- Hayle
- Gets its name from the Cornish word for estuary , and has been
inhabited as a port since the Bronze Age. But the river eventually silted
up, and the estuary is now marshland
-
- In the 18th centre it was a famous engineering centre, as Copperhouse and
Harvey's of Hayle manufactured boilers and steam engines for the Cornish mines
and for export all over the world. Trevithick built his first steam powered
road carriage here in 1801. And one of the first railways in the world ran
from Hayle to Redruth.
-
- Nearby is Phillack with its pub called "the Bucket of Blood" after
a murder victim was found in the pub's well
-
- Helford
- A pretty village on the Helford River. There are a number of oyster farms
nearby. Also in the area is Frenchman's Creek, the inspiration of Daphne du
Maurier's book of the same name.
- There is a thatched inn at Helford, and if you needed more sustenance take
a passenger ferry to the other side of the river, where you will see the Ferry
Boat Inn.
-
- Just east of the Helford passage are the National Trust gardens of Glendurgan.
-
- Helston
- Helston was a port as early as the 13th century, when locally streamed tin
was exported from here. Edward I selected Helston as one of Cornwall's stannary
towns, where tin could be assayed.
-
- There is a Victorian guildhall, the 16th century Angel Hotel, the Butter
Market Folk Museum. Bob Fitzsimmons, the former world boxing champion, was
born here in a cottage in Wendron Street. Henry Trengrouse, the inventor of
the rocket apparatus used to fire rescue lines to ships, has a memorial in
the churchyard. The parish church itself was in fact destroyed by lightening
in 1727, and rebuilt in 1830.
-
- At the lower end of the Main Street stands the Blue Anchor Inn, a place
of repose for monks in the 1400's.
-
- RNAS Culdrose near to Helston is Europe's largest military helicopter base.
It is the base for Cornwall's air sea rescue helicopters
-
- Also outside Helston are the modern attractions of Flambards Theme Park,
Cornwall Aero Park and the Poldark Mine.
-
- And if you want more stories about King Arthur, then the freshwater lake,
Loe pool is an alternative site to Dozmary Pool for the appearance of the
hand from the waters to receive Excalibur.