Tuckingmill
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The parish of Tuckingmill was constituted in 1845 being carved out of a western section of the parish of Illogan and an easterly section of Camborne parish and it covers 1300 acres. Tucking Mill was the Cornish term for a fulling mill which was where homespun cloth was dipped, cleansed and dressed, there is a mention of a fulling mill in this region as early as 1250. During the nineteenth century Tuckingmill was at the heart of Cornish industry.
Situated within the parish was the Bickford Fuse Factory, where the world’s first Safety Fuse was invented and manufacture. A centre of the mining industry the parish contained, amongst many others, the greatest of all Cornish mines - Dolcoath Mine. Also in the parish is South Crofty Mine which was at one time the deepest in the world as well as being the last tin mine in Europe, only closing in 1998.
The area consists of terraced miners cottages and rather barren industrialisation. With the demise of this economic activity many thousands of jobs were lost and Tuckingmill became a bleak post industrialisation urban area. However, in recent years regeneration has picked up and improvements are expected over the next few years. Kerrier Council's bid for 23 million pounds from the BIG Lottery Fund was successful - and announced in November 2007. The council will use the grant to re-build the Pool area between Redruth and Camborne. Pool sits at the top of East Hill, immediately next to Tuckingmill.
A Cornish property development firm called Porthia acquired a huge site at the centre of Tuckingmill around 4 years ago. The site includes an old Fuseworks building and brownfields land previously mined by South Crofty. It was their intention to transform this site into "New Tuckingmill" - a development of over 400 new homes as well as commercial space and community facilities. Currently, Porthia's environmental proposal has failed to satisfy Kerrier Council - the project has therefore stalled (for now).
William Bickford, inventor of the safety fuse, lived and worked in Tuckingmill.
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