Town Trail: Part 1

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1. The Town Trail sets off from the steps of the Guildhall. Built of granite ashlar in 1839 on the site of the old market house, the Guildhall contains the Council Chamber, Mayor’s Parlour, a large function room (once the Corn exchange), and the Town Clerk’s office. Stand here at midday on May 8th and you’d better have your dancing shoes on – it’s the starting point for the principal Furry Dance.

2. Turn down Church Street and on the right you’ll soon see the Helston Folk Museum, created in 1949 and one of the finest in Cornwall. Inside you’ll find relics from shipwrecks, tin mines and farms, and a feast of stories from the area’s past. Originally built as a new market house in 1837/8, the front of the building housed the butter and egg stalls and at the rear was the meat market. One of the mayors named in carved granite over the arches is Glynn Grylls whose house, Lismore, you’ll be passing later.

If you were here on a market day in the 1850s, you’d have witnessed a bustling street scene: barrow boys unloading horse-drawn wagons; crates of geese and chickens; housemaids scurrying off towards Cross Street with their purchases; farmlads nipping down Church Street to a nearby a tavern; noise and hubbub everywhere.

On the roof at the rear you can see the bell which was rung at the start of every market day. The cannon outside is from HMS Anson, wrecked on Loe Bar in 1807 with the loss of over 100 lives. Continue past the Red Lion Inn and turn down a narrow passage on your left known as Wheelbarrow Lane. Further along the cobbled passage you’ll notice wedges of granite built into the steps to allow a smooth ride for the barrow’s wheel.

3. You come out in Five Wells Lane, once a cobbled service road to the gardens and stables of the fine houses of Cross Street. Across the lane to the left, down a flight of cobbled steps, is the well. In the 18th century this would have been quite a meeting place, with townsfolk washing clothes and filling buckets with the clear well water from the spout. Note the inscription above the well: Thomas Cock, Mayor 1703. Continue a little further on down Five Wells Lane and turn up the first alleyway on the left. You emerge into Coinagehall Street.

4. Cross over, head towards the Angel Hotel, the 16th century town house of the Godolphin family. It has been a hostelry since the mid 1700s and crops up frequently in tales of Helston’s history. It is said that the hotel is named after the Archangel Michael who conquered the Devil. It was used as an excise and temporary gaol for smugglers, and later a posting house and tax office; Coinage Hall officials stayed here; magistrates dined here after a day on the bench and local societies held balls and meetings here. In April 1975, the landlord Valentine Ohlenschlager was killed, shot five times by one of his staff.

As you continue down the street, you’ll be walking beside the small water channels, or kennels, which divert stream water from the top of the town down the sides of the street. Across the street is Barclays Bank, originally built in 1755 as the house of Hugh Rogers, who later became the first Squire of Penrose. Although the building was reconstructed in 1933, look up and you can still see the date 1755 on the heads of the drainwater pipes. Further down, on the left, you’ll pass the Methodist Chapel, built during 1888/89 by WJ Winn, Helston-born building contractor, Borough Engineer and Surveyor, who was also responsible for Lloyds Bank and the Mullion Cove Hotel.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4