Camelford (Cornish: Reskammel[1]) is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, situated in the River Camel valley northwest of Bodmin Moor.

[note 1] Camelford is in the North Cornwall parliamentary constituency represented by Scott Mann MP since 2015.

[citation needed] The English name of Camelford was formed by a Anglicisation of the river's name to Camel + Ford, giving it an identical meaning to its Cornish counterpart.

[7] Due to the river's name sounding similar to the English word camel, the animal is seen as a symbol of the town.

Roughtor is the nearest of the hills of Bodmin Moor to the town and numerous prehistoric remains can be found nearby as well.

[8] By the riverside is Enfield Park; hamlets in the parish include Helstone, Tregoodwell, Valley Truckle, Hendra, Lanteglos, Slaughterbridge, Tramagenna, Treforda and Trevia.

[10] Camelford was the home of the North Cornwall Museum and Gallery which contained paintings and objects of local historical interest.

To the northwest at Slaughterbridge is an Arthurian Centre and at nearby Camelford Station is the Cycling Museum, which, according to Google, is now permanently closed.

To the east are the hills of Roughtor and Brown Willy and to the south the old parish churches at Lanteglos and Advent.

The main road through Camelford is the A39 (Atlantic Highway) and there is a thrice-daily bus service from Newquay to Exeter via Launceston that serves the town.

A tentatively-planned bypass is on hold; traffic problems continue to crowd the town especially during summer weekends.

[11] Since the closure of the North Cornwall line the nearest railway station is Bodmin Parkway, 14 miles distant.

Camelford has been linked to the legendary Camelot[12] and the battle of Camlann, such as in Layamon's Middle English Brut (early 13th century),[13] and John Aubrey's Monumenta Britannica (1663–1693), which reports that as signs of the battle "pieces of armour both for horse and man are many times found in digging of the ground" at Camelford.

[15] Nearby Slaughterbridge has been supposed to be the site of a battle; an error arising because the derivation of "slaughter" in this case from an Anglo-Saxon word for "marsh" was not understood.

Only one man was arrested, James Silbey, a miller from St Teath who had spoken publicly multiple times promoting opposition to the New Poor Law and particularly against the Workhouse system.

An independent inquiry into the incident, the worst of its kind in British history, started in 2002, and a draft report was issued in January 2005, but questions remain as to the long-term effects on the health of residents.

Michael Meacher, who visited Camelford as environment minister, called the incident and its aftermath, "A most unbelievable scandal.