The Trevithick Society is one of the oldest industrial preservation societies in the UK. As an educational charity the Society aims to encourage an interest in Industrial Archaeology.

The Trevithick Society, a registered educational charity (no. 246586)...

Membership of the Society is open to anyone anywhere in the World.

Members receive many benefits including copies of our publications and free entry into certain places...

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The Trevithick Society is always short of manpower for its various projects.

You don't need to be a member of the Society to be a volunteer.

There are many ways to volunteer your help...

Cornish Explosives by Bryan Earl.

Our Society President's definitive study of this remarkable industry, published in 2006 at £35.00, is now available at a reduced price of £15.00 and represents incredible value for a quality hardback book of 365 pages.

Levant: A Champion Cornish Mine

Published in time for Easter is a new and completely revised edition of the Society's pioneering history of Levant Mine. John Corin's book was first published in 1992 and has been through several editions. The 2013 edition is largely a new book and one which will enable visitors to make sense of this iconic site and its fascinating remains. It combines the pioneering work of John Corin and his collaborators with additional historical information, a colour section plus a detailed map and self guided walk.

Authors: Corin, John. Joseph, Peter.
Type: large format paperback edition. 120 pages.
ISBN: ISBN 978 0 904040 96 8
Publisher: The Trevithick Society, Camborne, 2013.
Price: £10.99

Project & Volunteer Manager (part-time) - Job description

The Trevithick Society was founded in 1935 and is arguably the world’s oldest industrial preservation society. Over the past 77 years, the Society has developed an internationally important collection of artefacts and archive material comprising some 70,000 items. The Society has been awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £44,600 towards a £48,600 project to catalogue and document its collection to national museum standards, and to provide greatly increased access to the collection via the internet, learning resources for schools and a series of community events.

The Trevithick Society is seeking to contract a part-time Project & Volunteer Manager who will have responsibility for delivering the project. They will recruit and support volunteers to the project; coordinate on-site and off-site volunteer activities; process volunteer claims for travel and expenses and lead community based events. They will also contract professionals such as trainers, education specialists and website developers to help deliver aspects of the project, and will manage project budgets and grant draw-down.

Stunned, but not Silenced

In a similar manner to the way in which James Watt’s extended patent on any steam engine stifled the development of a more useful engine, Moseley’s opening programme last night set the understanding of industrial power back for a generation or more.

While it is likely that his next programme on transport will highlight the contribution made by Richard Trevithick’s invention of the high-pressure steam engine, its omission as the power that drove industry for a century is unforgivable.

Following Mosley’s statement in the Radio Times in support of Trevithick’s contribution we can only suppose that it was the folly of the programme makers to bow to the Watt lobby and avoid the truth. The BBC has a heavy responsibility in these cases; last night it enforced years of mistaken attribution and probably corrupted the understanding of our young engineers for life. While Watt’s five hundred engines were mentioned there was not even a passing credit offered to Trevithick or all those manufacturers throughout the world who produced thousands of engines in the wake of his principles.

There was never a time when the opening lines of ‘The Oblivion of Trevithick’ rang more true. ‘The Missing Years in the history of steam engineering endeavour are those between the conclusion of James Watt's extended patent on the steam engine in 1800 and the dawn of the Railway Age in 1830.

During this vital time there was feverish activity in the production of steam engines as industrialists demanded the new, more efficient, compact, high-pressure engines and manufacturers rushed to supply them. In all this excitement, few historians accurately recorded how the new technology had emerged.

The history of steam engineering is left with a gap that has been filled by crediting Watt with something he did not do and subsequent engineers with having invented the engines they merely built. This is the story of Richard Trevithick, engineer, 1771-1833.’

To have leapt from the work of Newcomen and Watt directly to Parson’s steam turbine is similar to writing the history of aviation and jumping from balloon flight to the gas turbine, omitting the contribution made by the internal combustion engine. ~ Philip M Hosken

'The Genius of Invention' & Richard Trevithick

The Genius of Invention is a new series for BBC Two exploring how key inventions came about through sparks of inventive genius and steady incremental improvements hammered out in workshops, separating myth from reality in the lives of the great inventors and celebrating some of the most remarkable stories in British history.

Michael Mosley has chosen Richard Trevithick as his 'Inventor of Choice' in the 12 – 18 January Radio Times supplement introducing his new series 'Great British Inventions'.

Richard Trevithick's high pressure steam engine will go head to head with the electric light bulb, the vacuum cleaner and the worldwide web in a new BBC TV series about the 50 greatest British inventions. The programme, called The Genius of Invention, is presented by Michael Mosley. Previewing his new show in the Radio Times, he described Trevithick's high pressure steam engine as "the most extraordinary invention of all time." He said: "For most of history, empires ran on one thing, slave power. "During Richard Trevithick's time we had wind power and water power to a very limited extent, but it wasn't portable, you had to build your generator next to a stream if you wanted to tap in to it. "What Trevithick did with high-pressure steam was to take power, in this case in the form of coal, and turn it in to workable energy."

Although many attribute James Watt with the birth of the modern engine, Mr Mosley recognises that Trevithick was the father of both the steam train and portable power. He became the first person to power a piston using high pressure steam and in so doing "liberated power, and in so doing transformed the world."

Phil Hosken, chairman of the Trevithick society, wrote "Oblivion", the definitive biography on Richard Trevithick. He said: "The Watt engines were big, cumbersome, expensive and quite immobile. "Watt refused to have anything to do with high pressure steam and said that Trevithick should have been hanged for his work.

"Trevithick had invented the cylindrical boiler. This boiler enabled the compact, lightweight, powerful engine to be used in road and rail locomotives together with sea going craft and all manner of industrial applications. "It was the mainstay of all subsequent engines and found today in all pressurised applications from nuclear submarines to stratospheric-air liners and gully emptiers. "Where some 500 Watt-type engines were built, many in Cornwall, thousands (millions possibly) of Trevithick-type powered everything for 150 years."

In the four part series the Genius of Invention, Trevithick faces some pretty stiff competition from things ranging from cats eyes and the hypodermic syringe to the television and the jet engine. During film of the show, the production team visited Cornwall to film the replica of Trevithick's Puffin' Devil, which is owned by the Trevithick Society.

What do you think? Vote in the poll on the right of the article on the This Is Cornwall Website.

We have received many comments following the announcement that the Trevithick Society put out recently concerning the forthcoming programme about Trevithick on BBC2. One from Mark Whitby & Eleanor Knowles of the Newcomen Society draws attention to their 'Biography of Trevithick' and we add it here for your greater interest.

To find out more about Richard Trevithick let us draw your attention to Phil Hoskens' definitive book 'The Oblivion of Trevithick'

So Very Foolish: The History of the Wherry Mine, Penzance

One of Cornwall's most remarkable mines was the Wherry Mine at Penzance. Its shafts were 200 yards offshore and linked to the machinery on dry land by a timber trestle. Although its workings were shortlived, its unique situation attracted visitors, many of whom wrote of their experiences.

Despite this no history has so far been published but Peter Joseph, Penwith mining historian, has now remedied this and tells the story of the Wherry Mine, including the exploratory drilling which took place there in the 1960s.

It sells at £4.99, making an ideal Christmas stocking filler. Available from local outlets in Cornwall from specialist mining booksellers or from Tormark Press.

Authors: Joseph, Peter.
Type: A5 paperback, 44 pages.
ISBN: ISBN 978 0 904040 95 1
Publisher: The Trevithick Society, Camborne, 2012.
Price: £4.99

The Latest Trevithick Society Publications Flyer

You can now download and review our latest publications list in Adobe Acrobat PDF format:

It's only 365kb and you can grab your copy here: Download

From Holman Brothers to Compair

From Holman Brothers to Compair was published on 24 th August and is a completely revised and much enhanced edition of the Society's previous book on Holmans.

The book brings the Holman story right up to final closure. It also covers other companies which came within the Holman orbit, notably Climax at Tuckingmill. The social side is not neglected and there is also coverage of the Holmans sports teams.

N.B. The Society has sold all its stock so this book is now only available from 3rd party vendors.

There is a full page, favourable review of the new Holman book in this week's West Briton. Also featured on: This Is Cornwall website, read the article.

Authors: Carter, Clive, & Joseph Peter.
Type: Large format Paperback, 342 Pages.
ISBN: ISBN 978 0 904040 94 4
Publisher: The Trevithick Society, Camborne, 2012.
Price: £18.50

Denis Papin, 300th anniversaire – un week-end exceptionnel!

From the 19th to the 21st July 2013 the Comité Denis Papin will celebrate the life of Denis Papin close to his birthplace at Chitenay in the Loir et Cher Department of France.

The Committee has kindly invited the Trevithick Society’s conceptual replica of Trevithick’s 1801 Camborne steam carriage and the society has been delighted to accept.

Plans are now being made to organise the transport and shipping to France by Brittany Ferries.

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The Oblivion of Trevithick

Down through the ages many brave men tried to tame the strange power released from boiling water. Long ago they were seen as alchemists who practised the dark arts of their dangerous pastimes. It was not until the early C19th that Richard Trevithick demonstrated his successful cylindrical boiler and tamed the Devil within.

Now published!

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