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"A pleasant village with attractive wooded gardens, Illogan has been associated with at least two of the most famous engineers that Cornwall produced during the industrial revolution. One was Richard Trevithick, who was born in the shadow of the South Crofty tin mine, between Redruth and Camborne, ad he built the first locomotive, 12 years before Stevenson's Rocket. Alas, although he was such a genius that he was able to turn his inventions for any and every need, and his services were sought after as far away as Peru, his life was dogged with such bad luck, bad health and bad business judgments that he died a pauper. A much better business man was James Tangye who moved to Birmingham from Cornwall to seek his fortune and founded an engineering works there that was so successful that warehouses had to be built in London, Manchester, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and Glasgow to service it. He and his wife retired to Illogan where they brought a house-Aviary Court-which he used to look at with admiration when he was just a small boy. Illogan is situated a mile or so south of Portreath. The cottage in which Trevithick was born no longer exists, although a house in Camborne where he spent some time is now a national trust home. Aviary court is now a guest house and licenses restaurant and accordingly opens to the public."
