Helston Castle was a

medieval castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This i ...

thought to be built for

Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall Edmund of Almain (26 December 1249 – 1300) was the second Earl of Cornwall of the fourth creation from 1272. He joined the Ninth Crusade in 1271, but never made it to the Holy Land. He was the regent of the Kingdom of England from 1286 to 1289 ...

in the late 13th-century, in

Helston Helston () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the The Lizard, Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

. The castle was ruined by the end of the 15th century, and sat at the bottom of Coinagehall Street, where the bowling green and Grylls Monument are now located. Although very little is known about the castle, it is speculated that the castle was a fortified

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

Background

was the grandson of King

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

, and a wealthy magnate who served as

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

for his cousin King

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...

. As Earl of Cornwall, he controlled eight and a third of Cornwall's nine hundreds, and had an income of around £8,000 per year (the equivalent of roughly £ in 2019).

is a town in south-west

, England. It was granted a town charter by King John in 1201, and gained further status during Edward I's reign, when it became a

stannary A stannary was an administrative division established under stannary law in the English counties of Cornwall and Devon to manage the collection of tin coinage, which was the duty payable on the metal tin smelted from cassiterite ore Mining in Co ...

town (sporting its own coinage hall)which returned two members of parliament.

History and location

The castle is thought to have been built sometime in the late 13th century for Edmund, however no primary source for this survives. The only contemporary source for the castle whilst it was in use is the Caption of

Seizin Seisin (or seizin) is a legal concept that denotes the right to legal possession of a thing, usually a fiefdom, fee, or an estate in land. It is similar, but legally separate from the idea of ownership. The term is traditionally used in the context ...

of the

Duchy of Cornwall A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important difference between "sovereign ...

, prepared for

The Black Prince Edward of Woodstock (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), known as the Black Prince, was the eldest son and heir apparent of King Edward III of England. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, succeeded to the throne instead. Edward ne ...

in 1337. At this time, John Wilkyn, John Goon, Geruase de Treloubes, John Nanslo, Rifhard de Penwerne and Richard Dygydan were renting "1 acre of pasture in the castle of Helliston". This may have referred to land enclosed by the

outer bailey An outer bailey or outer ward is the defended outer enclosure of a castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It protects the inner bailey and usually contains those ancillary bui ...

of the castle. There is speculation regarding the function of the castle; Charles Henderson said that it was once a fortified

. The location of the site, overlooking the river valley, which at the time may have been accessible from the sea, has also led to suggestions that it was more defensive in nature.

William of Worcester William Worcester (c. 1415 – c. 1482) was an English antiquary, author, and historian known for his detailed writings on medieval England. He served as the secretary to Sir John Fastolf, a prominent military commander during the Hundred Year ...

visited Helston on 17 September 1478. This was in the afternoon, on his way to Penryn having attended mass at

St Michael's Mount St Michael's Mount (, meaning "Hoarfrost, hoar rock in woodland") is a tidal island in Mount's Bay near Penzance, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The island is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish and is linked to the town of Marazion ...

earlier that morning. He wrote:

"Castellum Helston dirutum:
comes ''Comes'' (plural ''comites''), translated as count, was a Roman title, generally linked to a comitatus or comital office. The word ''comes'' originally meant "companion" or "follower", deriving from "''com-''" ("with") and "''ire''" ("go"). Th ...
Comubiae Edmundus."

Indicating that the castle was by then already in ruins. Another fifty years later, John Leland remarked:

''"Hailestoun,'' alias Helles, stondith on an hill, a good market tonn, having a mair and privileges; and coinage twis a yere for tynne blokkes. There hath bene a castelie. One paroch chirch at the north-west ende of the towne."

In David J Cathcart King's index of British castles, he records Helston Castle as a "vanished castle". The former site of the castle is now the location of a

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

and the Grylls Monument, at the bottom of Coinagehall Street.

Notes

References

{{Reflist Castles in Cornwall Helston Former buildings and structures in Cornwall