More information : Possible location for the Battle of Boleigh c.931-936 AD
Name centred at SW 4350 2490] Boleigh (Traditional
Site of a Battle A.D. 936) [T.I.] (1)
At this place there are most distinct traditions of a battle but
nothing more.(2)
Boleigh or Bolleit in the area of St Buryan or St Berian were written about in 1754 by William Borlase and visited in 1535 by John Leland. These are the earliest accounts of the legend of the battle.
A revolt against the Anglo-Saxon English in c.931 AD (also quoted as 935 and 936) by the Cornish Celts (led by Howel and supported by the Danes) led to a battle located by legend to south east of the village of Boleigh. Aethelstan (King of Wessex) crushed resistance before continuing on to conquer the Scilly isles.
The legend goes that Aethelstan crossed the Tamar, chasing the broken ranks of the Cornish before him. Popular tradition fixes the Lamorna stream as the place where the Cornish, finding themselves like rats caught in a trap, turned at bay. It also tells us that the conflict was so desperate that the stream ran red with blood. It continues with Aethelstan then going to the Buryan church and there made a vow to build a college of priests should his expedition to the Scilly Isles be successful (to chase the fugitives). (3)
‘Boleigh’ means place of slaughter
Stone monuments in the area near Boleigh called the Pipers were said to mark the positions of the two opposing leaders. Other graves were also said to exist in the neighbourhood. One of these was a long trench beyond Boleigh where the dead were buried and another was a vault under the barnyard of Boleigh itself, which was filled with the bodies of the slain. This folk-tale has led Boleigh to be the location for the battle. (4)
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