Why visit Bodmin
Townapedia lists 21 museums and landmarks, 4 parks and trails, 25 places to eat, 2 places to stay and 2 attractions in and around town.
Highlights include Respryn Bridge, Bodmin Jail and Bodmin Town Museum.
Weather in Bodmin
Forecast from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0). Full forecast
About Bodmin
Bodmin (Cornish: Bosvena [bɔzˈvɛnə] ) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor.
From the Wikipedia article Bodmin (this version), under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Travel tips from other travellers: Bodmin on Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Photos of Bodmin
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Things to do2
Respryn Bridge
Bridge · 3.0 mi
15th century bridge over the River Fowey in Cornwall, England, UK
Museums and landmarks21
Lanhydrock House
Museum · 2.4 mi
Country house in Lanhydrock, Cornwall, England, UK
Bodmin and Wenford Railway Station
Monument and historic site · 0.5 mi
Lesquite Quoit
Monument and historic site · 2.7 mi
Portal dolmen in Lanivet, Cornwall, England, UK
WW2 DCLI Depot (Victoria Barracks) (site of)
Monument and historic site · 0.7 mi
Headquarters for the Cornwall Subarea of Southern Command.
9 more on the map.
Parks, trails and playgrounds4
Restaurants and cafes25
Soul Kitchen
Restaurant
5 Honey Street
Mo-We 08:00-19:00; Th 08:00-22:00; Fr-Sa 08:00-23:30; Su 09:00-15:00
13 more on the map.
History
St. Petroc founded a monastery in Bodmin in the 6th century and gave the town its alternative name of Petrockstow. The monastery was deprived of some of its lands at the Norman Conquest but at the time of Domesday still held eighteen manors, including Bodmin, Padstow and Rialton. Bodmin is one of the oldest towns in Cornwall, and the only large Cornish settlement recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086. In the 15th century the Norman church of St Petroc was largely rebuilt and stands as one of the largest churches in Cornwall (the largest after the cathedral at Truro). Also built at that time was an abbey of canons regular, now mostly ruined. For most of Bodmin's history, the tin industry was a mainstay of the economy.
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 6th to 8th centuries.
Arthur Langdon (1896) records three Cornish crosses at Bodmin; one was near the Berry Tower, one was outside Bodmin Gaol and another was in a field near Castle Street Hill. There is also Carminow Cross at a road junction southeast of the town.
The Black Death killed half of Bodmin's population in the mid 14th century (1,500 people).
Read more of the history
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, 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. In 1549, Cornishmen, allied with other rebels in neighbouring Devon, rose once again in rebellion when the staunchly Protestant Edward VI tried to impose a new Prayer Book. The lower classes of Cornwall and Devon were still strongly attached to the Roman Catholic religion and again a Cornish army was formed in Bodmin which marched across the border into Devon to lay siege to Exeter. 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.
The song "Bodmin Town" was collected from the Cornishman William Nichols at Whitchurch, Devon, in 1891 by Sabine Baring-Gould who published a version in his A Garland of Country Song (1924).
From the History section of Bodmin on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
More about Bodmin
Education
Beacon ACE Academy opened as a primary school for pupils aged between 3–11 in September 2017, following the merger of Beacon Infant and Nursery School and Robartes Junior School. Beacon ACE Academy is part of Kernow Learning Multi Academy Trust and is rated Good by Ofsted. The school offers places for 420 pupils as well as 30 places within its Nursery and 10 places within its Area Resource Base for pupils with Special Educational Needs.
St Petroc's voluntary aided Church of England Primary School, Athelstan Park, Bodmin, was given this title in September 1990 after the amalgamation of St. Petroc's Infant School and St. Petroc's Junior School. St. Petroc's is a large school with some 440 pupils between the ages of four and 11. Eight of its fourteen governors are nominated by the Diocese of Truro or the Parochial Church Council of St. Petroc's, Bodmin. It is currently rated as "Requires Improvement" by Ofsted.
There are a further two primary schools within Bodmin; Berrycoombe School in the northwest corner of the town, and St. Mary's Catholic Primary School.
From the Wikipedia article Bodmin, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Notable people from Bodmin
Arthur Quiller-CouchBritish writer and literary critic (1863–1944)Photo: Not stated, Public domain
John CorneliusEnglish Jesuit priest and martyrPhoto: Melchior Küsel (grabado)-Karel..., Public domain
Frederick BuscombeCanadian politician (1862-1938)Photo: Stuart Thomson, Public domain- E. A. Wallis BudgeBritish academic (1857–1934)
- H. C. McNeileBritish soldier and author (1888–1937)
- George JerrardBritish mathematician (1804–1863)
- John ArnoldEnglish watchmaker and inventor
- Edward Bruce HamleyBritish general, military writer and politician (1824-1893)
- George Herbert PethybridgeBritish botanist and mycologist (1871-1948)
- Sir Walter Gilbert, 1st BaronetBritish East India Company army officer; (1786-1853)
- Terri QuayeBritish jazz musician
- Saul HalpinEnglish footballer (born 1991)
Born in Bodmin, according to Wikidata (CC0). Each name links to its Wikipedia article.
Where to stay2
Churches and places of worship11
Shopping6
Gas and EV charging2
Schools, colleges and libraries8
St Petroc's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School
School · Anglican · 0.5 mi
Athelstan Park, Bodmin
Healthcare2
Map of Bodmin
83 places. The map loads OpenStreetMap tiles when you open it.
Getting there and nearby towns
Cornwall Airport Newquay (NQY) is the nearest airport with scheduled flights listed in OpenStreetMap, 12 miles away.
- St Austell 9 mi south, about 15 min by car
- Newquay 16 mi west, about 25 min by car
- Truro 20 mi southwest, about 33 min by car
- Saltash 22 mi east, about 36 min by car
- Tavistock 26 mi east, about 42 min by car
- Plymouth 27 mi east, about 43 min by car
- Falmouth 27 mi southwest, about 43 min by car
- Plymstock 29 mi east, about 47 min by car
- Camborne 31 mi southwest, about 50 min by car
- Helston 35 mi southwest, about 56 min by car
Drive times are estimates from straight-line distance, not routes.
Towns near Bodmin
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Keep exploring
Local news
Headlines from INDB.
Reviews, tips and questions
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Sources and licences
- GeoNames (CC BY 4.0): population, coordinates, regions and time zone
- Mapillary (see each image): photos
- OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0): places, airports, map data
- Wikidata (CC0 1.0): elevation, founding date, time zone, website, landmarks and historic places
- Wikimedia Commons (see each image): photos
- Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0): overview and history text
Photo credits
- Bodmin General railway station 1, Tim Walker from United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0
- Golden Temple Indian Restaurant, Lower Bore Street, Bodmin, Cornwall - January 2023, Mutney, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Bodmin (2021-09-08) 49, Simon Cobb, CC0
- Bodmin (2021-09-08) 50, Simon Cobb, CC0
- Bodmin (2021-09-08) 48, Simon Cobb, CC0
- Bodmin (2021-09-08) 56, Simon Cobb, CC0
- Bodmin (2021-09-08) 57, Simon Cobb, CC0
- Bodmin (2021-09-08) 55, Simon Cobb, CC0
- Bodmin (2021-09-08) 54, Simon Cobb, CC0
- Bodmin (2021-09-08) 58, Simon Cobb, CC0
- Bodmin (2021-09-08) 47, Simon Cobb, CC0
- Plaque on old library building, Lower Bore Street, Bodmin, Cornwall - May 2023 (1), Mutney, CC0
- The Old Library, Lower Bore Street, Bodmin, Cornwall - January 2023, Mutney, CC BY-SA 4.0
- War memorial plaque on old library building, Lower Bore Street, Bodmin, Cornwall - May 2023, Mutney, CC0
- Plaque on old library building, Lower Bore Street, Bodmin, Cornwall - May 2023 (2), Mutney, CC0
- The Old Butchers, 90 Fore Street, Bodmin, Cornwall - January 2023 (2), Mutney, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Tattoo parlour, Lower Bore Street, Bodmin, Cornwall - January 2023, Mutney, CC BY-SA 4.0
- View to Berryfields Estate from Finn VC Estate, Bodmin, Cornwall - January 2023, Mutney, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Gregory's Court, Robartes Road, Bodmin, Cornwall - May 2023, Mutney, CC0
- The Old Butchers, 90 Fore Street, Bodmin, Cornwall - January 2023 (1), Mutney, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Bodmin (2021-09-08) 52, Simon Cobb, CC0
- Bodmin (2021-09-08) 51, Simon Cobb, CC0
- Bodmin (2021-09-08) 63, Simon Cobb, CC0
- Bodmin (2021-09-08) 46, Simon Cobb, CC0
- Bodmin (2021-09-08) 45, Simon Cobb, CC0
- Bodmin (2021-09-08) 44, Simon Cobb, CC0
- Chapel an Gansblydhen, Fore Street, Bodmin, Cornwall - January 2023, Mutney, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Lanhydrock (2759114593), Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK, CC BY 2.0
- St Conans, Kernowcroggsy, CC BY-SA 4.0
- GWR 4612 at Bodmin General, Phil Scott ( Our Phellap ), CC BY-SA 3.0
- Bodmin hospital, Theroadislong, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Bodmin Jail from Cardell Road, Chris j wood, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Bodmin (2021-09-08) 04, Simon Cobb, CC0
- Memorial to Walter Raleigh Gilbert, Bodmin. 01, Alanherbert, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Bodmin General 5552 preparing a train, Geof Sheppard, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Pencarrow House 01, Wolfgang Glock, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Play equipment, Priory Park, Bodmin, Cornwall - August 2024 (9), Mutney, CC BY 4.0
- Street-level photo, miguel_andrade, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, WaggyDog, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, WaggyDog, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, WaggyDog, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, WaggyDog, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, WaggyDog, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, WaggyDog, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, WaggyDog, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, WaggyDog, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, WaggyDog, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, alexanderar, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, WaggyDog, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, WaggyDog, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, WaggyDog, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, WaggyDog, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, WaggyDog, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Page built November 10, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us or suggest a place.