About
Trevithick Cottage is a thatched, whitewashed cottage at Penponds, west of Camborne in the mining heartland of Cornwall, and the childhood home of Richard Trevithick, the Cornish mine engineer and inventor. Born in 1771 at Tregajorran in the parish of Illogan, the son of a mine captain, Trevithick grew up among the tin and copper mines and their pumping engines, and went on to pioneer the high-pressure steam engine, patented in 1802. His Puffing Devil road locomotive carried passengers through Camborne on Christmas Eve 1801, and in 1804 his Penydarren locomotive hauled ten tons of iron along a Welsh tramroad. He died in Dartford in 1833. The National Trust opens the cottage one afternoon a week for free pre-booked tours of about an hour, run by the team at East Pool Mine. On arrival ring the bell beside the green visitor gate and wait to be met. There are only two parking spaces in front of the cottage, and steps and uneven surfaces mean it is not accessible for wheelchairs.
ClosedSee all times
- Trevithick CottageClosed
Opening times may change at short notice.
Open one afternoon a week, Wednesdays 14:00 to 17:00, for pre-booked tours only. The National Trust calendar shows Wednesday 21 and Wednesday 28 October 2026 as the only remaining open days of 2026, with the cottage closed on every other date to 31 December; no 2027 dates are published yet.
Entry is free for everyone but every visitor needs a pre-booked ticket (children under 1 excepted); the timeslot booked is the start of a tour lasting about an hour. Tickets are booked through the National Trust ticket site and confirmed by email.
On arrival ring the bell to the left of the green visitor gate and wait to be met; have your ticket ready on a phone or printed.
Some uneven surfaces and steps; the cottage is not accessible for wheelchairs. Assistance dogs only.
Photo: Trevithick Cottage, the National Trust's thatched cottage at Penponds. Pete Cruse, CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trevithick_Cottage,_National_Trust_building_-_geograph.org.uk_-_8088498.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
Reviews & Tips
No reviews yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to share your experience!
Pins
No pin photos yet
