Higher Bodinnar Fogou

Fogou
Destroyed
SW415320

Also known as:

Giant's Holt and Higher Bodinar

Nearest town:

Penzance (6km E)

OS reference:

SW415320

OS sheet:

203

Latitude:

50° 7' 51.62 N

Longitude:

5° 37' 3.26 W

Added to TMA by

phil

Fieldnotes (1)
Folklore (1)
Miscellaneous (1)

Articles

Higher Bodinnar Fogou

Fogou

phil Feb 2, 2002

Totally destroyed, only a grass covered long depression remains.

Higher Bodinnar Fogou

Fogou

Rhiannon May 14, 2010

The fuggo at Bodinnar, called the Giant’s Holt, was a few years ago much dreaded, as it was thought to be the abode of ugly spriggans that kept watch and guard over treasures which still remain buried in that ancient hiding-place.

From William Bottrell’s second volume of Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall (1873), which you can read at the Sacred Texts Archive website.

Higher Bodinnar Fogou

Fogou

Rhiannon Aug 2, 2011

Borlase’s description of the fogou:

Bodinar Cave, called the Gyant’s Holt.
In the tenement of Bodinar, in the parish of Sancred, somewhat higher than the present village, is a spot of ground amounting to no more than half an acre of land (formerly much larger), full of irregular heaps of stones overgrown with heath and brambles. It is of no regular shape, neither has it any vestiges of Fortification.
In the Southern part of this plot, you may with some difficulty enter into a hole, faced on each side with a stone-wall, and covered with flat stones. Great part of the walls as well as covering are fallen into the Cave, which does not run in a straight line, but turns to the left hand at a small distance from the place where I entered, and seems to have branched itself out much farther than I could trace it, which did not exceed twenty feet. It is about five feet high, and as much in width, called the Giant’s Holt, and has no other use at present than to frighten and appease froward children.
As the hedges round are very thick, and near one the other, and the inclosures within them extremely small, I imagine these ruins were formerly of much greater extent, and have been removed into the hedges; the stones of which, appearing sizeable, and as if they had been used in Masonry, seem to confirm the conjecture. Possibly here might be a large British town (as I have been informed the late Mr. Tonkin thought), and this Cave might be a private way to get into or sally out of it; but the walls are every where crushed and fallen, and nothing regular to be seen;
I will only add, that this Cave, or under-ground passage, was so well concealed, that though I had been in it in the year 1738, yet, when I came again to examine it in the year 1752, I was a long while before I could find it.

From ‘Antiquities, historical and monumental, of the county of Cornwall..’ by William Borlase, published in 1769. ‘Froward’ is a real word by the way, it means contrary, ungovernable and generally naughty.

Oh wouldn’t it be great if this ‘destroyed’ place wasn’t really destroyed at all but was only hiding (like Higher Boden). If anyone knows what happened to it for sure...