REDRUTH, a market-town and parish in the
hundred of PENWITH, county of CORNWALL, 49 miles
(S. W. by W.) from Launceston, and 262 (W. S. W.)
from London, containing 6607 inhabitants. This ancient
town, originally called Uny, subsequently received
the appellation of Dre druth, or " Druids' town," of
which its present name is evidently an abbreviation.
It appears to have existed previously to the division of
the kingdom into parishes, and to have been a central
point for the exercise of the religious rites of the ancient
Britons, of which the adjacent rocks, basins, circles,
and erect stones, with numerous remains of cromlechs,
cairns, and other objects of superstitious veneration,
are standing memorials; especially one rock, formerly
the scene of human sacrifices, and therefore called
" the Sacrificing Rock." The town is situated on. the
brow of a hill in the midst of the mining district, and
consists chiefly of one long street, which is indifferently
paved, lighted with gas, and supplied with water from
a spring near Trefula. A small theatre is open occasionally,
and there is a subscription reading-room. A savings
bank has been recently erected; it is a handsome
edifice, with a colonnade in front. The prosperity of
this place, and the rapid increase of its population, have
been eminently promoted by the discovery of extensive
tin and copper mines in its neighbourhood, the produce
of which is said to realize nearly a million sterling per
annum. Sales of copper-ore are held weekly by ticket,
and there are several very  extensive stores of gunpowder,
tools, and other articles, for the use of the
miners; some hats are manufactured here. A railroad,
about nine miles in length, recently constructed,
under the provisions of an act obtained in 1824, from
Point quay, in Restrongeth creek, to this town, and
also communicating with a branch of the river Fal, facilitates
the exportation of ore, and the conveyance of
timber and coal, for the supply of the mines, and for
general purposes. A market and two annual fairs were
granted by charter of Charles II., and a third fair by
Henry VII. Markets are now held 011 Tuesday and
Friday, the latter of which is a great corn market,
especially. for oats. Fairs are on Easter-Tuesday,
May 2nd, August 3rd, and October 12th, chiefly for
cattle; the tolls and dues of the markets, and of the
fairs in May and August, also those of a fair commonly
called Roast Goose fair, belong to Lord De Dunstanville,
who, as lord of the manor, appoints examiners
of weights and measures. A market-house, shambles,
and other buildings, have been recently erected, at the
expense of his lordship. At the entrance to the market-
place is a  handsome square stone tower, built on
arches, and ornamented with a clock, having four dial
plates, which is lighted with gas, on the east and west sides.
The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Cornwall,
and diocese of Exeter, rated in the king's books
at £20, and in the patronage of Lord De Dunstanville.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Uny, and situated
about half a mile from the town, near the foot of Carn-
Brea Hill, was rebuilt about 1770, and consists of a
nave, with a flat ceiling supported by pillars. A chapel
of ease, in the ancient style of English architecture, has
been erected by subscription, aided by a grant from the
commissioners for building churches and chapels; but
is yet in an unfinished state. There are places of worship
for Baptists, the Society of Friends, and Primitive
and Wesleyan Methodists. A free grammar school was
built by subscription in 1803, and supported for some
time by voluntary contributions, but is now used only
for pay-scholars. On the eastern side of Carn-Brea Hill
are the ruins of a castle, parts of which are of great antiquity.
At the village of Plain an Quarry, in this parish,
are the remains of one of those circles in which the
ancient plays were performed. The application of gas
to the purposes of domestic light, as a substitute for
candles and oil, was first made here, by Mr. Murdock,
and afterwards successfully introduced by him into the
Soho foundry at Birmingham.