Truro, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Truro is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England, UK. It is Cornwall's county town, only city, and its centre for administration, leisure and retail. It grew as a trade centre through its port and as a stannary town for the tin-mining industry. It gained city status in 1876 with the founding of the Diocese of Truro and became mainland Britain's southernmost city. Sights include the Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro Cathedral (completed in 1910), the Hall for Cornwall and Cornwall's Courts of Justice.

Geography Truro lies in the centre of western Cornwall, about 9 miles (14 kilometres) from the south coast, at the confluence of the rivers Kenwyn and Allen, which combine as the Truro River – one of a series of waterways and drowned valleys leading into the River Fal and then the large natural harbour of Carrick Roads. The valleys form a steep bowl surrounding the city on the north, east and west, open to the Truro River in the south. This shape, along with high precipitation that swells the rivers and a spring tide in the River Fal, were major factors in the 1988 floods that seriously damaged the city centre. Since then, flood defences have been constructed, including an emergency dam at New Mill on the River Kenwyn and a tidal barrier on the Truro River.

The city is amidst several protected natural areas such as the historic parklands at Pencalenick and areas of ornamental landscape such as Trelissick Garden and Tregothnan down the Truro River. An area south-east of the city, including Calenick Creek, has been included in the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Other protected zones include an Area of Great Landscape Value comprising farmland and wooded valleys to the north east, and Daubuz Moors, a local nature reserve by the River Allen, close to the city centre.

Truro has mainly grown and developed round the historic city centre in a nuclear fashion along the slopes of the bowl valley, except for fast linear development along the A390 to the west, towards Threemilestone. As Truro grew, it encompassed other settlements as suburbs or districts, including Kenwyn and Moresk to the north, Trelander to the east, Newham to the south, and Highertown, Treliske and Gloweth to the west.

Economy The Truro urban area, includes parts of surrounding parishes, and Threemilestone. Its status as the county's prime destination for retail and leisure and administration is unusual in that it is only its fourth most populous settlement. Indeed population growth at 10.5 per cent between 1971 and 1998 was slow compared with other Cornish towns and Cornwall.

Major employers include the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Cornwall Council and Truro College. There are about 22,000 jobs available in Truro, but only 9,500 economically active people living there, which make commuting a major factor in its traffic congestion. Average earnings are higher than elsewhere in Cornwall.

Housing prices in Truro in the 2000s were 8 or more per cent higher than in the rest of Cornwall. Truro was named in 2006 as the top small city in the United Kingdom for rising house prices, at 262 per cent since 1996.

Roads and bus services Truro is 6 miles (9.7 km) from the A30 trunk road, to which it is linked by the A39 from Falmouth and Penryn. Also passing through is the A390 between Redruth to the west and Liskeard to the east, where it joins the A38 for Plymouth, Exeter and the M5 motorway. Truro as the southernmost city in the United Kingdom is just under 232 miles (373 km) west-south-west of Charing Cross, London.

The city and surroundings have extensive bus services, mainly from First Kernow and Transport for Cornwall. Most routes terminate at Truro bus station near Lemon Quay. A permanent Park and Ride scheme, known as Park for Truro, opened in August 2008. Buses based at Langarth Park in Threemilestone carry commuters into the city via Truro College, the Royal Cornwall Hospital Treliske, County Hall, Truro railway station, the Royal Cornwall Museum and Victoria Square, through to a second car park on the east side of Truro. Truro also has long-distance coach services run by National Express.

Transport: Rail Truro railway station, about 1 km (0.6 mi) from the city centre, is on the Cornish Main Line with direct links to London Paddington and to the Midlands, North and Scotland. North-east of the station is a 28-metre-high (92-foot) stone viaduct with views over the city, cathedral and Truro River in the distance. The longest viaduct on the line, it replaced Isambard Kingdom Brunel's wooden Carvedras Viaduct in 1904. Connecting to the main line at Truro is the Maritime Line to Falmouth in the south.

Truro's first railway station, at Highertown, was opened in 1852 by the West Cornwall Railway for trains to Redruth and Penzance, and was known as Truro Road Station. It was extended to the Truro River at Newham in 1855, but closed, so that Newham served as the terminus. When the Cornwall Railway connected the line to Plymouth, its trains ran to the present station above the city centre. The West Cornwall Railway (WCR) diverted most passenger trains to the new station, leaving Newham mainly as a goods station until it closed in 1971. The WCR became part of the Great Western Railway. The route from Highertown to Newham is now a cycle path on a countryside loop through the south side of the city. The steam locomotive City of Truro was built in 1903 and still runs on UK mainline and preserved railways.

Air and river transport Newquay, Cornwall's main airport, is 12 mi (19 km) north of Truro. It was thought in 2017 to be the "fastest growing airport" in the UK. It has regular flights to London Heathrow and other airports, and to the Isles of Scilly, Dublin and Düsseldorf, Germany.

There is a boat link to Falmouth along the Truro and Fal four times a day, tide permitting. The fleet run by Enterprise Boats as part of the Fal River Links calls on the way at Malpas, Trelissick, Tolverne and St Mawes.