BODMIN

Bodmin, © Simon Lewis, 2003

which includes the municipal borough, is situated in the deanery of Trigg Minor and the Hundred of Trigg. The parish, probably named after the Old Cornish for 'Dwelling near the Church', is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Bodmine, and is situated in a small valley in roughly the centre of Cornwall. In 2001, Bodmin was enumerated under two civil parishes: St Mary and St Petroc.

The town of Bodmin is the County Town of Cornwall, although the City of Truro has taken over administrative duties in the 20th century. Bodmin was at the centre of the road system in 19th century Cornwall, as it was at the centre of governmental and judicial business. It formerly housed a Jail (built in 1779), and the County Assizes were held here, greatly increasing the population at particular times, and enabling a healthy hospitality industry to flourish. It is a designated market town.

Bodmin-Wenford Railway
© 2001, Chas. Winpenny

The town has a small railway which is now privately run, although in the 19th century the railway was a vital commercial link.

The County Lunatic Asylum, built in 1820 and now St. Lawrence's Hospital, is located within the parish about a mile from the church, to the west of the town.

A Municipal Cemetery, situated at the top of Rhind Street, belongs to the town; there are no Mortuary chapels. St. Leonard's chapel-of-ease and burial ground, situated at the western end of the town, had been in ruins for more than two hundred years. It was rebuilt and reopened in 1871; it is a small rectangular building of stone. At the south-east extremity of the town was the chapel and burial ground of St Nicholas.

Church of St. Petroc, © Simon Lewis, 2003

The Anglican parish church was dedicated to St Petroc prior to the Norman Conquest in 1066. There was a chapel of St Thomas in Bodmin - now in ruins - and a church of St Leonard. The parish church is situated at the east end of the town, and was comparatively isolated. The material used for the pillars and arches, and all interior dressings is St Stephens porcelain stone.

Attached to the church was the chapel of St Mary, in which was St Petroc's shrine. There is a website for St Petroc's church.

Lanhydrock House, Bodmin - a National Trust Property
© 2004, Simon Lewis

The Roman Catholic church, banned in 1539, returned to Bodmin in 1881. The present Church, built of local stone, was blessed and opened on 24th June, 1965.

The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion in Honey Street built a chapel in 1804; it was rebuilt in Fore Street in 1870 as a plain stone building. The Bible Christian chapel in Fore Street was built in 1851, and the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Fore Street was built in 1834. The Wesleyan Methodist Association chapel in Poole Street was built in 1842. There is also a Pentecostal Church in Bodmin.

The parish is hilly, with wooded valleys around the town and a number of small villages and hamlets. Farming and tourism are the main industries.

 
The volunteer as OPC for Bodmin is Lynda Pearl, who can be contacted by email.
 

PARISH INFORMATION

CENSUS:

Please visit COCP (Cornwall Online Census Project), which is almost complete for 1841 to 1891 and validated, FreeCens at Rootsweb - both are free, searchable databases - or check GenUKI for other alternatives.

REGISTERS:

The LDS Church batch numbers for Bodmin are: E002751, P002751/2, M002751/2, Wesleyan C065001, Providence Chapel, Lady Huntingdon's C065011. These are searchable by surname at FamilySearch. The IGI coverage for this parish is 1558 - 1876.

The Cornwall Record Office holdings: Baptisms 1588 - 1963, Burials 1558 - 1983, Marriages 1559 - 1983, Boyd's Marriage Index 1559 - 1812, Pallot's Marriage Index 1790 - 1812, Non-Conformist records 1804 - 1837. Bible Christian Circuit areas include: Bodmin, Lanivet, Roche, Luxulyan, Withiel, and St Breock.

Our searchable database (C-PROP) is updated frequently.

DIRECTORIES:

For information, see GenUKI. Link below.

OTHER:

1. Bastardy Bonds:

1. dated 3 Oct 1741, naming William NORTHY and William NORTHY the Younger, of the Borough of Bodmin.

2. dated 13 Sep 1778, naming John and William WHITEFIELD of the Borough of Bodmin.

2. For details of the allotting (29 Apr 1818) and transfer (22 Jun 1822 and 20 Sep 1842) of a pew in the Parish Church, click here.

3. A permit to view the Cornwall Asylum, from the 1800s

4. Indentures: mainly involving land and buildings, often naming owners and tenants

• an agreement, dated 1685, concerning the Manor of Lancarfe and naming Richard Bullocke and Dorothy his wife and Thomas Bullocke and Jane his wife.

• a memorandum, dated 13 Dec 1756, naming Ursula ARNOLD, William ARNOLD, Thomas & Catherine POOR, Sarah ARNOLD and Richard BLIGH.

• dated 29 Sep 1789, naming Robert FLAMANK, Samuel FLAMANK and Nicholas PHILLIPPS.

• dated 11 Oct 1810, involving Charles RASHLEIGH, Sarah HAMLEY, John POMEROY, Catherine PENNINGTON, George HUNT, Hender MOUNTSTEVEN, John MOUNTSTEVEN,  John BELLING the Younger, Samuel STONE and George John BLEWETT.

• dated 12 Oct 1810, naming Charles RASHLEIGH, Sarah HAMLEY, William HAMLEY, John POMEROY, Elizabeth CORY, John and Frances KEMPE, John and Elizabeth TREFUSES, Bridget and Catherine CORY, Hoblyn PETER, John MOLESWORTH and George John BREWER.

• dated 27 Dec 1813, naming Elizabeth PETER of Padstow and Joseph HAMLEY of Bodmin, plus several of the others mentioned above.

• dated 28 Dec 1813, naming the same as (c).

• dated 4 Jun 1816, naming Thomas COMMINS and William STEPHENS, James RUNNALLLS and John MARSHALL amongst others.

• documents, dated 29 Sep 1824 and 29 Sep 1828, naming Robert Bradlick EDYVEAN of the Borough of Bodmin and William KENT and William VARCOE of the parish of St Dennis.

• dated 20 Dec 1824, involving Lewis & Elizabeth RESCORLA, John WALLIS, Richard COOMB and several other Parish residents.

• dated 7 Feb 1827, involving Joseph HAMLEY of the Borough of Bodmin.

• dated 28 Jun 1827, mentioning several members of the COMMINS family, Thomas and Catherine (formerly HOCKEN) WEST and several tenants.

• dated 12 Jun 1829, naming Edward PEARCE, John Martyn BLIGH and members of the COMMINS family.

• dated 13 Jun 1829, mentioning Edward PEARCE, John Martyn BLIGH, members of the COMMINS family, Richard MARSHALL, John MARSHALL, James RUNNALLS, Charles COODE, Edward COODE and James SEARLE.

• dated 12 Mar 1835, naming Joseph HAMLEY, Samuel WRIFORD, John and Elizabeth POMEROY, Catherine PENNINGTON, George John BLEWETT and William HAMLEY.

• dated 15 Apr 1843, involving Thomas COMMINS the Elder & Younger, Richard BURROW the Younger and some other Parish residents.

• dated 26 Aug 1854, relating to a. to d. above, additionally mentioning Francis Gilbert HAMLEY, Edmund Gilbert HAMLEY, Joseph Osbertus HAMLEY, Peter Edward SCOBELL, Christopher SLOGGATS, Nicholas SIBLEY, Richard COOM and William COURTENAY.

• dated 25 Mar 1855, relating to k. above, naming similar persons as in m. above, by which time Joseph Osbertus HAMLEY was living in Wellington, New Zealand.

• dated 31 Dec 1855, naming Edmund Gilbert HAMLEY, other members of the HAMLEY family and Mary Ann PHILLPPS.

• dated 31 Oct 1856, concerning land known as Pophams and mentioning Edmund Gilbert HAMLEY, Richard HENDER, Charles PHILP and Anne, Baroness GRENVILLE of Dropmore, Bucks.

• dated 21 Sep 1861, concerning Bassett's Tenement in the Parish of Ladock, but naming Richard COOM and Felix Elford COOM of Bodmin.

• dated 11 Dec 1873, involving land and buildings and mentioning members of the MICHELL and CLARKE families, as well as their tenants.

• dated 21 Sep 1878, naming Robert EDYVEAN and Charles Fleetwood PELLOW, concerning property in Fore Street.

• a Statutory Declaration, dated 28 Feb 1893 and naming Richard COOM and Felix Elford COOM of Bodmin regarding Power of Attorney for Stannaway's Tenement and Bassett's or Latcher's Tenement.

• An Indenture, dated 13 Sep 1895, between Robert Phillipps EDYVEAN, Bernard Flamank EDYVEAN and JANE WILLIAMS, also naming Jenny Beer PHILLIPPS and William PASCOE.

There are also indentures involving people from Bodmin amongst those for multiple parishes linking from here.

5. Wills:

1. The Will of Thomas BEARD, dated 30 Nov 1768.

2. To view a document relating to the proving of the Will of Robert HOOPER, dated 18 Aug 1800.

3. Will and Probate (dated 15 Nov 1871) of Richard FOWLER of Nanstallon, Parish of Bodmin, naming several residents of Bodmin and Lanivet.

6. Bodmin & Wadebridge Railway, purchase of land, dated 13 Nov 1834. Bodmin residents mentioned include John WALLIS and James LOBB.
 
7. A voting paper, dated 1 Nov 1854, naming Edmund Gilbert HAMBLY, James LIDDELL, John HARRIS and Charles Pearse TONKIN.
 
8. Directive from Bodmin Union to the Overseers of the Poor, dated 9 Nov 1895. Payment to be made to Mr Henry Durette FOSTER (Treasurer), signed by H SYMONS (Chairman), W PHILIPS and J LEAWRNE (Guardians) and P G W (Clerk).
 
9. A poem entitled Lord Lovell, by R EDYVEAN, undated. Possibly Robert, Capt. and Adjt. Artr. Volunteers, who lived at Windsor House in 1871.
 
10. Particulars of an auction of a dwellinghouse in Gaol Lane, tenant Mrs BUSCOMBE, on behalf of the estate of Matthew BUNNY, on 8 Jan 1889. View here.
 
11. Bodmin Gas Consumers' Co., Limited, Rules to be observed by the Company's Employees, undated.

Other documents mentioning several parishes, including Bodmin, can be found here.

For more information regarding history, population, etc., visit GenUKI.

MAPS:

For a Parish Locator map, please click here. Bodmin is located at coordinates H - 6.

For further map information, please visit GenUKI (Genealogy - United Kingdom & Ireland).

To see a current, zoomable Ordnance Survey map, please visit MultiMap, or for maps and satellite images use Google Maps.

ADJACENT PARISHES:

St Breock, Egloshayle, Helland, Cardinham, Lanhydrock, Lanivet and Withiel.

CHURCHES:

1. The Parish Church of St. Petroc and the Ruins of St. Thomas à Becket

Parish Church of St Petroc	Click thumbnails to enlarge     © Pauline Pickup 2008   To view a pdf file giving information about the church of St Thomas à Becket, click here (use + & - to zoom)
St Petroc viewed from St Thomas à Becket
Ruins of St Thomas à Becket's
Interior of St Thomas à Becket's

2. The Roman Catholic Abbey (former Priory), now converted into flats.

3. St. Leonard's Chapel of Ease and St. Lawrence's Church (now combined as St. Lawrence with St. Leonard)