Messrs. Lysons say Bodmin was formerly spelt Bodman. From these papers it would appear that the name was written, in the time of King John, "Bomin;" in the time of Richard, Earl of Cornwall and King of the Romans, "Bodmin ; " in the reign of Edward the third, "Bodmyn." In a record of Henry the eighth, and in a charter of James the second, it is written "Bodmyn, otherwise Bodenham." As surnames were generally taken from the names of places, it may here be noticed that the Bodenhams of Herefordshire pronounce their name,-Bodmin; and that there are persons in Somersetshire who both write and pronounce their name,-Bodmin.

The first Mayor mentioned in these documents is Roger de Bodmyn, in 1359. The list of mayors, in the hands of several persons in the town, commences with Thomas Paynter, in 1423.

In the iron chest, near the font, are preserved eight registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials, perfect from the commencement in the last year of the reign of Queen Mary, 1558.

The organ, a very fine instrument, was built at Bristol, by Brice Seede, in 1775, and presented to the corporation, by the then members for the borough, James Laroche, Esq. (created a Baronet in 1776,) and George Hunt, Esq. of Lanhydrock. The arms of the donors, and of the town, are placed on the top of it.

The altar window, the gift, together with the altar piece, of Lord De Dunstanville, representing the

Ascension, was painted in London, by Lowe, and completed and put up, in 1824, by the late Mr. Muss, of Fitzroy Square.

On the outside, over the arch of this window, are cut in stone the arms of Prior Vivian. Attached to it on the outside, but communicating with the church, stood a small chapel, taken down in 1776, in which was preserved, till the reformation, the shrine of St. Petrock, to whom the church is dedicated. In 1177, according to Benedictus Abbas, a contemporary historian of King Henry the second, the body of the Saint was stolen by Martin, a Canon of the adjoining Priory, and lodged in the Abbey of St. Mein, in Brittany. It was very reluctantly restored, on Sunday, July 20, 1177, to Roger, the Prior of Bodmin, who had pursued the fugitive with an order from the King, directed to the Justiciary Dinham, for the immediate surrender of the body. The Prior brought back the sacred relics to Bodmin, having on his return shown them to the King at Winchester.

St. Guron, a solitary recluse, from whom the parish of Gorran, near Mevagissey, takes its name, may be considered the Founder of Bodmin, about the year 530. He resigned his hermitage to St. Petrock, a native of Wales, who died here about the middle of the sixth century. His festival is kept by the Romish church on the 4th of June, the day of his death.

In the north chancel is the altar tomb of Prior Vivian, who died in 1533. He was succeeded by

Thomas Wandesworth, the last Prior, who with nine monks surrendered the Priory to King Henry the eighth, in 1539. The tomb is built with a dark grey stone, from the Catacleuse quarry in St. Merrin, near Padstow, after the model of Henry the seventh's tomb in Westminster Abbey. On the top rests the effigies of the Prior, in his pontificals as nominal Bishop of Megara, in Greece. At the corners are the remains of four Angels holding shields, charged with the Priory and Vivian arms, which also occupy two of the eight divisions or pannels underneath. The other six contain the symbols of the four Evangelists, and the arms of King Henry the eighth, and of King Edgar, a cross floreè surmounted by a crown, under which, at Rialton, is the name "Edgarus." Round the verge is the following inscription, cast in metal, "HIC. TVMILATVr VENERABILIS: PATER TOMAS. VIVIAN : MEGARENSIS EPVS HVIVSQ' DOMVS PRIOR QVI OBIIT ANNO DNI: M. D. XXXIII PRIMO DIE IVNII CVIVs anime propiCIETVR DEVS AMEN.

This tomb originally stood before the high altar. During the Great Rebellion, when the church was much injured by the Parliamentarians, it is probable the body of the Prior was dug up, the tomb removed into the north chancel, and his remains placed in an irregular cavity within it, where the skull and several bones were found, and again deposited, when the tomb was repaired at the expense of Sir Vyell Vyvyan,

Bart. and fixed in its present position, in 1819.

On the floor, immediately before the pulpit, is a slab of Catacleuse stone, to the memory of John Vyvyan, who died March 9, 1545. A slab of the same stone, to the memory of Margaret

who died 1548, is placed on the floor before the organ loft. It was dug up in the churchyard.

Prior Vivian is said to have been Vicar of Bodmin before he succeeded to the Priory. He was, it appears, a man of considerable property and influence. He built a seat at Rialton, in St. Columb minor, of the remains of which there is a plate in Stockdale's Cornwall. The church at Withiel, with its handsome tower, and the old parsonage house there, were also, it is said, erected by him. His arms remain emblazoned in the south east window of Withiel church. A similar coat was lately removed from the old parsonage house, and placed in a window of the chapel, at Trelowarren. An imperfect account of the Prior may be seen in Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses.

The church of Bodmin is built on a slope. The bases of the pillars are not on the same level. There is a gradual rise of 4ft. 6in. from the step of the western door to the altar window, a distance of 151ft. 3in. The ground underneath is full of springs. The whole area has been broken up. On the northern side a covered gutter of granite was discovered, which has been completed from the south east corner immediately within the rails of

the altar. It passes down by the northern wall, and under the western door across the yard, into Brewery Lane. On the outside, the tower has been dug out to the depth, in some places, of twelve feet, and a spacious trench formed all around the church. No interments are now permitted within the church. By these improvements, the whole edifice has been rendered perfectly dry, which before was very damp, and sometimes in winter inundated.

the

In the tower are a clock, chimes, and an excellent peal of eight bells, cast at Gloucester, in 1767, from six larger ones. The clock was put up in 1731; chimes, in 1769. Before the destruction of the spire, the belfry seems to have been on the ground floor, (part of which is now used as a vestry room,) to which the only entrance was through the church. In 1700, the northern window on the first story was converted into a door way, and an ascent made by steps from the yard into the present belfry. This window has been lately restored, the steps removed, and a new door way cut, on the west side, from the trench, through eight feet of solid masonry. The tower within is open, and the ascent is by ladders. of the vanes, is about 94 feet; to the top of the battlements, 72 feet.

The height, to the top

On the top of the church, over the western door, stood an awkward cupola, in which was a small bell, rung on prayer days. Both have been lately removed. The bell is now in Forrabury tower.

The western doorway of the church is a well built