Bolster day is an annual festival held at Chapel Porth cove near St Agnes, Cornwall, UK. The festival is held on the Sunday before the early Spring Bank Holiday in May every year and reenacts the events of the Cornish legend of Bolster the giant [1] and Saint Agnes with use of giant puppets and local performers. During the day there are also Cornish dance displays and other entertainments. It is held on the last Sunday before the May Day bank holiday.
Bolster was a legendary giant who was said to live near the cliffs [2] at St Agnes. He was also rumoured to eat children, sheep, cattle [3] and people at random.
A Knight, Sir Constantine, and other local dignitaries challenge Bolster to a fight to the death. Legend says that the fights took place at Chapel Porth and that the giant overcame all who challenged him. The legend continues to say that he fell in love with a beautiful young girl called Agnes who steals his heart. Young Agnes was the one to finally vanquish the giant. She asks him to fill a nearby hole in the clifftops with his blood to prove his love for her, knowing that there is a crack in the hole which runs out to the sea. Bolster cuts himself to fill the hole and dies due to blood loss. The events of Bolster day recreate this story in more detail.
Padstow is a town, civil parish and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town is situated on the west bank of the River Camel estuary, approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) northwest of Wadebridge, 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Bodmin and 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Newquay. The population of Padstow civil parish was 3,162 in the 2001 census, reducing to 2,993 at the 2011 census. In addition an electoral ward with the same name exists but extends as far as Trevose Head. The population for this ward is 4,434.
Piran or Pyran, died c. 480, was a 5th-century Cornish abbot and saint, possibly of Irish origin. He is the patron saint of tin-miners, and is also generally regarded as the patron saint of Cornwall, although Michael and Petroc also have some claim to this title.
Newquay is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is a civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries with an airport and a spaceport, and a fishing port on the North Atlantic coast of Cornwall, approximately 12 miles (19 km) north of Truro and 20 miles (32 km) west of Bodmin.
St Ives is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times, it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial emphasis, and the town is now primarily a popular seaside resort, notably achieving the title of Best UK Seaside Town from the British Travel Awards in both 2010 and 2011. St Ives was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1639. St Ives has become renowned for its number of artists. It was named best seaside town of 2007 by The Guardian newspaper.
Perranporth is a seaside resort town on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is 2.1 miles east of the St Agnes Heritage Coastline, and around 7 miles south-west of Newquay. Perranporth and its 2 miles (3 km) long beach face the Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of 3,066, and is the largest settlement in the civil parish of Perranzabuloe. It has an electoral ward in its own name whose population was 4,270 in the 2011 census.
Wadebridge is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town straddles the River Camel five miles upstream from Padstow. The permanent population was 6,222 in the census of 2001, increasing to 7,900 in the 2011 census. There are two electoral wards in the town. Their total population is 8,272.
St Columb Major is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Often referred to locally as St Columb, it is approximately seven miles (11 km) southwest of Wadebridge and six miles (10 km) east of Newquay The designation Major distinguishes it from the nearby settlement and parish of St Columb Minor on the coast. An electoral ward simply named St Columb exists with a population at the 2011 census of 5,050. The town is named after the 6th-century AD Saint Columba of Cornwall, also known as Columb.
Porthtowan is a small village in Cornwall, England, UK, which is a popular summer tourist destination. Porthtowan is on Cornwall's north Atlantic coast about 2 km (1.2 mi) west of St Agnes, 4 km (2.5 mi) north of Redruth, 10 km (6.2 mi) west of Truro and 15 km (9.3 mi) southwest of Newquay in the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, a World Heritage Site.
St Day is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is positioned between the village of Chacewater and the town of Redruth. The electoral ward St Day and Lanner had a population of 4,473 according to the 2011 census.
Trevellas is a village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, situated midway between St Agnes and Perranporth.
St Agnes is a civil parish and a large village on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is about five miles (8 km) north of Redruth and ten miles (16 km) southwest of Newquay. An electoral ward exists stretching as far south as Blackwater. The population at the 2011 census was 7,565.
Kea is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is a "large straggling parish" in a former mining area south of Truro.
St Merryn is a civil parish and village in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south of the fishing port of Padstow and 11 miles (18 km) northeast of the coastal resort of Newquay.
Saint Piran's Day, or the Feast of Saint Piran, is the national day of Cornwall, held on 5 March every year. The day is named after one of the patron saints of Cornwall, Saint Piran, who is also the patron saint of tin miners.
Cornish mythology is the folk tradition and mythology of the Cornish people. It consists partly of folk traditions developed in Cornwall and partly of traditions developed by Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium, often shared with those of the Breton and Welsh peoples. Some of this contains remnants of the mythology of pre-Christian Britain.
St Endellion is a civil parish and hamlet in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The hamlet and parish church are situated four miles (6.5 km) north of Wadebridge.
Cornwall's rugged landscape and scenery have been used by film and television companies as a backdrop for some of their productions.
Saint Endelienta was a Cornish saint of the 5th and 6th century. She is believed to be a daughter of the Welsh King Brychan, and a native of South Wales who travelled to North Cornwall to join her siblings in converting the locals to Christianity. Legend says that she was a goddaughter of King Arthur, and that she lived as a hermit at Trentinney where she subsisted on the milk of a cow. The saint is commemorated in the church and village of St Endellion which bear her name; Endellion being an Anglicised version of her name. Her feast day is 29 April.
AberFest is a Celtic cultural festival celebrating all things Cornish and Breton that takes place every second year in Cornwall, UK, around Easter. The AberFest Festival alternates with the Breizh – Kernow Festival which is held in Brandivy or Bignan in Brittany, alternating between those two Breton locations.
Bawden Rocks, also known as Cow and Calf or Man and His Man, are a pair of small islands approximately one mile north of St Agnes Head, off the coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The larger of the two rocks stands around 80 ft (24 m) above the high water mark.
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