
The Red River () is a small river in north-west
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, England, United Kingdom which issues into
St Ives Bay at
Godrevy
Godrevy (, meaning ''small farms'') ( ) is an area on the eastern side of St Ives Bay, west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, which faces the Atlantic Ocean. It is popular with both the surfing community and walkers. It is part owned by the ...
on Cornwall's
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
coast. The Red River was given its name from the
mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...
deposits associated with
tin mining
Tin mining began early in the Bronze Age, as bronze is a copper-tin alloy. Tin is a relatively rare element in the Earth's crust, with approximately 2 ppm (parts per million), compared to iron with 50,000 ppm.
History
Tin extraction and use ca ...
, particularly oxides of Iron, which formerly coloured its water red.
The river's gradient is relatively steep; over its length, it falls from source to sea.
Geography
The Red River rises from springs near
Bolenowe on the
Carnmenellis
Carnmenellis Hill (or just Carnmenellis) gives its name to the area of west Cornwall in England, between Redruth, Helston and Penryn. The hill itself is situated approximately three miles (5 km) south of Redruth.Ordnance Survey: Landra ...
granite
batholith
A batholith () is a large mass of intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock (also called plutonic rock), larger than in area, that forms from cooled magma deep in the Earth's crust. Batholiths are almost always made mostly of felsic or intermediate ...
, an upland plateau. The river flows north, passing through a gorge in the granite ridge west of
Carn Brea. Beyond the gorge, the river passes
Tuckingmill, and Tuckingmill Valley Park, once a centre of mining and associated industries. At the hamlet of Combe, the
Tehidy stream joins the Red River which then turns west towards Godrevy.
Tin streaming
The Red River's catchment area includes the major mining areas of Tuckingmill,
Pool
Pool may refer to:
Bodies of water
* Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming
* Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings
* Tide pool, a roc ...
, and
Camborne
Camborne (from Cornish language, Cornish ''Cambron'', "crooked hill") is a town in Cornwall, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mouth, C ...
. Thus:
The Red River catchment has been subjected to mining and mineral working for many centuries, particularly during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It has been extensively tin streamed and its water used for mineral processing, both for use in the mineral separation processes and as a source of power. As a result of past mining activities the river has undergone many modifications and for significant parts of its course the river has been diverted, canalised, and, in places, embanked. Very little, if any, of the river can be considered to be in a truly natural condition.
In
The Mining Journal
''The Mining Journal'' is the predominant daily newspaper of Marquette, Michigan, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Like most market-dominant daily papers, the ''Journal'' is a six-day paper. ''The Mining Journal'' is distributed over a wide ...
(1872), the author, Mr Watson, asked ″if any stream or gully in Australia,
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
or
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
had proved to be so continuously rich and productive as the Red River.″ The river was fed by tributary streams that flowed from the dressing-floors and slime pits of the principal mines, and the ″squatters″ could earn £20,000 per year working on the slimy river-bed. Mr Watson remarked on the inefficiency of the mines in allowing so much tin to be lost. By 1879, Captain James of South Frances mine, estimated £30,000s worth of tin was lost by the mines. On 25 June 1879 the
lease
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...
for the
tenement
A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, E ...
of Rosewarne Mill was auctioned at Abraham's Hotel, Camborne. The sale included the "valuable" tin stream works" including a 12-inch cylinder engine, three waterwheels, stamps and all the minerals found in the mill leat and the main river within certain defined boundaries. The Magor Coombe streamworks were bought for £750 by Captain Rabling in 1879. In January 1883
The Cornishman newspaper reported that an estimated £42,000 worth of tin went down the river and many thousands of pounds yearly are made by ″the squatters″ who set up machinery and harvest the waste products of the mines. Two years later, in July 1885 the newspaper reported there were twenty-nine ″works″ employing 861 people in reworking the tinsand and slime which escaped from the mines upstream.
Within Tuckingmill Valley Park is a small island containing the remains of a chimney stack, brick scrubber building and collapsed flue. The buildings (circa 1905) are associated with the production of
arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...
which was a valuable resource for Cornish tin and copper mines when production of the metals was declining and the mines were closing. More efficient calcining furnaces were built and the gases fed through convoluted labyrinths where they cooled and condensed on the flue walls. The walls were scraped and the deposits further refined to make 100% pure arsenic. Arsenic was used as a
pesticide
Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...
for the
boll weevil
The boll weevil (''Anthonomus grandis'') is a species of beetle in the family Curculionidae. The boll weevil
feeds on cotton buds and flowers. Thought to be native to Central Mexico, it migrated into the United States from Mexico in the late 19 ...
(''Anthonomus grandis'') in the cotton fields of the United States, as well as in the paint and dye industry producing new colours such as canary yellow and emerald green.
High stone-faced banks, are the remains of ten sluices which controlled the flow of water, to enable the recovery of tailings. The sluices were part of the Tolgarrick tin treatment operations which closed in 1986.
[
Following the closure of the last mine, South Crofty, in 1998, the Red River has lost its distinctive colour, and natural ecology and biodiversity are being re-established. Tn the 2017, the ]Environment Agency
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
granted permission for the new mine owner to discharge effluent from the mine to prepare for future reopening.
The river gives its name to the Red River Inn public house (formerly The Pendarves Arms) in nearby Gwithian.
Wildlife and ecology
The Red River is one of the most modified streams in the UK due to centuries of mining which has led to heavy metal contamination and the realignment of the course. The river is gradually re-establishing a more natural look as banks erode and some of the sediment deposited to form bars and small islands.
The river and ponds of the Tuckingmill Valley Park provide valuable habitat within an urban area, for two nationally scarce insects; scarce blue-tailed damselfly (''Ischnura pumilio'') and small red damselfly (''Ceriagrion tenellum''). The larvae of the golden-ringed dragonfly (''Ceriagrion tenellum'') have been found and the adults can be seen through the summer and autumn. Other dragonflies include the common darter (''Sympetrum striolatum'') and the once rare migrant hawker (''Aeshna mixta'') which usually fly in August and September. In all 17 species of Dragonfly have been recorded on the river in the 21st century.
Both frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...
(''Rana temporaria temporaria'') and common toad
The common toad, European toad, or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the toad (''Bufo bufo'', from Latin ''bufo'' "toad"), is a toad found throughout most of Europe (with the exception of Ireland, Iceland, parts of Scandinavia, and some List ...
(''Bufo bufo'') spawn
Spawn or spawning may refer to:
* Spawning, the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals
Arts, entertainment and media
* Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise
** ''Spawn: Armageddon' ...
are found along the edges of the ponds in the early part of the year and the otter
Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...
(''Lutra lutra'') has returned following the improvement in water quality. The invasive plants, parrot feather (''Myriophyllum aquaticum'') is regularly removed by hand to prevent its spread, and the growth of Japanese knotweed
''Reynoutria japonica'', synonyms ''Fallopia japonica'' and ''Polygonum cuspidatum'', is a species of herbaceous perennial plant in the knotweed and buckwheat family Polygonaceae. Common names include Japanese knotweed and Asian knotweed. It is ...
(''Reynoutria japonica'') has been restricted by chemical treatment.[
Both the Tehidy Brook and the Red River are home to ]Brown Trout
The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...
, DNA analysis of these fish shows that they are distinct from those in other cornish rivers and are more pollution tolerant.
See also
* Geology of Cornwall
* The Red River by Paul Williams available from Amazon Books 2016
References
{{authority control
Red, River
Arsenic mines in Cornwall
Camborne
Mining in Cornwall