Trevithick Day

It's the day of the year when local engineering genius and inventor Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) gets the recognition he deserves and Camborne celebrates its importance as a major player in Cornwall's former mining industry. Lots of spluttering steam engines, singing, dancing and parades.

All over the town the streets play host to local trade stalls, choirs, brass bands, clowns to entertain the kids, buskers, musicians and dancers including hundreds of children from local schools traditionally dressed as traditional Bal Maidens and Miners, along with live theatre, displays of vintage vehicles, model exhibitions and fairground rides making it a great day out for the whole family.

Camborne is located on the main A30 through Cornwall, and on Trevithick Day the main streets are closed to traffic in order to host the attractions. There is plenty of well signposted parking on the outskirts of the town. Get a ringside position for the main events of the day which starts with the children's dance winding through the town at 10:15am, followed by the adults dressed in Cornish black and gold at 2:30pm and ending with the Parade of Steam Engines at 3:15pm following a route around the town with the Mayor of Camborne taking the salute at Trevithick's statue outside the town's library.

Richard Trevithick was prolific inventor and among his many triumphs at the dawn of the industrial revolution was the "Puffing Devil", built in 1801 and the first ever steam driven vehicle which terrified local people on the streets of Camborne. Two years later he demonstrated his steam locomotive in London taking eight passengers on a bumpy ride along the streets of London through Paddington and Islington heralding a new chapter in mass transportation.