Charlotte Dymond Memorial

Charlotte Dymond, an 18-year-old servant at Penhale Farm, was killed on Bodmin Moor by fellow servant Matthew Weekes after an argument; he confessed and was hanged at Bodmin Gaol in August 1844 before a crowd estimated at 20,000. GENUINE DOUBT STILL DEBATED: a persistent strand of local and historical opinion holds Weekes may have been innocent - the case against him was largely circumstantial, and the eloquent, literary written 'confession' read out before his execution has long struck people as suspiciously polished for an uneducated farm labourer, fuelling suspicion it may have been written or heavily embellished by someone else on his behalf. This isn't just folklore - it's discussed seriously by multiple modern true-crime history sources, and Bodmin's old Shire Hall now runs a mock-trial visitor experience specifically inviting people to weigh the evidence themselves. The case became deeply embedded in Cornish folklore, inspiring ballads including Charles Causley's 'The Ballad of Charlotte Dymond'. The obelisk is Grade II listed. VERIFIED VIA HISTORIC ENGLAND: the listing reference previously logged here (101456077) was a typo - the correct List Entry Number is 1456077. The listing also records the memorial's parish as St. Breward, not Davidstow - Davidstow is where Penhale Farm and Dymond's grave are, a couple of miles off; the murder site and memorial itself sit just over the parish line in St. Breward. Historic England's own listing cites two contemporary newspaper reports as its sources for the case (see sources_needing_access).