Extensive Definition
Bodmin (lang-kw Bosvenegh) is a
town in Cornwall, United
Kingdom, with a population of 12,778 (2001 census). It was the
county
town of Cornwall, until the Crown Courts moved to Truro, which is also
the administrative centre. It is in the North
Cornwall district. Its mayor is Cllr Robert "Bob" Micek.
Situation
Bodmin lies in the centre of Cornwall, along the western edge of Bodmin Moor. St. Petroc founded a priory in Bodmin in the 6th century and gave the town its alternate name of Petrockstow. Bodmin is one of the oldest towns in the Duchy, and the only Cornish settlement of size recorded in the Domesday Book of the late 11th century. In the 15th century the Norman church of St. Petroc was heavily rebuilt and stands as one of the largest churches in Cornwall. Also built at that time was an abbey, now mostly ruined. For most of Bodmin's history, the tin industry was a mainstay of the economy.Origin of the name
It has been suggested that the town's name comes from an archaic word in the Cornish "bod" (meaning a dwelling; the later word is "bos") and a contraction of "menegh" (monks). It may however refer to an earlier monastic settlement instituted by St. Gonion, which St. Petroc took as his site.History
An inscription on a stone built into the wall of a summer house in Lancarffe furnishes proof of a settlement in Bodmin in the early Middle Ages. It is a memorial to one "Duno[.]atus son of Me[.]cagnus" and has been dated from the sixth to eighth centuries.Bodmin was the centre of three Cornish uprisings.
The first was the
Cornish Rebellion of 1497 when a Cornish army, led by Michael An
Gof, a blacksmith from St. Keverne.
and Thomas
Flamank, a lawyer from Bodmin, marched to Blackheath in London
where they were eventually defeated by 10,000 men of the King's
army under Baron Daubeny. Then, in the Autumn of 1497, a man named
Perkin
Warbeck tried to usurp the throne from Henry
VII. Warbeck was proclaimed King Richard IV in Bodmin but Henry
had little difficulty crushing the uprising. Finally, in 1549,
Cornishmen rose once again in rebellion when the staunchly
Protestant Edward
VI tried to impose a new Prayer Book.
Cornish people were still strongly attached to the Catholic
religion and again a Cornish army was formed in Bodmin which
marched across the border to lay siege to Exeter in Devon. This
became known as the Prayer
Book Rebellion. Proposals to translate the Prayer Book into
Cornish were suppressed and in total 4,000 people were killed in
the rebellion.
Sites of interest
Bodmin Gaol, operational for over 150 years but now a semi-ruin, was built in the late 18th century, and was the first British prison to hold prisoners in separate cells (though often up to 10 at a time) rather than communally. Over fifty prisoners condemned at the Bodmin Assize Court were hanged at the prison. It was also used for temporarily holding prisoners sentenced to transportation, awaiting transfer to the prison hulks lying in the highest navigable reaches of the River Fowey. Also, during World War I the prison held some of Britain's priceless national treasures including the Domesday Book, the ring and the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.Other buildings of interest include the former
Shire
Hall, now a tourist information centre, and the Regimental
Barracks of the now defunct
Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, now a regimental museum. It
includes the history of the regiment from 1702, plus a military
library. The original barracks make the regimental museum and it
was founded in 1925. There is a fine collection of small arms and
machine guns, plus maps, uniforms and paintings on display.
In 1966, the "Finn VC
Estate" was named in honour of Victoria
cross winner James
Henry Finn who once lived in the Town.
The Bodmin Beacon Local Nature Reserve is the
hill overlooking the town. The reserve has 83 acres
(33.6 ha) of public land and at its highest point it
reaches 162 metres with the distinctive landmark at the summit. The
44-metre tall monument to Sir Walter
Raleigh Gilbert was built in 1857.
Education
There are no independent schools in the area.- St Petroc's Primary School
St. Petroc's is a large school with some 440
pupils between the ages of four and eleven. Eight of its fourteen
governors are nominated by the Diocese of
Truro or the Parochial Church Council of St. Petroc's,
Bodmin.
- Bodmin College
In 1997, Systems & Control students at Bodmin
College constructed Roadblock,
a robot which entered and won the first series of Robot Wars and
was succeeded by "The Beast of Bodmin".
Transportation
Bodmin Parkway railway station is served by main line trains and is situated on the Cornish Main Line about 3½ miles (5½ km) south-east from the town centre. A heritage railway, the Bodmin and Wenford Railway, runs from Bodmin Parkway station via Bodmin General railway station to Boscarne Junction where there is access to the Camel Trail.Town twinning
- flagicon Germany Bederkesa, Germany
- flagicon United States Grass Valley, California
- flagicon France Relecq-Kerhuon, Brittany, France
See also
Notes
Bodmin is home to the thunder races championship
winners, brian, spencer and steve. (The beasts of Bodmin)
The beasts of bodmin also took part in the
scrapheap challenge and scrapheap challenge finals.
External links
- A Brief History of Bodmin
- About Bodmin
- Bodmin Town Council
- Bodmin OCS
- Informations, photos of Bodmin
- St Petroc's Primary School
- Bodmin Beacon Nature Reserve
bodmin in Breton: Bosvenegh
bodmin in French: Bodmin
bodmin in Italian: Bodmin
bodmin in Cornish: Bosvenegh
bodmin in Dutch: Bodmin
bodmin in Polish: Bodmin
bodmin in Romanian: Bodmin
bodmin in Volapük: Bodmin