Bolventor

Bolventor
Cornish: Bedhasbold

Jamaica Inn from the old A30
Bolventor
 Bolventor shown within Cornwall
OS grid referenceSX184767
Civil parishAltarnun
Shire countyCornwall
RegionSouth West
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town LAUNCESTON
Postcode district PL15
Dialling code 01566
Police Devon and Cornwall
Fire Cornwall
Ambulance South Western
EU Parliament South West England
UK ParliamentNorth Cornwall
List of places
UK
England
Cornwall

Coordinates: 50°33′44″N 4°33′58″W / 50.5621°N 4.5662°W / 50.5621; -4.5662

Bolventor (Cornish: Bedhasbold) is a hamlet on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in Altarnun civil parish between Launceston and Bodmin.[1]

Toponymy

The hamlet has been said to take its name from the "Bold Venture" that it must have appeared to build a farm in this moorland, but this is probably folk etymology, as "Bol-" is a common prefix in Cornish placenames. It is much more likely that the name derives from the 'Bold Adventure' tin-working area which was in operation near Jamaica Inn during the 1840s-1850s [2]

Jamaica Inn

Bolventor is the location of the famous Jamaica Inn coaching inn. It is bypassed by a dual carriageway section of the A30 trunk road; before the bypass was built the hamlet straddled the A30 road.

Daphne du Maurier, a former resident, chose Bolventor as the setting for her novel about Cornish smugglers titled Jamaica Inn. The inn that inspired the novel, Jamaica Inn, has stood beside the main road through the village since 1547. It is now a tourist attraction in its own right and dominates the hamlet.

Church

Holy Trinity Church, Bolventor

The small church (dedicated to the Holy Trinity) that lies to the east of the hamlet closed some years ago. A mile from Bolventor there was a chapel of St Luke (from the 13th to the early 16th century): the font is now at the church of Tideford.[3] Bolventor parish was established in 1846 (before that date the village was in St Neot parish) but has now been merged with Altarnun.

References

  1. ↑ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 201 Plymouth & Launceston ISBN 978-0-319-23146-3
  2. ↑ R. D. Penhallurick Tin in Antiquity (2008) Maney; p. 207
  3. ↑ Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; p. 62
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