Helston
When you think of royalty and Helston, the connection that springs to mind is that of the borough charters, the first of which was granted by King John in 1201. However, well before this date the connection with the crown was firmly established.
The last anglo-saxon king Edward the Confessor (1003-66) held the manor of Helston and his brother-in-law Harold was the Earl of Cornwall. On the death of Edward, Harold became King and retained the manor of Helston until his death at the Battle of Hastings. Having defeated Harold (at the Battle of Hastings), the Norman invader William became King and confiscated all the lands of his defeated enemy including the manor of Helston. The Helston manor was important enough to recorded in the Exeter Doomsday. At this time the Manor operated the normal feudal system of farming, including the use of slaves, and payment of rents and dues were in many cases paid with labour and goods instead of coin. It is recorded that in Helston manor the rents were paid in beer by the tenants (this system of payment in kind continued for some time, for example the rent for the Scilly Island in 1345 was three hundred puffins).
Helston developed as a local center of trade and in 1185 we find the Sheriff authorizing the sum of £2 6s. 6d. to be spent on the town jail (this was a considerable sum in these times and it is not clear weather this money was to build or repair the jail). The people, at this time, were still held in servitude to their Lord (the King) and as such had every part of their life subject to his whim. Over time some serf's became free men, buying their freedom or having it given to them in return for services rendered. These free men formed a body with a view to obtaining a charter for the town, for this they offered the King 20 marks and a palfrey (a horse for ordinary riding). A charter would change the lives of those living in the town. It would replace the system of paying individual taxes to the Lord with labour and goods with a rent for the town and it's inhabitants, paid with a fixed amount of money. The benefits to the town would also be that it would have it's own court, a major step towards a fair system of justice with it's own officers. In addition the town's people would be able to operate markets without paying tolls to the Lord and control of whom could carry out a trade within it's boundaries etc.
The borough of Helston was created by King John on the 15th. April 1201. This was a typical charter granted by English kings of this period. It starts by conferring on Helston the privilege of a free borough, then the towns people's right to have a merchants guild (this may have already existed) including exemption from tolls and the 'liberties' of the city of London, next the right to justice in their own town court except in matters pertaining to the crown and concerning lands outside the borough. The statement of privileges concludes with the affirmation of privileges granted previously to Launceston.
A second charter was granted by King John on 18th. April 1201 and dealt with the right to farm. At this time farming was carried out by speculators (men who had purchased their positions) who were only responsible to the Sheriff/earl/king and had no responsibility to the local people. In this second charter the towns people received the right to farm, in perpetuity, in return for the established rent (previously paid by the speculator) plus an additional £4 per year.
During the reign of Henry III the earldom of Cornwall passed to Richard (the second son of King John) who granted two charters to Helston (both charters have been lost however the text of the second has been reconstructed from the available records). The second charter of 6th. January 1260 confirmed those of King John, with the exception that the freedom of tolls was restricted to the county rather than the country, and granted additional rights. Firstly, and most importantly, it included the mills situated on the River Cober along with the rights to build more mills and 'easements of the same water' providing this did not effect anybody else. The rights to build and or operate mills were jealously guarded by the nobility as they brought in a ready cash income (in some arrears the Lord insisted that all grinding was done in his mill and all baking in his oven at whatever price he choose to set). Secondly the inclusion of another 33 acres of land at a rent of £12 p.a. Next the Earl rents to the borough 'our meadow below the town of Heiston' (this could be the area that is now known as Lower Green) for an additional £1 6s. 8d p.a. The final new right granted by the Earl was that the borough would be responsible for the detention ( and the granting of bail) of those accused of crimes and producing them for trial, with the sheriff excluded from this process.
As can be seen by the rents set by the Earl, Helston must have been a thriving center of trade and industry at this time to be able to pay its dues. Not only the rent set by the Kings charters had to be paid but an the additional 26s. 8d for the extra land. An important source of income was derived from trading in tin. Whilst the tin belonged to the Earl, Helstonians obtained it from him, by paying tax, and traded it far and wide. It is recorded that Earl Richard used his position as King of the Romans (or Almain) to promote this trade by sending a 'request' to the officers and peoples of France, an English province at the time, to make trade in this and other goods via the port of Gweek.
The first recorded Members of Parliment to represent the borough appear in 1298. The 'Parlimenentary Writs' name Herveus fil' Fabri and Herbert Herbert as the two members. At this juncture it was not regarded as an honour to represent the townspeople, rather as an onerous duty. As one requirement of qualification stated that the member had to resdide withtin the borough. As a result the time and distance involved in attending Parliment brought about a major disruption in the lives of those involved. The borough, in turn, as an entity was required to pay the M.P.'s a specified amount for carrying out thier duties. Whist the amounts 10 shillings (50 pence in todays money) a day do not seem much to us it did impose a major finaincial burden on towns of the day. As a result the number of towns sending M.P.'s at the end of the 14th. century fell to a hundred.
During October 1336 the title passed to King Edward III and the Helstonians immediately applied to the King for a new charter. The crown subsequently issued two new charters on the 6th. December 1336. Unfortunately the first charter no longer exists in a readable form but it has been reconstructed from other records and confirms previous charters. The second charter is known as the 'market' charter. The granting of this charter was a major step towards the growth and future prosperity of Helston. The right to hold a weekly market and four fairs a year, firmly established the town as an important center for trade and drew people from far and wide. With the establishment of the markets and fairs came the introduction of the Piepowder Court or court of dusty feet within the town during these events. This court was responsible for dealing with matters arising during the market/fair rather than those involved having to wait for the regular court to sit.
Over time the title of Earl of Cornwall had passed back and forth to the crown. During this time the existing charters were confirmed or at least the privileges granted to Helston remained in force, and some new ones introduced. However the rent increased to 20 marks (£13 6s. 8d.) p.a. and again to 40 marks (£26 13s. 4d.)p.a. It should be noted that at this time there was no concept of corporate identity as we know today, when grants of rights were made and rents defined they applied to the each and all of the individuals living within the confines of the borough. It was their individual and joint responsibility to conform to the charters and their terms and action by the Lord for non-compliance would be against them personally.
The people of Helston found this level of rent unacceptable and were determined to see it returned to the original sum. However as the amount of rent was totally at the discretion of their Lord they had to wait until the title was held by somebody who would be sympathetic to their request. Their chance came in 1354 when Edward's son, the Black Prince now the first Duke of Cornwall, paid a visit to Restormel Castle near Lostwithiel. The people of Helston approached the Duke for a new charter with a view to returning the rents to the original amount. The reasons put forward to the Duke were that the increases had been excessive and as such beyond the communities ability to meet under normal conditions and all the more so since the Black Death which had decimated the population of the town. The Duke ordered an inquiry into the rents and as a result of this issued a new charter which reverted the rents to the original amount, abolishes the outstanding arrears and states that no increase will be demanded in the future.
Following the An Gof and subsequent Warbeck revolts, Henry VII granted the Charter of Pardon in 1508 which restored the Stannaries (in exchange for a fine of £1000) and increased the constitutional powers of the Stannary Parliament. Helston, as one of the four Stannary Towns (Helston, Launceston, Lostwithiel and Truro) now provided 6 of the 24 Stannators that constituted the Parliament.
The struggle for religious domination visited Helston in 1548 in the person
of William Body. Body, who had bought the archdeaconry of Cornwall, arrived
with the intention of removing the church's possessions in respect of the
new Chantries Act. However, he was met by an indignant crowd led by the
priest of St. Keverne, Martin Geoffrey. The crowd included William and John
Kilter, yeomen of Constantine and men from as far away as the Redruth area
but in the main they were drawn from the Lizard. Body sought refuge in a
nearby house but the mob broke in and dragged him into the open and murdered
him. William Kilter and Pascoe Trevian were named as those who struck the
fatal blows. The mob, in Helston, continued to swell and after 2 days it
reached 3,000 in number and talk of rebellion against the English filled
the air. However when the justices of the peace arrived, including Sir William
Godolphin they were able to defuse the situation and the mob dispersed.
Kilter and Trevian were taken to Launceston goal and there hung drawn and
quartered. The priest, Martin Geoffrey was imprisoned in the Tower of London
and then taken to Smithfield where he was hung drawn and quartered with
his head being displayed on London Bridge.
This was the priod known as The Reformation and we know that at this time
that there were two chapels in Helston. Firstly there was St. Michael's
Chapel, a susidary of the chuch at Wendron and therefore under the control
of the church hierachy. The second, The Chapel of Our Lady at Helston was
originally founded by an Earl of Cornwall and its officers were appointed
by the townspeople. 'The chapel stood in the centre of Coinage Hall
Street, then called Lady Street, and was converted into the Coinage Hall
at the Reformation. The castle occupied the site of the present bowling
green' and the chapel must have filled most of what is now the wide portion
of the street east of the Monument. The street leading to the chapel would
naturally be called Lady Street. The present Lady Street was formerly called
Pig Street, and its inhabitants adopted the name Lady Street when the former
Lady Street became Copinage Hall Street.' (The History of Helston.S.Troy)
