The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume 2 (of 4)
History
The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume 2 (of 4)
Cornwall (England : County) -- History; Geology -- England -- Cornwall (County)
That King Edward I. frequented this place for delight or pleasure, or
designed so to do, upon the death of his uncle Richard Earl of
Cornwall, King of the Romans, when the Earldom of Cornwall reverted to
himself, in right of his Crown of England, Anno Dom. 1272, is evident
from his granting lands by the tenure of grand sergeantry to William
de Treville, on condition of bringing a fishhook and a boat and net,
at his own proper costs and charges, for the king’s fishing in the
lake of Helston, whensoever the King should come to Helston, and as
long as he should tarry there. See the copy of this enfeofment deed in
Sythney parish.
The chief inhabitants of this coinage town for tin are Mr. Penrose,
Mr. Polkinhorne, Mr. Hooker, attorney at law, Mr. Williams, Mr. Rawe,
Mr. Burges, Mr. Pinock, and others.
In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the
value of Cornish Benefices, 1294, the church of Helston is not named,
but passed then under the title of its mother or superior church,
Gwendron, into which it was consolidated, 17_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._; in
Wolsey’s Inquisition, by the names of Wendron and Helston, 26_l._
19_s._ 3_d._; both endowed, I suppose, by the Master or Governor of
St. John’s Hospital at Sythney, who were patrons thereof till the 6th
Henry VIII. when it was dissolved, now Jago; the incumbent Jago; and
the town or parish of Helston rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax,
1696, 181_l._ 9_s._ 4_d._
In the year 1727 happened in those parts astonishing claps of thunder
and lightning, which in fine broke down and tore in pieces the
greatest part of this town’s church and tower, and did it damage to
the value of two or three hundred pounds in repair thereof.
TONKIN.
This church is a Vicarage, endowed, and passeth in the presentation
with Gwendron.
Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, tells us that within this town
was an hospital, but gives no further account of it; so that it is
unknown to me whether it were a spital erected for the relief of
pilgrims from abroad, or for the use of sick impoverished people
within the town. Most assured I am that near this place there was a
priory erected to the name of St. John the Baptist.
THE EDITOR.
I have omitted some paragraphs from Hals and from Tonkin respecting
several derivations of the name “Helstone,” as all the circumstances
of the place seem to point at one so decidedly as to exclude all
consideration of the others. No doubt this one transgresses an
arbitrary rule confining the themes of all derivations to a single
language; but the instances in contradiction are so numerous
throughout all England, as to render this circumstance of no
importance.
The spot long used as a bowling-green is acknowledged on all hands to
have been the site of an ancient castle. It must therefore have been
the nucleus of the town; and the marsh extending from the Loo Pool
along the valley, passes under the scarped rampart of the castle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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