camborne Town gasworks.
By 1837 the Hayle Railway Co. ran its main line just to the south. As late as 1902, the Camborne-Redruth Tramway was laid, improving communications.
Tuckingmill remained relatively prosperous through most of the slumps in mining in the 19th century until the mid 20 th century. Dolcoath and Roskear were the last of the great mines to close in the 1920s, South Crofty was the last of all Cornish mines to close, and there was a strong export market for fuses, rock-drills and foundry products.
However eventually decline came. The two branch railways closed, North Crofty in 1948, North Roskear in 1963. Today all the mining related industries have closed, and their sites are being redeveloped.