The first record of the name was Boslaynou in 1321. A Hamelinus Bolyneu was named as one of three taxatores for the parish of Camborne in a Lay Subsidy roll of 1327. During the 16th century the occupiers of Bolenowe were titled
tirek, which in the Cornish language means
landed or
rich in land. The Bolenowe estate may have extended to 100
Cornish acres. Bolenowe was known for producing
bees wax at this time. In the 19th and 20th centuries Bolenowe had two shops, an unlicensed pub, called a
kidleywink, and two chapels. Historian
Charles Thomas has identified an area called No Man's Land near Bolenowe as an area of land left unused, perhaps since Neolithic times, as an act of sacrifice to a spirit called a
Bucca and notes that there was a belief that the Bucca still haunted the moors on Bolenowe Carn into the 19th century when John Harris was growing up there. ==Areas==