Helston, Cornwall : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Helston. You may be able to find further references to Helston in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Helston municipal borough and township Bartholomew
HELSTON a town, a parochial chapelry, a sub-district, and a district Imperial

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Helston within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
William Camden Cornwall and Devon 2
Charles Wesley Jan. 1 - Aug. 31, 1746: Bristol and Cornwall 2
John Wesley 1754-6: Retirement in Paddington; Wesley Slandered; Premonitions 2
Daniel Defoe Letter 3, Part 3: From Exeter to Land's End 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 4, Part 1: North Cornwall and Devon 1
John Wesley 1744-5: First Methodist Conference; Pressgangs and Mobs 1
John Wesley 1771-3: Windsor Park; Wesley as Art Critic; Glasgow and Perth; Preaches to 30,000 People 1
John Wesley 1785-90: Collects Money for the Poor; Visits House of Lords; Reasons for his Long Life 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
St Johns 0 2
Porthleven 0 2
Sithney 3 2
Gunwalloe 0 2
Mawgan in Meneage 0 2
Gweek 1 2
Kerrier 0 2
Breage 2 3
Cury 0 2
Godolphin 3 2
Wendron 3 2
Pengersick 0 2
Germoe 0 2
Porkellis 0 2
Crowan 4 2
Constantine 0 2
St Martin in Meneage 0 2
Kenneggy Downs 3 0
Mullion 0 2
Prussia Cove 0 1

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Helston. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
HEILSTON William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
HELLAS William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
HELSTEN Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
HELSTON John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
HELSTONE Charles Wesley The Journal of the Rev. Charles Wesley (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1849).
John Wesley The Journal of John Wesley (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 2000).
HENLISTON John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.