Bossiney ( kw, Boskyny, meaning ''Cyni's dwelling'') is a village in north

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England, United Kingdom. It is north-east of the larger village of

Tintagel Tintagel () or Trevena ( kw, Tre war Venydh, meaning ''Village on a Mountain'') is a civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, England. The village and nearby Tintagel Castle are associated with the legends surroundin ...

which it adjoins: further north-east are the

Rocky Valley Rocky Valley ( kw, Glynn Duwy, meaning ''deep valley of the river Duwy'') is a small valley in the parish of Tintagel, north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The valley has been carved by the Trevillet River ( kw, Duwy, meaning ''dark riv ...

and Trethevy. Until 1832 the village, with its neighbour Trevena, returned two MPs as a Rotten Borough, for the Bossiney constituency. The beach of Bossiney Haven is located nearby.

Toponymy

Bossiney, which in

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

was 'Botcinnii', has been explained as Cornish: 'Bod-' dwelling and 'Cini' a man's name. The spelling varied in the past (Bossinney was at one time very common). Novelist

John Galsworthy John Galsworthy (; 14 August 1867 – 31 January 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. Notable works include ''The Forsyte Saga'' (1906–1921) and its sequels, ''A Modern Comedy'' and ''End of the Chapter''. He won the Nobel Prize i ...

used 'Bosinney' as the surname of a character in the

Forsyte Saga ''The Forsyte Saga'', first published under that title in 1922, is a series of three novels and two interludes published between 1906 and 1921 by the English author John Galsworthy, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. They chronicle the vi ...

History

Bossiney was mentioned in

as 'Botcinnii, a manor held by the

Count of Mortain The County of Mortain was a medieval county in France centered on the town of Mortain. A choice landholding, usually either kept within the family of the duke of Normandy (or the king of France) or granted to a noble in return for service and favo ...

from St. Petroc's Church (i.e.

Bodmin Monastery St Petroc's Church, Bodmin, also known as Bodmin Parish Church, was a Roman Catholic Church until the reformation and is currently an Anglican parish church in the town of Bodmin, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The existing church building is ...

), the manor at this time including Trevena. From ca. 1552, two members were elected to the

unreformed House of Commons "Unreformed House of Commons" is a name given to the House of Commons of Great Britain and (after 1800 the House of Commons of the United Kingdom) before it was reformed by the Reform Act 1832, the Irish Reform Act 1832, and the Scottish Reform ...

by the burgesses of Bossiney and Trevena, until the

Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament, Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major chan ...

stripped it of its representation as a

rotten borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorat ...

. Bossiney was the Parliamentary seat of

Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 (t ...

who in 1584 gave his election speech from Bossiney Mound. It was also the Parliamentary seat in 1584 of Sir Francis Bacon. The mace and seal of the borough are still preserved and show the name of the borough as 'Tintaioel' (they are thought to be from the 16th century). Despite electing two MPs, the Borough of Bossiney in the 18th century was described as a very small place with scarcely twenty houses and those no better than cottages!

Places of interest

Bossiney lies within the

Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty The Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers in Cornwall, England, UK; that is, about 27% of the total area of the county. It comprises 12 separate areas, designated under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 for s ...

(AONB). A nearby beach is known as Bossiney Haven. Notable buildings include the Old Borough House, Bossiney Court (both houses are 17th century and later) and the Methodist chapel (1860). All these are listed Grade II. At the nearby crossroads stands Hendra Cross or Pentaly Cross (towards Trevillet): it has been moved from its former position due to road widening in 1959 ("about one and half miles north east of Bossiney, at Pentaly"). Willapark on the coast nearby was an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

cliff castle and at Lye Rock the barque 'Iota' was wrecked in 1893 (see the

article). Willapark Manor stands in wooded grounds and is now an hotel; Jill Pool is the site of the former borough gaol. To the east of Bossiney lie the remains of an earthen

ringwork A ringwork is a form of fortified defensive structure, usually circular or oval in shape. Ringworks are essentially motte-and-bailey castles without the motte. Defences were usually earthworks in the form of a ditch and bank surrounding the site. ...

and bailey, which were discovered during archaeological excavations during the 1840s. The castle is not mentioned in surviving contemporary documents, and it is uncertain when or by whom it was built. However, it was probably built in the late 11th or 12th century.Rose (1992) "Bossiney Castle", p. 141

References

Bibliography * Rose, Peter (1992
"Bossiney Castle"
''Cornish Archaeology'' 31 pp. 138–142. * Williams, Michael (ca. 1970) ''Bossiney''. ( pp., illus.) intagel: the author

External links

Bossiney tide times
* {{authority control Manors in Cornwall Tintagel Villages in Cornwall

Toponymy

History

Places of interest

See also

References

External links