Cardinham ( kw, Kardhinan) (the spelling 'Cardynham' is almost obsolete) is a civil parish and a village in mid Cornwall, England. The village is approximately three-and-a-half miles (6 km), east-northeast of

Bodmin Bodmin () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor. The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character. It is bordered ...

. The hamlets of Fletchersbridge, Millpool, Milltown,

Mount Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, ...

Old Cardinham Castle Old Cardinham Castle is a hamlet in Cornwall, England, UK. It is in the parish of Cardinham very close to the site of the Norman Cardinham Castle,Ordnance Survey ''One-inch Map of Great Britain; Bodmin and Launceston, sheet 186''. 1961. ''caput' ...

and

Welltown Welltown is a hamlet in the parish of Cardinham in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Welltown is also a hamlet near Liskeard Liskeard ( ; kw, Lyskerrys) is a small ancient stannary and market town in south-east Cornwall, South West Engla ...

are in the parish. Large areas which were once deciduous woodland are now plantations of conifers known as Cardinham Woods and managed by Forestry England.

Edmund John Glynn Edmund John Glynn (1764–1840) was a soldier, landowner, politician, banker and High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1799. Early life Edmund John Glynn was the eldest child of John Glynn of Glynn, Cornwall and Susanna Margaret Oglander of the Isle of Wi ...

, of

Glynn House Glynn House is a Grade II* listed country estate near Cardinham in the county of Cornwall. It was once the seat of the Glynn family and later the seat of Sir Hussey Vivian. History There has been a property in this location next to the River Fow ...

in the parish, rebuilt the house at Glynn in 1805 (it has a front of nine bays and a portico).

Early history

Richard Fitz Turold Richard Fitz Turold (died after 1103–06) (''alias'' fitzThorold, fitzTurolf) was an eleventh-century Anglo-Norman landowner in Cornwall and Devon, mentioned in the Domesday Book. In the 13th century his estates formed part of the Feudal barony of ...

(Thorold) was an Anglo-Norman landowner of the eleventh century, mentioned in the

Domesday Survey 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 manu ...

. He had a castle at Cardinham, where he was a major tenant and steward of

Robert of Mortain Robert, Count of Mortain, 2nd Earl of Cornwall (–) was a Norman nobleman and the half-brother (on their mother's side) of King William the Conqueror. He was one of the very few proven companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hasti ...

. The holding included the manor of

Penhallam Penhallam is the site of a fortified manor house near Jacobstow in Cornwall, England. There was probably an earlier, 11th-century ringwork castle on the site, constructed by Tryold or his son, Richard fitz Turold in the years after the Norma ...

. His son was William Fitz Richard of Cardinham.

Restormel Castle Restormel Castle ( kw, Kastel Rostorrmel) lies by the River Fowey near Lostwithiel in Cornwall, England, UK. It is one of the four chief Norman castles of Cornwall, the others being Launceston, Tintagel and Trematon. The castle is notable for ...

belonged to the Cardinhams in the 12th century, until Andrew de Cardinham's daughter married Thomas de Tracey. Cardinham Castle remained in the family (succeeded by the Dinhams) until the 14th century and later became a ruin. The manor of Cardinham is one of the few where the custom of

Free Bench "Free bench" is a legal term referring to an ancient manorial custom in parts of England whereby a widow, until she remarried, could retain tenure of her late husband's land. :"Free Bench (Lat. ''francus bancus''). The widow's right to a copyhol ...

is recorded: by this a widow could retain tenure of the land until she remarried. The Tenant-in-chief of the manor of Glynn as recorded in the Domesday Book (1086) was Robert, Count of Mortain; when it was one of several manors held by Osferth of Okehampton, County Devon, who had also held it before 1066 and paid tax for 1 virgate of land. There was land for 2 ploughs. There were 1 plough, 1 serf, 2 villeins, 6 smallholders, 100 acres of woodland, 40 acres of pasture, 4 unbroken mares, 2 cows, 24 sheep and 7 goats. The value of the manor was 10 shillings though it has formerly been worth £2 sterling. As of 25 May 2019, the titles of Baron of Cardinham (

Feudal barony of Cardinham The Feudal barony of Cardinham (or Honour of Cardinham) is one of the three feudal baronies in Cornwall which existed during the medieval era. Its ''caput'' was at Cardinham Castle, Cornwall. The Barony was held in recent times by the Vivian fami ...

) and Lord of the Manor of Cardinham are jointly held by an American citizen.

Climate

The highest temperature recorded is 31.6 °C on 11 August 2022 and the lowest is -8.2 °C on 7 February 1991.

Parish church

Cross in the churchyard, Cardinham - geograph

The parish church is dedicated to St

Meubred Mybbard and Mancus were two Cornish saints of the 6th century. Meubred Mybbard (Mewbred or Mebbred),also known as Calrogus was a 6th century hermit and is a local Cornish saint said to be the son of a King of Ireland. Very little is known of ...

: it has north and south aisles and a tower of granite. The chancel suffered bomb damage in World War II. In the church is the brass of Thomas Awmarle, rector of Cardinham, d. 1401? Two freestanding

Celtic cross The Celtic cross is a form of Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring that emerged in Ireland, France and Great Britain in the Early Middle Ages. A type of ringed cross, it became widespread through its use in the stone high crosses er ...

es of stone, bearing inscriptions in Latin have been found in Cardinham; both had been embedded in the walls of the fifteenth-century church and were moved after their discovery to the churchyard. One has been dated to the fifth to eighth centuries, the other to the tenth or eleventh centuries: Arthur Langdon (1896) also records five other stone crosses in the parish. Andrew Langdon (1996) records two crosses in the churchyard, Higher Deviock Cross, Pinsla Cross at Glynn, Poundstock Cross, Treslea or Wydeyeat Cross and Treslea Down Cross.

China clay

The former quarry of the Glynn Valley China Clay Works has closed down and is now flooded. It was in operation from the 1940s but since 2015 the site has been used for camping.Evans, Dixe (2016-07-02) "Ship me to the Cornish moors"; ''The Guardian'', p. 5

Notable residents

* Lieutenant General

Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian Lieutenant General Richard Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian (28 July 177520 August 1842), known as Sir Hussey Vivian from 1815 to 1828 and Sir Hussey Vivian, Bt, from 1828 to 1841, was a British cavalry leader from the Vivian family. Early car ...

, GCB, GCH, PC (1775–1842), lived at

Peter D. Mitchell Peter Dennis Mitchell, FRS (29 September 1920 – 10 April 1992) was a British biochemist who was awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his discovery of the chemiosmotic mechanism of ATP synthesis. Education and early life Mitc ...

, biochemist and Nobel Prize winner, founded Glynn Research Ltd in Glynn House. * Cassie Patten, the British Olympic swimmer, was born at Cardinham. * John Penrose, born in Cardinham, where his father, also named John, was vicar of the parish. He was afterwards Vicar of Poundstock.

References

* Soulsby, Ian N. (1976) Richard Fitz Turold, Lord of Penhallam, Cornwall, in: ''Medieval Archaeology''; vol. 20 (1976) pp. 146–48
online PDF
*

External links

{{authority control Villages in Cornwall Civil parishes in Cornwall Bodmin Moor