2nd July 2022
Bodmin Riding is an ancient Cornish festival unique to Bodmin, which takes place each year on the first weekend of July. Nobody knows when or why Bodmin Riding began, but we do know that it was an old tradition when it was first recorded in 1469. Then Bodmin celebrated the restoration of the bones of St Petroc after they were stolen and taken to Brittany in 1177. The casket holding the saint’s bones (still surviving in St Petroc’s Church) was paraded through the town, there was a mock court, sports and horseracing at Halgavor and a civic dinner, Riding Ale and the Riding Dance. The Festival has taken many forms over the centuries but its current form features the Hunting of the Beast of Bodmin.