Town Trail: Part 3

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9. The Willows, opposite in Church Street, was built in the late 1700s. It became the home of many of the town’s worthies, including foundry owner Sir Henry Toy, before becoming Kerrier District Council offices in 1939.

Turn left up Church Street to pass the town’s former National Schools. The school furthest up on the left, beside the church steps, was built in 1828 and closed in 1957. The young Bob Fitzsimmons used to train in the hall. The school housed girls and infants after the boys moved to the later building, on the right hand side of the street, in 1894. It closed in 1963.

10. Climb the steps to St Michael’s Churchyard with its enormous carved granite blocks covering family vaults. Near the porch you’ll see the monument to Henry Trengrouse, a Helston cabinet-maker, who, after witnessing the appalling wreck of the Anson in 1807, invented a rocket apparatus for shooting a rescue line to a stricken vessel, to which was affixed the ‘bosun’s chair’, later known as the breeches-buoy. The invention saved thousands of lives and although not honoured in Britain, Trengrouse was presented by the Tsar of Russia with a diamond ring for saving the lives of his countrymen. However, the inventor was later forced to pawn the ring and he died penniless in 1854. You can find a prototype of the apparatus in the museum.

The present church, built of granite from Tregonning Hil and a gift from Lord Godolphin to the Borough of Helston, was erected between 1756 and 1763 on the site of a former church, demolished after being struck by lightning. The architect was Thomas Edwards of Greenwich and the result is a typical town church which would have looked at home in the suburbs of London. Much of Helston’s history is reflected in the memorials inside, including a stained glass window showing angels dancing the Furry Dance. The impressive 24-branch chandelier was a gift from the Earl on the church’s opening in 1763.

Retrace your steps down Church Street, once the trading centre of the town. The second building after the Cross Street junction was until 1913 an old inn, The Six Bells to commemorate the hanging of six new bells at the church in December 1767. Further along on the left is the site of the New Inn (now 15 Church Street). Quiet enough now, but this is the spot where, in 1548, William Body, the King’s Commissioner, met a violent end. Body had been granted the right to strip churches of Catholic artefacts, and began his job at nearby St. Keverne. At Helston he met a grim-faced crowd who dragged him from a house and stabbed him to death. After the blood-letting the mob rioted, and Helston became a no-go area for days until the magistrates, led by Sir William Godolphin, rounded up the ringleaders, including the priest from St. Keverne. They were taken to Tyburn and hung, drawn and quartered.

As you climb the hill towards the Guildhall, you’ll pass the remains of the United Methodist Chapel, built on the site of a brewery in 1838, demolished in 1969. A short way up Penrose Road is the Passmore Edwards Institute, erected in 1898 as a Science & Art School, extended in 1905 to become Cornwall’s first County Secondary School. The son of a Blackwater carpenter, John Passmore Edwards became a wealthy newspaper owner and donated huge sums of money for Cornish libraries, schools and hospitals.

Continue up Church Street, past the Museum, up Market House Steps and turn left into Wendron Street. As you walk up the hill, look up to your right and you’ll see the roof of a Baptist Chapel, built in 1836/7. It became a furniture showroom in 1902 and, just before the Great War, the Flora Cinema.

11. Godolphin Hall, the imposing granite building on the left, has been the home of the Godolphin Club since 1976. It was built in 1888 on the site of Helston’s Grammar School which stood here from 1837 to 1885. To the side of the building you can see the original mock Tudor Gothic entrance to the school. Further along you’ll pass a 17th century thatched cottage, the reputed birthplace of Bob Fitzsimmons, the boxer, Helston’s most famous son.

12. Shortly after this, turn right up Shute Hill. On your right at the top is one of Helston’s more sinister buildings, the Borough Prison with its grim iron-bolted doors. Built in 1837, the prison had two cells for daytime use and six for overnight detention; the gaoler and his family lived upstairs. You can see the spikes which prevented escape through the drains, although in 1847 John Ford, a Germoe farmer, climbed up the chimney whilst awaiting transportation for receiving stolen goods. Oone of the gaolers, until his dismissal in 1860, was James Fitzsimmons, father of Bob. The gaol closed in 1866.

Turn right along Parc-an-Dower, left along Trevenen Road and right into Trengrouse Way. The large building on your left, visible above the trees, was from 1948 to 1996, Meneage Hospital. It was originally built in 1855 as the Union Workhouse for the severely poor from local parishes. In 1895 there were 115 inmates who spent their days breaking stones, picking oakum or engaged in other menial work. For this they would receive shelter and meagre food.

Turn right at the bottom of Trengrouse Way and make your way down Meneage Street, once an area of splendid houses and popular inns. The Bell Inn is mentioned in the early 18th century and the Rodney in 1780, when the name changed from the Admiral Boscawen to the Lord Rodney, another admiral who in that year won a spectacular sea battle. Horse & Jockey Lane refers to an ancient inn, once on the corner, that closed in the 1920s. Eddy & Sons splendid art-deco shop-front came from Birmingham in the 1930s whilst the original entrance portico was removed to Lismore, where it still stands today. Continue down to Wendron Street and back to your starting point.

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