Helston
Helston is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth. Helston is the most southerly town on the island of Great Britain and is around farther south than Penzance. At the 2021 census the population of the parish was 11,611 and the population of the built up area was 11,360.
The former stannary and cattle market town is best known for the annual Furry Dance, said to originate from the medieval period. However, the Hal-an-Tow is reputed to be of Celtic origin. The associated song and music, The Floral Dance, is known to have been written in 1911. In 2001, the town celebrated the 800th anniversary of the granting of its Charter.
History
The name comes from the Cornish "hen lys" and "ton" added later to denote a Saxon manor; the Domesday Book refers to Henliston. Only one edition refers to 'Henlistona'. It was granted its charter by King John on 15 April 1201, for the price of forty marks of silver. It was here that tin ingots were weighed to determine the tin coinage duty due to the Duke of Cornwall when a number of stannary towns were authorised by royal decree. A document of 1396 examined by Charles Henderson shows that the old form "Hellys" was still in use The manor of Helston in Kerrier was one of the seventeen Antiqua maneria of the Duchy of Cornwall. The seal of the borough of Helston was St Michael his wings expanded and standing on a gateway. The two towers domed upon the up-turned dragon, impaling it with his spear and bearing upon his left arm an escutcheon of the arms of England, viz Gu three lions passant guardant in pale Or, with the legend "Sigillum comunitatis helleston burg".It is a matter of debate as to whether Helston was once a port, albeit no actual records exist. A common belief is that in the 13th century Loe Bar formed a barrier across the mouth of the River Cober cutting the town off from the sea. Geomorphologists believe the bar was most likely formed by rising sea levels, after the last ice age, blocking the river and creating a barrier beach. The beach is formed mostly of flint and the nearest source is found offshore under the drowned terraces of the former river that flowed between England and France, and now under the English Channel.
Daniel Defoe describes Helston in his tour around Great Britain thus, ″This town is large and populous, and has four spacious streets, a handsome church, and a good trade: this town also sends members to Parliament.' He also mentions that the River Cober makes a tolerable good harbour and several ships are loaded with tin, ; although over one hundred years before Defoe, Richard Carew described Loe Bar as "The shingle was relatively porous and fresh water could leave and seawater enter depending, on the relative heights of the pool and sea". Defoe's description seems to be the first and possibly the origin of other sources claiming Helston to be a port in the historic period. Loe Pool is referred to in a document of 1302, implying the existence of Loe Bar at this date, if not much earlier, and thus precluding the passage of shipping up the Cober. At the same time it was recorded that the burgesses of Helston exercised jurisdiction over the ships anchored at Gweek, but no mention was made of ships at Helston, and no customs records or other documentation of port traffic relating to Helston survives; thus confirming the fact that Gweek has for centuries been the recognized port of Helston. There is no known archaeological evidence for the existence of a port* at Helston and there is no primary evidence to support Defoe's account. Leland's description of the Loe Pool is thus:
"Lo Poole is a 2 miles in length, and betwixt it and the mayn se, is but a barre of sand: and ons in 3 or 4 yeres, what by the wait of the fresch water and rage of the se, it brekith out, and then the fresch and salt water metyng makith a wonderful noise. But sone after, the mouth is barrid again with sande. At other tymes the superfluite of the water of Lo Poole drenith out through the sandy barre into the se. If this barre might be alway kept open, it wold be a goodly haven up to Hailestoun."However, contributing to the belief of a port at Helston was the discovery of what some people believe to be slipways and mooring rings, during excavations around 1968. There was no known shipping from the sea after 1260, but before 1200, in 'the 1182 record of Godric of Helleston paying a fine of ten marks for exporting his corn out of England from Helston without a licence.' This could be considered the most significant piece of documentary evidence signifying Helston's former port days, though it does not prove the case. At the time of Domesday Book, Gweek had no inhabitants whilst Helston was the largest settlement in the west of Cornwall, with 113 households. In 1837 a plan was drawn up to open Loe Pool to shipping using a pier to counteract siltation, but it was never carried out.
The site of Helston Castle is now a bowling green near the Grylls Monument, which has been there since 1760. The castle was built in 1280 as a simple stone structure for Edmund, Earl of Cornwall. By 1478 it had fallen into disuse and ruin.
A free chapel of ease perhaps also built for Edmund, Earl of Cornwall before 1283 was dissolved by the chantries act 1547 and turned into Helston's coinage hall. This was later demolished by public subscription raised by Helston's sitting M.P., Charles Abbot, following his return in the 1796 general election.
Geography
Helston is situated along the banks of the River Cober in Cornwall. Downstream is Cornwall's largest natural lake Loe Pool, formed when a shingle bar blocked the mouth of the river by rising sea levels forming a barrier beach. To the south is the Lizard Peninsula, an area important for its complex geology and wildlife habitats.Transport
Helston is on the A394 road. To the west, the A394 leads to Penzance; to the north-east it leads to Penryn where it joins the A39, which leads south to Falmouth and north-east to Truro. The B3297 runs north from Helston to Redruth. The nearest railway station is Redruth on the Cornish main line, although the Helston branch line railway served the town until closure in the early 1960s. The branch left the ex-GWR main line at Gwinear Road station near Hayle, and ran south to terminate at Helston railway station. The Helston Railway Preservation Company is undertaking the restoration of part of the line. Bus services now link Helston to the rail network; First Kernow provides the bus service from Penzance station to Falmouth via Helston. The bus service links Redruth station with Lizard via Helston and is operated by Go Cornwall Bus. The nearest airport is Newquay Cornwall Airport which is approximately north-east of Helston. This is the main commercial airport for Cornwall with regular scheduled services to many parts of the UK.Climate
Helston has an oceanic climate, similar to the rest of the British Isles. It is one of the mildest places in the country and frosts are rarely severe. The nearest Met Office weather station is RNAS Culdrose, approximately 1 mile south-east of the town centre. Temperature extremes in the area since 1980 have ranged from during January 1987, and up to in August 1990. The coldest temperature in recent years was in December 2009. Snow occurs in median every second year, almost in 2 – 3 days in line or one alone, most often in January or February.Governance
There are two tiers of local government covering Helston, at parish and unitary authority level: Helston Town Council and Cornwall Council. The town council is based at Helston Guildhall in Market Place, which was built in 1839.For national elections, Helston forms part of the St Ives constituency, which covers the western part of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The current Member of Parliament is Andrew George, a Liberal Democrat.
Administrative history
Helston historically formed part of the ancient parish of Wendron in the Kerrier Hundred of Cornwall. Helston was an ancient borough, with its earliest surviving charter having been issued by King John in 1201. From 1298 the town also formed the Helston parliamentary borough. Helston was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1836 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country.The borough remained part of the parish of Wendron into the 19th century. From the 17th century onwards, parishes were gradually given various civil functions under the poor laws, in addition to their original ecclesiastical functions. In some cases, including Wendron, the civil functions were exercised by subdivisions of the parish rather than the parish as a whole. Poor law functions were administered separately for Helston and the rest of Wendron parish. In 1866, the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws, and so Helston became a separate civil parish from Wendron. In ecclesiastical terms, Helston became a separate ecclesiastical parish from Wendron in 1845.
The borough of Helston was significantly enlarged in 1934, taking in areas from the neighbouring parishes of Breage, Sithney and Wendron. The village of Porthleven was absorbed into the borough of Helston as part of those changes. Prior to 1934, Porthleven had straddled the parishes of Breage and Sithney.
The borough of Helston was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, when the area became part of the Kerrier district. A successor parish called Helston was created at the same time, covering the area of the abolished borough. As part of the 1974 reforms, parish councils were given the right to declare their parishes to be a town, allowing them to take the title of town council and giving the title of mayor to the council's chairperson. The new parish council for Helston exercised this right, taking the name Helston Town Council.
In 1985, a new parish of Porthleven was created, removing it from Helston parish.
Kerrier district was abolished in 2009. Cornwall County Council then took on district-level functions, making it a unitary authority, and was renamed Cornwall Council.