BODMIN, a parish in the hundred of TRIGG, county of
CORNWALL, containing, with the borough of Bodmin,
which possesses separate jurisdiction, 3278
inhabitants, of which number, 2902 are in the
borough, 20 miles (S. W. by W.) from Launceston,
and 234 (W. S. W.) from London, on the western
road. Bodmin, in the Cornish language called
Bosvenna, " the houses on the
hill," and in ancient charters Bos-mana and Bod-minian,
" the abode of the monks," owes its origin, to a monastery
founded by King Athelstan, in 936, in supersedence
of a cell for four brethren previously established by St.
Petrock, about 518, on the site of a solitary hermitage originally
occupied by St. Guron. Historians are widely at
variance concerning the claims which Bodmin possesses
to the distinction of having been the primary seat of
the bishoprick of Cornwall. Dr. Borlase, whose opinion
has been entertained by others, states that Edward the
Elder, in 905, conferred this honour upon it, and it became
the residence of the bishops until 981, when the
town, church, and monastery having been burnt by the
Danes, the episcopal chair was removed to St. German's.
But this has been successfully refuted by Mr. Whitaker,
in his work entitled "The ancient Cathedral of
Cornwall historically surveyed," wherein he shews that
the see was founded so early as 614, and that St. German's
was made the original seat thereof, asserting, on
the authority of a grant by King Ethelred, that the monastery
of Bodmin was annexed by that monarch, in
994, to the episcopate of St. German's, and that both
places combined to furnish a title to the future prelates
until the annexation of the bishoprick of Cornwall to
that of Crediton, in the county of Devon, in 1031, about
twenty years after which Exeter was made the head of
the diocese. He refers the Danish conflagration to the
monastery of St. Petrock, at Padstow, and in this conclusion
he is borne out by the flourishing state of the
church at Bodmin, as described in Domesday-book,
wherein its possessions are enumerated, including sixtyeight
houses, with the privilege of a market there. This
religious house, under different renewals of the establishment,
the last of which was by one Algar, in 1125, appears
to have been successively inhabited by Benedictine
monks, nuns, secular priests, monks again, and canons
regular of the order of St. Augustine. From the circumstance
of his possessing a gallows and a pillory, the
prior had evidently the power of inflicting capital punish-1
ment. Its revenue, at the dissolution, amounted to
£289. 11. 11.5 the site and demesne were granted to
Thomas Sternhold, one of the first translators of the
Psalms into English metre. St. Petrock was buried
here; for, says Leland, " The Shrine and Tumbe of
St. Petrok yet stondith in thest part of the Chirche."
The town appears to have increased rapidly after the
Conquest, since the same antiquary describes the market
as being " lyke a fair for the confluence of people,"
and enumerates, in addition to the parochial church and
the cantuary chapel near it, two other chapels, a house
and church of Grey friars, begun by John of London,
a merchant, about 1239, augmented by Edward, Earl
of Cornwall, and in the time of Elizabeth converted
into a house of correction for the county; and two
hospitals, dedicated respectively to St. Anthony and St.
George, besides the hospital of St. Lawrence, a mile off.
Norden also says, " It hath bene of larger receite then
now it is, as appeareth by the ruynes of sundrye buyldings
decayde." William of Worcester, citing the register
in the church belonging to the Grey friars, states that
one thousand five hundred of the inhabitants died of the
plague, about the middle of the fourteenth century. It
was one of those decayed towns in the county, to repair
which an act passed in the 32nd of Henry VIII.
In 1496, Perkin Warbeck, the pretended duke of
York, on landing in Cornwall, assembled here a force of
three thousand men, with which he marched to attack
the city of Exeter; and in 1498, an insurrection of the
Cornish men was organized, under the influence of
Thos. Flammoc, a lawyer, and Michael Joseph, a farrier,
in this town, who, being chosen leaders, conducted the
insurgents to Wells, where they were joined by Lord
Audley, who placed himself at their head. The rebels
continued their march into Kent, and encamped at
Eltham, where, in the battle of Blackheath, having been
surrounded by the king's troops, they were made prisoners,
and dismissed without further punishment; but
Lord Audley, Flammoc, and Joseph, were executed as
ringleaders. During the depression of trade and agriculture,
in the reign of Edward VI., the Cornish men,
superstitiously attributing their distresses to the Reformation,
assembled at Bodmin to the number of ten
thousand, under the command of Humphrey Arundel,
governor of St. Michael's Mount, and being countenanced
by the inhabitants, encamped at Castle Kynoc,
near the town. The insurgents marched thence to besiege
Exeter, demanding the re-establishment of the
mass, and the restoration of the abbey lands; but, after
having reduced the inhabitants of that city to extreme
privation, they were defeated by Lord Russell,
who had been sent with a reinforcement to the relief of
the citizens. After their dispersion, Sir Anthony Kingston,
Provost-Marshal, who had been sent to Bodmin
to punish the insurgents, is said to have hanged the
mayor at his own door, after having been hospitably
entertained in his house. During the civil war in the
reign of Charles I., the town, which had no permanent
garrison, was alternately occupied by each party, till, in
1646, General Fairfax finally took possession of it for
the parliament. After the Restoration, Charles II. visited
Bodmin, on his journey to Stilly.
The town is situated on a gentle elevation rising
out of the vale, between two hills, almost in the centre
of the county: it consists of one street, nearly a mile
in length, containing many ancient houses, and several
neat modern edifices; it has been recently well paved,
is partially lighted, and amply supplied with water.
The races; which took place annually in the week after
the summer assizes, have been discontinued for the last
few years; the course, which is one of the best in the
county, is about a mile and a half distant. Assemblies
are held occasionally; and in July an annual
procession of the populace, on horseback and on foot,
carrying garlands of flowers, is made to a place in the
vicinity, called Halgaver moor 5 this ceremony, the memorial
of some ancient festival, now falling into disuse,
is called Bodmin Riding. The manufacture of bone lace,
which formerly nourished, has given place to that of
shoes, a great quantity of which is exposed for sale
in the markets and fairs; there is also a small manufactory
for woollen cloth, and the spinning of worstedyarn
is carried on to a limited extent. The market is
on Saturday: the fairs are on January 25th, the Saturday
preceding Palm-Sunday, the Tuesday and Wednesday
before Whitsuntide, and December 6th, for horses
and horned cattle; large cattle fairs are also held in
the hamlet of St. Lawrence, August 21st, and October
29th and 30th. The government, by charter of incorporation
originally granted in the twelfth century, by
Richard, Earl of Cornwall, confirmed by the kings
Edward I. and III., and which, after having been forfeited
through neglect, was renewed and extended by
George III., is vested in a mayor, eleven aldermen,
and twenty-four common council-men, assisted by a
town-clerk, who acts as recorder, and subordinate officers.
The mayor, the late mayor, and the recorder, are
justices of the peace, and hold courts of session for
the borough, at Easter and Michaelmas. The summer
assizes, and the Epiphany, Midsummer, and Michaelmas
quarter sessions for the county, are also held
here. The town-hall consists of the two ends of the
spacious refectory formerly belonging to an ancient
convent of Grey friars, the only remains of that building,
which have been fitted up as courts; the intermediate
area is appropriated to the use of the corn market,
and over the whole, a room for the grand jury, and
a large assembly-room, have been built. The county
gaol, built in 1780, on Mr. Howard's plan, has been
lately enlarged for the proper classification of prisoners;
it is a neat and compact building near the town, and
includes also the sheriffs' ward and bridewell. The elective
franchise was conferred in the 23rd of Edward I.,
since which time the borough has continued to return
two members to parliament: the right of election is
vested exclusively in the members of the corporation,
in number thirty-seven, who are in the interest of the
Marquis of Hertford: the mayor is the returning officer.
The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry
of Cornwall, and diocese of Exeter, rated in the
king's books at & 13. 6. 8., and in the patronage of Lord
de Dunstanville. The church, dedicated to St.Petrock,
and formerly the conventual church of the monastery,
was rebuilt in 1472; it is a spacious structure, chiefly
in the later style of English architecture, with a venerable
tower on the north side, formerly surmounted
by a lofty spire, which was destroyed by lightning in
1699. The interior, part of which is of an earlier date
contains the ashes of St. Petrock, a fine monument to
Thomas Vivian, prior, and a large Norman font. There
are places of worship for Bryanites and Wesleyan Methodists,
and a chapel belonging to the trustees of
the late Countess of Huntingdon. The grammar school
was founded by Queen Elizabeth, who endowed it with
£ 5. 6. 8. per annum, payable out of the Exchequer, to
which the corporation have added £95 per annum, and
in addition to this, the master is allowed to charge annually
£2. 2. for each scholar: a commodious schoolroom
has been erected on the north side of the town,
and the old building in the churchyard is appropriated
as a National school for girls. Dr. Prideaux, Dean of
Norwich, received the rudiments of his education in this
school. There is also an English school, the master of
which is appointed by the corporation. A commodious
lunatic asylum was built at the western extremity of
the town in 1820. About a mile to the east are some
remains of the hospital of St. Lawrence, originally endowed
for nineteen lepers, two sound men and women,
and a priest, who were incorporated by Queen Elizabeth,
in 1582, from whom they received the grant of a
market, now discontinued, and a fair, still held on the
21st of August: the revenue, about £,140 per annum,
was subsequently, by a decree of the court of Chancery,
transferred to the infirmary at Truro. Within a small
distance is Castle Kynock, a considerable intrenchment;
and on the northern side of the town there is a ruined
tower, the only relic of Bury chapel, so called from a
tumulus on an eminence near the spot. The curious
Druidical circles, called the Hurlers, are in this neighbourhood.