The town has developed away from the original settlement, which was near where the present Churchtown (around St. Euny church) district of Redruth stands today.

The presence of shallow lodes of tin and copper lying east to west made it a advantageous site to extract metals, including, tin lead and copper. The first settlers stayed by a crossing in the river, and started extracting metal ores. This process turned the colour of the river red.

Historically, Redruth was a small market town overshadowed by its neighbours until a boom in the demand for copper ore during the 18th century. Copper ore had mostly been discarded by the Cornish tin-mining industry, but was now needed to make brass, an essential metal in the Industrial Revolution.

Surrounded by copper ore deposits, Redruth quickly became one of the largest and richest mining areas in Britain and the town's population grew markedly. Most miners' families, however, remained poor.