Bodmin memories
Here are memories of Bodmin and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Bodmin or a Bodmin photo.
MY HOUSE
I purchased Outlands in 1987 for £70,000, it was and still is my dream home with so much potential, we are still on generator and spring water, the river Camel with salmon and trout fishing is on one boundary and a stream on another boundry with a bridge to access the property.
The rear of the property has 200 acres of open forest and a little used extension of the Camel Trail that leads to Bodmin Moor one way and Padstow on the other boundary. This is a unique property with an ancient corn mill in the garden which dates back to Domesday, the leat that fed the mill is under the front lawn and the wheel pit has now been exposed. After 23 years I am still finding out the history of the place which was built as a hunting and fishing lodge prior to 1807 for the manor house at Penhargard.
We now have information from a previous tenant about the mill which was occupied by a... Read more
HALLOWEEN 2007
Ok, on Halloween night 2007 some friends and myself wanted to do something different for our Halloween night, so where better to do it than at the old Bodmin prison.
So off we set at 9 o'clock taking track to the prison. It was a great evening. We spent some hours in the darkest depths of the prison and we are convinced we did see a ghost of a man in the Naval Wing, and we did some filming and we got some pictures of what looked like 'orbs', it was a very interesting evening.
We would like to point out that this is not the place to visit if you are shocked easily, as the prison has an odd smell to it and you hear a lot of strange noises and see a number of shadows that are not there when you turn around. It would be worth a visit if you are interested in ghost hunting.
Staff at The Asylum
I found when researching the 1901 census that members of my husband's family worked at the Asylum. My husband's grandfather, Alfred Charles (Charlie) Southern worked there until his death in 1944. His job was described as "Mental Nurse". Charles' sister Glen Dora also worked there as did his mother Anne and other relatives. Some were described as laundresses. I wondered whether they actually worked in a laundry at the asylum or whether they did laundry for the asylum at home.
Colliford Lake Park
When we used to have family holidays in Downderry year after year, we would visit Colliford Lake Park several times each holiday. It really was great fun there; the army jeep, the go cars, the play areas, the boats; there seemed to be 1001 things you could do at that place.
A great place for a day out, imprinting powerful, wonderful memories.
Fore Street in 1931
This picture shows the street as I remember it aged four. The building on the right was the office of my father's legal practice (Pomery and Gill) and opposite was the market. As a child I loved the Saturday market, when the boiled sweets of all descriptions were on sale. I also loved the stone cows' heads across the facade. My family lived at "Bosvenna" in Priory Road until the late sixties. My father Ernest Gill was Town Clerk for 26 years, and was made Mayor on his retirement from that position. Since moving to Australia in 1963 I have been closely involved in the South Australian Cornish Association, being a past President.
Memories of Cornwall
Joan The Wad
I have bought Joan the Wad Cornish pickes at the Abbey and caught a trout in the river that runs in front of it. I was evacuated to the village in the war to Church Town Farm with Mr and Mrs Greenway and there was a large monkey puzzle tree in the front garden. Only this week I was given one of my own. It also gave me a love of the countryside. I worked on a farm down there when I left school and we all come to Cornwall for our holidays each year. I have been back a few times and over the years a lot has changed; the mill pond has gone and there are a lot more houses. When we come later in the year I will have a closer look - John.
Lockengate of The ''40s
I lived in St Austell as a child but my Uncle Ewart and Aunt Ruby farmed at Trescoll Farm, Lockengate. From a very early age I spent every holiday with them and although only four or five years old at the time, I remember well and fondly those wartime years, the Land Army girls and the two shire horses. (The first Fordson Major tractor didn't arrive here until the early '50's.) Trescoll was up a long lane from Lockengate and each morning Uncle would harness up one of the horses and after hand milking his twenty or so South Devon breed cows would load the churns into the cart and take them down to Lockengate where there was a concrete block stand onto which they were loaded ready for the Milk Board lorry to collect.
Lockengate was at the junction of the Bugle-Lanivet road (the A391) and the road to Bodwen and on the corner opposite the farm lane was Mrs Grose's shop.
One of my occasional chores... Read more
Days Out
I lived at Claylands, only about two minutes' walk away from Penpont. On nice sunny days in the summer myself, brothers, sisters and our next door neighbour Michael Rowe (who unfortunately died in a fishing accident in his twenties) would go from Wenford down the railway line to Keybridge where there were only four houses. My grandad lived in one, a farmer, Mr Masters, in another, and the Yeo family in another. There was a pretty little cottage just over the bridge but I can't remember who lived there, but I think it was one of the prettiest in the area. We would then walk up the hill to Penpont, there were only about seven houses there. We would sit on a seat just outside Mr Marshall's farmyard and he would come out and tell us all about when he was young. It was different than today, it was so safe to go wandering anywhere, we felt so free as children. My grandchildren can't run around as freely, it is... Read more
Richard Talling's "Fancy Repository"
This photo shows (just) the shop unit (on the right behind the post boy on the pavement, currently the Londis store) which I believe formerly housed famous Cornish mineral dealer Richard Talling's "Fancy Repository" (Mineral shop) from around 1844 until his death in 1883. I would very much like to track down any photos which may exist of either Richard Talling or his shop (exterior and interior) on the corner of Queen St and Fore Street for a biography that I am working on.
An Evacuee During WW11
Packed off to Lostwithiel in the train from Paddington and found myself living in the Black Prince's Castle - Restormal. Well not quite, the farm on the Estate. I was baptised in St Winnow C.of E Church as part of our peregrinations and ended up living on Bodmin Hill in one of the terraced houses near the top on the east side. Went to Bodmin Hill Infants, as time went on, with my brother Nicholas. I recall the poor Postman, afflicted by a gas attack he was subjected to during WW1 'twas said, though he never spoke about it. My first love/crush on another evacuee damsel from "Middlesex" etc etc. Alas back to London in time for VE Day. Memories of the "Moor" and flitting round with the other evacuees are vivid. I have had every sympathy for DPP's (displaced persons) since. MORE FOLLOWS. jlt
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