Quiet unspoilt moorland village
The village is situated on Bodmin Moor approximately 3.5 miles, north-east of Bodmin, south of the A30 road. The hamlets of Fletchersbridge, Millpool, Milltown, Mount, Old Cardinham Castle and Welltown are all in the parish. The population of the parish was 625 at the 2011 census.
Large areas of once deciduous woodland are now large plantations of conifers known as Cardinham Woods and managed by the Forestry Commission.
Richard Fitz Turold was an Anglo-Norman landowner of the 11th century, mentioned in the Domesday Survey. He had a castle at Cardinham built there about 1080, where he was a major tenant and steward of Robert of Mortain who was William the Conqueror's half-brother. Not content with the estates he already owned after the Norman Conquest of 1066 he also seized much of the land in the parish which had formally belonged to the priory in Bodmin. This was very unpopular with the locals and so he built the fortress to keep the moorland folk subdued. His son was William Fitz Richard of Cardinham. Restormel Castle belonged to the Cardinhams in the 12th century, until Andrew de Cardinham's daughter married Thomas de Tracey. Cardinham Castle remained in the family (succeeded by the Dinhams) until the 14th century and later became a ruin. Edmund John Glynn who lived in the parish rebuilt the nearby Glynn House in 1805.
The parish church is dedicated to St. Meubred: it has north and south aisles and a tower of granite. The chancel suffered bomb damage in World War II. Two free-standing Celtic crosses of stone, bearing inscriptions in Latin have been found in Cardinham; both had been embedded in the walls of the 15th century church and were moved after their discovery to the churchyard. In the church is the brass of Thomas Awmarle, rector of Cardinham in 1401.
At the northern end of the parish out on Bodmin Moor is St. Bellarmin's Tor on which there are the remains of a small chapel dedicated to St. Bartholomew who reputedly lived and preached there. It is a lovely spot and can be reached by a track which leaves from the village of Millpool opposite the telephone box.
The former quarry of the Glynn Valley China Clay Works has closed down and is now flooded. It was in operation from the 1940's but since 2015 the site has been used for camping.
Lieutenant General Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian, GCB, GCH, PC (1775–1842), lived at Glynn House.
Cassie Patten, the British Olympic swimmer, was born at Cardinham in 1987.
John Penrose (1778-1859), who was born in Cardinham, where his father, also named John, was vicar of the parish. He was afterwards Vicar of Poundstock.
Peter Denis Mitchell (1920-1992) who received a Nobel Prize in 1978 lived at Glynn House, which he restored from a burned out shell in 1965, is located two miles south of the village.
Bolventor Bodmin Moor Blisland Bodmin Cardinham Woods St. Neot
Colliford Lake Glynn House The Copper Trail Pinsla Garden & Nursery Temple The Bodmin Way