Bolventor

Bolventor
Cornwall
Jamaica Inn, Bolventor
Location
Grid reference:	SX184767
Location:	50°33’44"N, 4°33’58"W
Data
Post town:	Launceston
Postcode:	PL15
Dialling code:	01566
Local Government
Council:	Cornwall
Parliamentary constituency:	North Cornwall

Bolventor is a hamlet on Bodmin Moor in the parish of Altarnun in Cornwall. It is found a little to the west of Altarnun, off the A30 which carves its swathe between Launceston and Bodmin.

Bolventor consists of but a few houses and its parish church, which is cruelly separated from the village church by the A30, and the famous Jamaica Inn. It is bypassed by a dual carriageway section of the A30 trunk road though before the bypass was built the village straddled the A30.

The village 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. "Bol-" is a common prefix in Cornish placenames, though 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

Jamaica Inn

Jamaica Inn is a large coaching inn in the centre of the hamlet. Daphne du Maurier chose this inn and Bolventor as the setting for her famous novel of the same name, Jamaica Inn; a novel of ruthless Cornish smugglers.

The inn was built in 1547 and has stood in the heart of the village ever since. Its formerly isolated position on the moor has been somewhat spoiled by the coming of the A30 but much of the original remains. It is now a tourist attraction in its own right and dominates Bolventor.

The inn has expanded in view of its fame. It has the original bar, and now a restaurant and hotel, a gift shop and museum. It is a convenient place for exploring the moor, and one walk of a few hours is over Bodmin Moor from the Rough Tor road over Rough Tor and Brown Willy to Jamaca Inn or vice versa.

The Museum of Smuggling

The inn contains "The Museum of Smuggling", which is located to the western side of the inn and the main coaching house. A plaque on the walls outside says "The Museum of Smuggling. Presents a record of classical examples in the arts of concealment and evasion".

The museum's main focus is its collection of smuggling artifacts that is depicted through the history of the Jamaica Inn and the inn's role in this trade for many years. The Cornwall coast was the most popular location for smuggling of silks, tea, tobacco and brandy across the English Channel much of which was to the Cornish coast; Polperro (on the south coast) and Boscastle, Trebarwith and Tintagel on the north coast as this coastline was not well covered by the law enforcing authorities. Many of the smugglers stored their contraband in the isolated location of the Jamaica Inn. It is also said that even the judges were fairly lenient towards the smugglers, probably due to their receiving some of the smuggled goods.

The museum contains various items including "Wanted" posters, one of which is dated to 1798, a poster celebrating Lord Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, various pottery figures of smugglers and villains, a bag of "10 pounds of Jamaican ganja" and old books etc. There is also a display in the room where the author Maurier lived of various items owned by her including her writing desk and typewriter.

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  Museum exterior

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  Interior

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  Granite fireplace

Church

Holy Trinity Church, Bolventor

The small Church, Holy Trinity, lies to the east of the village but was closed some years ago, cut off from Bolventor by the A30 dual carriageway and a long ride aroundto get to it. 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.

Bolventor parish was established in 1846 before which the village was in St Neot parish. It has now been merged with Altarnun, appropriate to its place literature, for the looming presence in the novel of the Vicar of Altarnun.