HELSTON, a municipal and parliamentary borough and market-town of England, county of Cornwall, is situated on the declivity of a hill on the river Cober, 9 miles S.W.

of Falmouth. It consists of four main streets intersecting each other at right angles; at their junction in the centre stands the market-house. The principal other buildings are the church dedicated to St Michael and built by the earl of Godolphin in 1763, the town-hall, the old coinage hall, the literary institute, the grammar school, and the union workhouse. The prosperity of the town is due to its being the centre of an extensive agricultural and mining district. The principal manufacture is shoes. At Porthleven, about 3 miles distant, a considerable export and import trade is carried on. Population of municipal borough (1871), 3797; of parliamentary borough (area 10,992 acres), 8760.

Helston. is one of the original coinage towns. It obtained a charter from King John, and the privilege was conferred on it by Edward III. of holding a market and fairs. It was made a corporate town by Elizabeth. Before the Reform Act of 1832 it returned two members to parliament, but it now returns only one.