Helston Castle

In the civil parish of Helston. In the historic county of Cornwall (Modern Authority of Cornwall, 1974 county of Cornwall).

The site of Helston Castle, probably a fortified manor house, is now occupied by the Bowling Green. It was in use in the late C12 but is otherwise unrecorded (Henderson). The castle was erected by Edmund Earl of Cornwall (1272-1300) and in 1478 is described by William of Worcester as being in ruins. Leland also saw traces of the castle, and the traditional site as marked on the OS 25" is probably accurate and is the obvious one for a medieval structure (Toy). The castle may have been more a defensive structure than a manorial one since the traditional site commands the valley, the river approach and the river crossing, and Toy mentions that there was a bridge across the Cober at St Johns in medieval times. No trace of the castle remains (Field Investigators Comments F1 NVQ 11-JAN-72). (PastScape)
Helston was a significant borough, one of the five Stannary Towns. It had a jail (presumably the castle) and was a place where rents were collected (including rents in the form of beer) so a safehouse for these rents and taxes would have been needed. The record of use in the C12 by Henderson implies an earlier, presumably timber, castle in the town rebuilt in stone in the late C13. The comment by NVQ (presumably Norman V Quinnell) about this being a defensive structure rather than 'manorial' may be a response to Henderson description of the site as a 'fortified manor house'. I certainly feel more of an administrative centre than a domestic house, particularly if it was used as a jail, so not a fortified manor house but a castle, although probably quite small.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SW65652739

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 425399
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record. In particular 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website, or elsewhere.

• Web site links
  • http://www.helstontc.com/history.php
• Books
  • Higham, Robert A., 1999, 'Castles, Fortified Houses and Fortified Towns in the Middle Ages' in Kain, R. and Ravenhill, W., Historical Atlas of South-West England (University of Exeter Press) p136-43
    Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern) p21
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p77 [vanished]
    Henderson, Charles (edited by Rowse, A.L. and Henderson, M.I.), 1963 [original written 1935], Essays in Cornish history (Clarendon Press) p71
    Toy, H.S., 1936, History of Helston (London) p398-9
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England (New York: Macmillan) Vol2 p3-4 http://www.archive.org/stream/castlesofengland02mack#page/3/mode/1up
• Journal Articles
  • Preston-Jones, Ann and Rose, Peter, 1986, 'Medieval Cornwall' Cornish Archaeology Vol25 p135-185 http://www.cornisharchaeology.org.uk/documents/CA25-5s2.pdf
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p70, 84
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol1 p194, 321 http://www.archive.org/details/itineraryofjohnl01lelauoft
    Harvey, J.H. (ed), 1969, Itineraries (of) William Worcestre (Clarendon Press) p20