Bodmin, Cornwall - Day 3

Monday, June 2

We awoke this morning to steady rain, so decided today was a good day for a museum or two, and Bodmin had 6 local attractions for us to visit. The good thing is that we could walk to all 6, so this would give us some exercise and culture at the same time!

The closest to our B&B was St.Petroc's Church, which had its beginning in the late 1400s, so we started there. Some of the original church is still standing but most of it was built in Victorian times (late 1800s), and it is Cornwall's largest and grandest parish church. The most important display is St.Petroc's reliquary, a box that once held his bones (he died around 550 AD). This was stolen in 1176, found in 1177, then lost for centuries, and was finally returned in 1957 minus the Saint's bones! The other important item in one of the chapels was the Battle Honours and Standards of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, as Bodmin is home to this regiment.

St.Petroc's Church

The Battle Honours and Standards of the DCLI in St.Petroc's Church

 

Our next stop was the Military Museum, which displayed artefacts, uniforms, medals and weapons, and traced the history of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. It was located in the former Victorian barracks of this regiment in a very impressive building. Their history goes back to 1702 when they were raised as Fox's Regiment of Marines and gradually morphed into the DCLI in 1881. Over the centuries they have gained a reputation for endurance, fellowship and heroism, with 8 Victoria Crosses won by men from this Regiment on display, along with numerous other sets of medals donated to the museum, usually by widows of the recipients. It was quite moving reading some of the citations though.

The Military Museum in Bodmin

After all this history we were ready for afternoon tea, as another full English breakfast had sustained us for nearly 6 hours. We indulged in our first Cornish Cream tea, which consisted of a scone, strawberry jam and Cornish clotted cream - it won't be our last either! As time was getting on we chose the Bodmin Jail for our next stop as it stayed open later than the other places on the list, and it had a restaurant where we could have dinner before heading home.

Bodmin Jail

The first jail in Bodmin was built in 1779, while the present jail was built in 1859. Over 55 prisoners were hanged, most in front of large crowds - the largest crowd was estimated between 20,000 - 25,000 people who came to watch a double hanging! In many of the old cells they had little scenes built showing what the prisoner had done with the full description on the wall outside the cell. The crimes ranged from being disorderly to murders, while the punishments varied from a short stay with hard labour, to transportation to Australia and ultimately hanging. Men, women and children were all imprisoned here, and the conditions were not pleasant - we had to keep our jackets on to stay warm as we toured the different levels looking at the exhibits! The last hanging took place in 1909 and the prison was formally closed in 1927.

The menu for prisoners

Fortunately the jail has a nice restaurant so we weren't restricted to bread and water. Instead a nice brew and some good pub food satisfied us in preparation for the walk back to our B&B. We had only covered half of the attractions so we'll endeavour to do the other half before we leave town.

Dinner at Bodmin Jail

 

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