Daniel Defoe describes Helston (1725) in his tour around Great Britain thus, ″"This town is large and populous, and has four spacious streets, a handsome church, and a good trade: this town also sends members to Parliament."' He also mentions that the River Cober makes a tolerable good harbour and several ships are loaded with tin, although over one hundred years before Defoe, Richard Carew (1602) described Loe Bar as ""The shingle was relatively porous and fresh water could leave and seawater enter depending, on the relative heights of the pool and sea"". Defoe's description seems to be the first and possibly the origin of other sources claiming Helston to be a port in the historic period. Loe Pool is referred to in a document of 1302, implying the existence of Loe Bar at this date, if not much earlier, and thus precluding the passage of shipping up the Cober. At the same time it was recorded that the burgesses of Helston exercised jurisdiction over the ships anchored at Gweek, but no mention was made of ships at Helston, and no customs records or other documentation of port traffic relating to Helston survives; thus confirming the fact that Gweek has for centuries been the recognized port of Helston. There is no known archaeological evidence for the existence of a port at Helston* and there is no primary evidence to support Defoe’s account.