St. Mawes Castle, although erected in the same reign as Pendennis, is very inferior both in size and situation. The hamlet adjoining, is remarkable only as being one of the Boroughs of Cornwall, and has returned members to Parliament since the year 1562. The manor is now vested in the Marquis of Buckingham, but the right of election is confined to the freeholders only.
The Church of Falmouth is a modern building, with a handsome altar, &c. It contains several memorials, but none very remarkable. There are several meeting houses in the town, for different sects, a small Roman Catholic Chapel, and a Jew’s Synagogue; also a Public Dispensary and Hospital for the relief and support of disabled seamen, their widows, and children, which is liberally patronized.
The trade of this town, and its prosperity, have much increased by the establishment of the packets that sail from hence every week to Lisbon, Portugal, the West Indies, and other places; also by the detention of fleets of ships, (particularly those outward-bound) which seek refuge in its capacious harbour, and frequently remain many weeks till the gales are more favourable.—Falmouth has a good weekly market, and two fairs annually.
Arwenack House, remarkable as having been the residence of the Killigrews, (one of whom, Sir William Killigrew, of notoriety in the civil wars, lies buried in the church,) has been much altered from its original plan, yet still possesses an antient appearance. A manuscript history of the Killigrews, written by one of the family, says, that there was only a single house at Falmouth, besides Arwenack (the seat of the Killigrews,) when Sir Walter Rayleigh, being homeward-bound from the coast of Guinea, put in there; that he was entertained at Arwenack, and his men poorly accommodated at the solitary house, which, it is probable, had been originally built for the entertainment of sea-faring persons; that this celebrated navigator, being struck with the utility of providing more extensive accommodations at the mouth of Falmouth Harbour, for the officers and crews of homeward-bound ships, laid before the council a project for erecting four houses for that purpose. It is probable, that the single house here spoken of, was single as a house of entertainment, and that there were also a few fishers’ cottages, though too inconsiderable to have been described by Norden, even as a village.
The Church of the village of Maylor, near Falmouth, is a very picturesque building, containing a number of memorials, among which there is a monument for Capt. Yescombe, of the King George Lisbon Packet, who was killed in defending his ship against the enemy, in 1803.
Trefusis House, the property of Lord Clinton, in this neighbourhood, is a very antient building, most delightfully situated; but not having been inhabited for many years, is going rapidly to decay. Part of it is now occupied as a farm-house.
On the right of the road from Penryn to Helston, in the parish of Constantine, is a very curious massy rock, called a Tolinen; it is 33 feet long by 14½ feet wide, 18 feet high, and 97 feet in circumference. In form it resembles an egg, and is poised on two natural rocks. Much has been said as to the origin of this curious pile, but it is generally supposed to have been erected by the Druids.
Helston, situated about 10 miles from Penryn, is a large respectable town, built on the side of a hill, gradually sloping to the River Cober, and is noticed by historians as a place of considerable antiquity, and as having once possessed a Castle.[[17]]
It now principally consists of four streets built in the form of a cross, with a handsome Market-house and Town Hall. The Church, a handsome fabric standing on an eminence, on the north side of the town, was rebuilt in the year 1762, at an expense of £6,000, defrayed by the then Earl of Godolphin. It contains a number of monuments, and a neat altar-piece painted by Lane.
Helston has returned members to Parliament since the reign of Edward I., and the government of the town is vested in the Mayor, four Aldermen, and 24 Assistants: they have exclusively the right of election and other privileges.