Ruthernbridge ( kw, Ponsrudhyn) is a village in the parish of

Withiel Withiel ( kw, Egloswydhyel) is a civil parish and village in mid Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish of Withiel is between the parishes of St Breock, Lanivet, Roche and St Wenn. The name ''Withiel'' comes from the Cornish word ''Gwydhye ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England, UK.

History

The village is centred around an early 15th-century bridge with two pointed arches which carries the road over the River Ruthern. The old wesleyan chapel, which was built in 1879, and the adjacent coach house, are both Grade 2

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Railway

When the

Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway The Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway was a railway line opened in 1834 in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It linked the quays at Wadebridge with the town of Bodmin and also to quarries at Wenfordbridge.Sources use Wenfordbridge and Wenford Bridge ...

(B&W) was built in 1834 it included a short branch of about from Grogley Junction to Ruthernbridge. Although not a requirement, the B&W placed stone markers every quarter of a mile, and a marker stone at each terminus showing the distance to the company's headquarters in

Wadebridge Wadebridge (; kw, Ponswad) is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town straddles the River Camel upstream from Padstow.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 200 ''Newquay & Bodmin'' The permanent populat ...

, that at Ruthernbridge showing a distance of 4 miles 1 furlong 5 chains 10 yards. The main use of the line was to carry

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

to local farms for use as a soil improver while ores of

Lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

Iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

and

Copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

from Mulberry Mine and

from Blackhay Mine were taken out. Although there was never an official passenger service on the branch and no platform or other facilities were provided, passengers were carried in the tool wagon. The original terminus had two sidings, one of which ran over wooden sand drops, and in 1914 a loop long enough to accommodate 8 wagons was installed up the line towards Grogley, the line being shortened to this location in 1926. The line ran along a lane for almost the whole length falling at a gentle incline of 1 in 158, this requiring any wagons left at Ruthernbridge to be chained to the rails to prevent them running away. In later years the only engines to work the branch were Beattie well tanks, which would work chimney-first to Ruthernbridge and then propel their train back to the junction as there were no run-round facilities as Grogley. The last train to Ruthernbridge ran on 29 November 1933 and the line officially closed on 30 December that year, less than 1 year short of its centenary. Ruthern branch

Mining

The oldest mine working in the area is Mulberry Mine which dates back at least to

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

, when it was one of only three mines in the county producing

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

. Indeed, mining was, for a short period in the 19th century, a major industry locally, and seven different mines used the railhead at Ruthernbridge to convey their ores out for

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ch ...

References

{{authority control Villages in Cornwall