Place:Helston, Cornwall, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Helston (Cornish: Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately 12 miles (19 km) east of Penzance and nine miles (14.5 km) southwest of Falmouth. Helston is the most southerly town on the island of Great Britain and is around 1.5 miles (2.4 km) farther south than Penzance. In 2001, the town celebrated the 800th anniversary of the granting of its Charter, making it the second oldest town in Cornwall after Marazion. The site of Marazion may be of extreme antiquity. The three towns of Lostwithiel (12th century, Launceston (1189) and Saltash (1190) all had or have older charters than that of Helston, but dwellings existed at Helston in Saxon times. The town population is 9,780.

Helston became a municipal borough in 1835 and continued as such until the municipal reorgaization of 1974. Prior to 1835 it was an "ancient borough" in Kerrier Hundred. As well as Helston Civil Parish it included part of the original Wendron Civil Parish. In 1934, when Helston Rural District was abolished, it gained parts of the Civil Parishes of Breage, Sithney and more of Wendron.

In 1887, John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles stated: "Helston owes its importance to the productiveness of the copper and tin mines in the vicinity, most of which, however, are now worked out and deserted." (Source: A Vision of Britain through Time)

Helston is situated along the banks of the River Cober. Downstream is Cornwall's largest natural lake, Loe Pool, formed when a shingle bar blocked the mouth of the river by rising sea levels forming a barrier beach. To the south is the Lizard Peninsula, an area important for its complex geology and wildlife habitats.

Research Tips

Above: Map from Wikimedia Commons produced by Andy F

One of the many maps available on A Vision of Britain through Time is one from the Ordnance Survey Series of 1900 illustrating the parish boundaries of Cornwall at the turn of the 20th century. This map blows up to show all the parishes and many of the small villages and hamlets.

The following websites have pages explaining their provisions in WeRelate's Repository Section. Some provide free online databases.

• Repository:Cornwall Record Office
• Repository:Cornish Studies Library
• Repository:Cornwall Family History Society
• Repository:Cornwall Online Parish Clerks
• Repository:Cornwall Online Census Project
• Repository:West Briton Transcripts Database (Transcriptions from a Cornish newspaper of 1836-1887)

• GENUKI makes a great many suggestions as to other websites with worthwhile information about Cornwall as well as providing 19th century descriptions of each of the ecclesiastical parishes.
• FamilySearch Wiki provides a similar information service to GENUKI which may be more up-to-date.
• A Vision of Britain through Time has

1. organization charts of the hierarchies of parishes within hundreds, registration districts and rural and urban districts of the 20th century
2. excerpts from a gazetteer of circa 1870 outlining individual towns and parishes
3. reviews of population through the time period 1800-1960

• More local sources can often be found by referring to "What Links Here" in the column on the left.

https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/CON/Jacobstow