BODMIN, municipal borough and county town of Cornwall, England, 3om. W.N.W. of Plymouth, with stations on the G.W. and Southern railways. Pop. (1931) 5,526. It lies in a short valley opening westward upon that of the Camel, at the south end of the high open Bodmin moor. The site is near what seems to have been a transpeninsular route between the estuaries of the Fowey and the Camel in the early metal ages. There are traces of Roman occupation during the first century A.D. The name appears in an early charter as Bodmine, Bodman and Bod myn. At the time of Domesday the manor, consisting of 68 houses and one market, was held by St. Petrock and owed its importance to its ecclesiastical associations. To successive priors, as mesne lords, it owed its first municipal privileges. Edward I. confirmed to the burgesses the pesage (a duty paid for the weigh ing) of tin, and Edward II. a market for tin and wool. The town was constituted a free borough in 1563, with two fairs and a Saturday market. The Corporation became extinct in 1789, but a new charter of incorporation was granted in i 798 and remodelled by the act of 1835.
The large church of St. Petrock is mainly Perpendicular, but has earlier portions. Parts of the buildings of a Franciscan friary, founded c. 124o, are incorporated in the market-house. Most of the county institutions are here, and the assizes were fixed here in 1837, having previously been held alternatively at Launceston. Cattle, sheep and horse fairs are held, and there is a considerable agricultural trade. The borough is under the mayor, four alder men and 12 councillors. Area, 2,707 ac. For purposes of repre sentation it is included in the Bodmin parliamentary county division.
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