Camborne is situated in the deanery and hundred of Penwith. It is bounded on the north and east by the sea and Illogan, on the south by Crowan and Gwinear, and on the west by Gwithian. The parish is thought to take its name from the Cornish for a 'crooked hill'.

The mining boom towards the end of the 18th century, saw the Camborne and Redruth districts become the richest mining area in the world at that time.