Bodmin

"BODMIN, a parish and market town, municipal and parliamentary borough, in the hundred of Trigg, in the county of Cornwall, 20 miles to the N.E. of Truro, and 234 miles from London. The town is about 5 miles from the Bodmin Road station of the Cornwall and West Cornwall railway. It is now the county town of Cornwall. The name of the place-the first syllable of which, "Bod," is the same that is found in many names of towns, &c., in Wales, and signifies "house "or "abode "-is shortened from the ancient form found in the charters, Bodminian or Bosmana, signifying "house of monks." Another form also occurs-Bosvenna, or " houses on the hill."-The pleasant valley in which the town stands at a very early period attracted religious recluses. St. Petroc, whose settlement here is assigned to the early part of the 6th century, is said to have found St. Garen already residing on the spot, and to have enlarged and adapted his hermitage for the abode of himself and his companions, who had resolved to live after the rule of St. Benedict. St. Petroc died and was interred here about the middle of the 6th century. The house he founded appears to have existed till the 10th century, occupied by a few brethren of the order. In the year 936 a priory of the Benedictine order was founded by King Athelstan on or near the site of the ancient house. Although disused for a time, and appropriated to secular uses, the priory continued to exist, and was occupied in succession by various religious orders and classes of persons. It appears to have been in a flourishing condition at the time of the Norman survey, when the prior possessed several important privileges. He received the profits of a market and fair, and had, probably, with his pillory and his gallows, the power of inflicting the punishment of death. Early in the 12th century the monastery was refounded, for monks of the Augustine order, by one Algar, with the royal licence, and that of Warlewas, Bishop of Exeter. The establishment flourished from that time till the Dissolution, when its revenue amounted to about £290. Its possessions were then given to Thomas Sternhold, joint author with Hopkins of the earliest metrical version of the Psalms in English. The opinion of Borlase, author of the "Antiquities of Cornwall," that Bodmin was the first seat of the bishops of Cornwall, and that it was their residence through the 10th century; until the destruction of the town, with the monastery and the church, by the Danish invaders in 981, the see being then transferred to St. German's, has been stoutly controverted by other antiquarian inquirers. Exeter became the head of the diocese about the middle of the 11th century, previously to which the bishopric was named, sometimes from the county, sometimes from both the towns of St. German's and Bodmin. A town, the abode of busy men, had grown up around the secluded haunt of the monks before the Norman Conquest. It increased rapidly after that event, and was at an early period a place of large population and no little importance. It was visited by the terrible plague which desolated Europe in the middle of the 14th century, and according to William of Worcester, who cites the Grey Friars' church registry, not fewer than 1,500 of the inhabitants perished of the pestilence in 1351. It was from Bodmin that Perkin Warbeck, the pretender, in 1496, led a force of 3,000 men, which he had mustered here, to the attack of Exeter. Two years afterwards, when the Cornish men rose in insurrection, they chose for their leaders Flammoc, a lawyer, and Joseph, a farrier, of this town. Joined by another body of insurgents, and headed by Lord Audley, they marched into Kent. They were defeated at Blackheath by the royal forces under the Earl of Oxford, and their three leaders were put to death. Bodmin, with many other towns, fell into decay in the 16th century, and a special Act was passed in the 32nd of Henry VIII. for their restoration. During the pressure and straitness of that period a serious insurrection took place in the county, when 10,000 Cornish men encamped at Castle Kynock, near Bodmin. The new religion bore the blame of the general distress, and the insurgents, who fought for the re-establishment of the old system, laid siege to Exeter, which suffered severely. They were at last defeated and the town relieved by Lord Russell. The mayor of Bodmin was hung by the provost-marshal, Sir Anthony Kingston, after having entertained him at dinner. Bodmin was not garrisoned during the civil war of the 17th century; but was in the possession alternately of royalists and parliamentarians until 1646, when it was finally taken by General Fairfax. Bodmin, which occupies a nearly central position in the county, is situated in a pleasant valley, in a range of hills running N.E. and S.W., separating the valley of the river Camel on the N. from that of the Fowey on the S. There is much fine scenery in the surrounding country. The town has one principal street about a mile long. It contains many ancient houses, as well as many handsome modern buildings. It is well paved and lighted, and has a plentiful supply of water. There is a handsome new market-house, built of granite, a county assize hall, a county gaol, and a lunatic asylum. No important manufacture is carried on in the town. Bone-lace was formerly made here, and now many hands are employed in the shoe trade, and some in the woollen and yarn manufacture. Bodmin received its first charter of incorporation from Richard, Earl of Cornwall, in the 12th century; whose grant was several times confirmed and enlarged. Under the Reform Act the government of the borough is vested in a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors, with the style of the "mayor and burgesses of the borough of Bodmin." The borough has returned two members to parliament since the reign of Edward I., by whom the franchise was first conferred on it. The limits of the parliamentary borough greatly exceed those of the municipal, including the neighbouring parishes of Halland, Lanhydrock, and Lanivet, with a population of 6,381. The mayor is the returning officer. The municipal borough has a revenue of about £650, and, according to the census of 1861, consists of 793 houses, inhabited by a population of 4,466, against 4,327 in 1851, showing an increase of 139 in the decennial period. Bodmin is the seat of a Poor-law Union and a County Court district; a polling place and place of election for the eastern division of the county. The courts of assize and quarter session are held here. The town contains also the Union poorhouse, the Stannary prison (formerly at Launceston), and a savings-bank. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Exeter, of the value of £350, and in the patronage of G. F. Bassett, Esq. The church is dedicated to St. Petroc. It is the largest church in Cornwall, measuring 151 feet in length by 63 feet in breadth within the walls. Part of the venerable structure belongs to the early part of the 12th century, but the greater portion was rebuilt in 1472. It was the conventual church of the monastery, and is chiefly in the perpendicular style of architecture. A lofty spire, which originally surmounted the fine tower, was destroyed in a thunderstorm in 1699. The east window of stained glass belonged to the old church, to which it was given by Lord Dunstanville. There are several interesting monuments in the church, of which the most noteworthy is that of Thomas Vyvyan., Prior of Bodmin, who died in 1533. It is an altar tomb, with a recumbent figure of the prior. The font is a curious relic of the earliest times. It is of large size, nearly three feet and a half in diameter, supported by a stole and four small pillars, and covered with sculpture. Near it is a piscina. The Wesleyans, Independents, and Bryanites have chapels in the town. There is a grammar school, founded by Queen Elizabeth, with an endowment of £5 6s. 8d. per annum, and National schools for boys and girls. The charitable endowments of the parish amount to £46 a year. There are some remains, consisting of the gatehouse and part of the refectory, of the Grey Friars' priory which formerly existed here. About a mile from the town are the ruins of the Leper's Hospital, dedicated to St. Lawrence, and incorporated by Queen Elizabeth in 1582. Its revenue, about £140 per annum, is paid to the infirmary at Truro. James I. granted the hospital a market, long since disused, and a fair, which is still held in August. Castle Kynock, or Canyke, is an extensive encampment eastward of the town. Halgaver, or Halgower Moor, was till recently the scene of a curious annual festival, called the "Bodmin Riding," including a procession on horseback and on foot, with garlands, election of a mayor, holding of a court, and trial of any one guilty of slovenly dress, concluded sometimes by a "ducking." The ceremony is of very ancient origin, and has given rise to the popular sayings, "Take him before the Mayor of Halgaver," "Present him in Halgower Court." Berry Tower, north of the town, was part of an ancient chapel. There is a railway to Wadebridge, 15 miles distant, for the conveyance of minerals. In the neighbourhood of Bodmin are the pile of granite blocks called the "Cheesering," and the circles called the "Hurlers," which Dr. Stukely supposes to have been the remains of a Druid's temple; they stand on a down in three circles. The peasantry here have the superstitious notion that they were men transformed for diverting themselves on the Sabbath-day at "hurling," a Cornish recreation. Dean Prideaux received his early education at the grammar school of Bodmin. The principal seats are Bodmin Priory, which stands on the site of the old monastery, Lanhydrock, Lancar, and Bocare. Saturday is the market, day. Fairs are held on the 25th January, the Saturday before Palm Sunday, the Wednesday before Whitsuntide, and the Pith December, for the sale of horses and cattle. Large fairs are also held at St. Lawrence on the 21st August, and the 29th and 30th October. There is a good racecourse near the town, on which races are occasionally held."