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The borough boundary stone at Nansloe
The name comes from the Cornish "hen lys" (or "old court") and "ton" added later to denote a Saxon manor; the Domesday Book refers to Henliston (which survives as the name of a road in the town). 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 described Helston (1725) 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, [between Lowertown and Helston, but not to the sea]; although over one hundred years before Defoe, Richard Carew (1602) 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.
Helston's Coinage Hall, c.1796
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.
