St Ives
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|---|---|
 St Ives Harbour and Porthminster Beach | |
  St Ives Location withinCornwall | |
| Population | 10,748 (Parish, 2021)[1] 5,410 (Built up area, 2021)[2] |
| OS grid reference | SW518403 |
| Civil parish |
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| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ST. IVES |
| Postcode district | TR26 |
| Dialling code | 01736 |
| Police | Devon and Cornwall |
| Fire | Cornwall |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
| 50°12′40″N5°28′48″W / 50.211°N 5.480°W /50.211; -5.480 | |
St Ives (Cornish:Porthia,[3] meaning "St Ia's cove") is a seasidetown,civil parish and port inCornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north ofPenzance and west ofCamborne on the coast of theCeltic Sea. In former times, it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial emphasis, and the town is now primarily a popularseaside resort. It is notable in achieving the title of Best UK Seaside Town from the British Travel Awards in both 2010 and 2011.[4][5][6] It was named best seaside town of 2007 byThe Guardian newspaper.[7]
St Ives has become renowned for its number of artists, and is home to theTate St Ives gallery,[8] among other artistic outlets.
The town was incorporated as aborough in 1639.[9][10] As well as St Ives itself, the parish also includesCarbis Bay,Lelant and adjoining rural areas. At the2021 census the population of the parish was 10,748 and the population of the St Ives built up area as defined by theOffice for National Statistics was 5,410.
The origin of St Ives is attributed in legend to the arrival of the Irish saintIa of Cornwall, in the 5th century. The parish church bears her name, and the name St Ives derives from it.[11][12]
The Sloop Inn, which lies on the wharf was a fisherman's pub for many centuries and is dated to "circa 1312", making it one of the oldest inns in Cornwall.[13][14]
In 1487 St Ives was granted amarket charter byHenry VII, allowing it to hold a weekly market and two annual fairs.[15] The town was the site of a particularly notable atrocity during thePrayer Book Rebellion of 1549. The Englishprovost marshal,Anthony Kingston, came to St Ives and invited theportreeve, John Payne, to lunch at an inn. He asked the portreeve to have thegallows erected during the course of the lunch. Afterwards the portreeve and the Provost Marshal walked down to the gallows; the Provost Marshal then ordered the portreeve to mount the gallows. The portreeve was thenhanged for being a "busy rebel".[16]
The seal of St Ives isArgent, an ivy branch overspreading the whole field Vert, with the legendSigillum Burgi St Ives in Com. Cornub. 1690.[17]
During theSpanish Armada of 1597, two Spanish ships, abark and apinnace, had made their way to St Ives to seek shelter from the storm which had dispersed the Spanish fleet. They were captured by the English warshipWarspite of SirWalter Raleigh leaking from the same storm.[18] The information given by the prisoners was vital to learning the Armada's objectives.[19]
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Pedn Olva Mine, a former copper mine, at Pedn Olva Pointadit, operated in St Ives before 1911, when the engine house on Pedn Olva Point was demolished, now the site of the Pedn Olva Hotel.[20][21]
The modern seaside resort developed as a result of the arrival of theSt Ives Bay branch line fromSt Erth, part of theGreat Western Railway in 1877.[22][23] With it came a new generation of Victorian seaside holidaymakers. Much of the town was built during the latter part of the 19th century. The railway, which winds along the cliffs and bays, survived theBeeching cuts and has become a tourist attraction itself.[24]
In 1952, theRoyal Navywarship[25]HMS Wave ran aground near the town.[26] The ship was later salvaged, repaired and returned to service.[27] Apropeller believed to be from HMSWave was washed ashore in 2008.[28]
In 1999, the town was the first landfall of thesolar eclipse of 11 August 1999. TheTate St Ives displayed an exhibition calledAs Dark as Light, with art by Yuko Shiraishi,Garry Fabian Miller and local schoolchildren, to celebrate the event.[29] A liveBBC programme with the astronomerPatrick Moore was clouded out and the eclipse was missed.[30]
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From medieval times fishing was important at St Ives; it was one of the most important fishing ports on the north Cornish coast. The original pier's construction date is unknown but the first reference to St Ives having a pier was in 1478 inWilliam Worcester's 'Itinerary'.[31] The pier was re-built byJohn Smeaton between 1766 and 1770 after falling into disrepair.[31] It was lengthened at a later date.[32] The octagonal lookout with a cupola belongs to Smeaton's design.[33]
A. K. Hamilton Jenkin describes how the St Ives fisherman strictly observed Sunday as a day of rest.[34] St Ives was a very busy fishing port andseining was the usual method of fishing. Seining was carried out by a set of three boats of different sizes, the largest two carrying seine nets of different sizes. The total number of crew was seventeen or eighteen. However this came to an end in 1924. In the decade 1747–1756 the total number of pilchards dispatched from the four principal Cornish ports ofFalmouth,Fowey,Penzance, and St Ives averaged 30,000hogsheads annually (making a total of 900 million fish). Much greater catches were achieved in 1790 and 1796. In 1847 the exports of pilchards from Cornwall amounted to 40,883 hogsheads or 122 million fish while the greatest number ever taken in one seine was 5,600 hogsheads at St Ives in 1868.[35] The bulk of the catch was exported to Italy: for example, in 1830, 6,400 hogsheads were sent to Mediterranean ports. From 1829 to 1838, the yearly average for this trade was 9,000 hogsheads.[36]
While commercial fishing is much reduced, the harbour is still in use, often for recreational boating, tourist fishing and day trips to the nearby seal colonies on the Carrack Rocks and other locations along the coast. Recently, a class of Victorian fishing boat unique to St Ives, known as a "jumbo," has been replicated by boatbuilder Jonny Nance to celebrate the town's maritime heritage. Today's jumbos are operated by the St Ives Jumbo Association.[37]
The firstlifeboat was stationed in the town in 1840.[38] In 1867 theRoyal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) built a boathouse at Porthgwidden beach. It proved to be a difficult site to launch from, and in 1867 it was replaced by a building in Fore Street. In 1911 a new boathouse was built on the Quay, and then in 1993 a larger station was built at the landward end of the West Pier.[39] Since its inception in 1839, thirty eightRNLI medals have been awarded to rescuers from St Ives, 18 silver medals and 20 bronze.[38]
Seven crewmen died in the St Ives lifeboat tragedy of 1939.[38] In the early hours of 23 January 1939 there was aForce 10 storm blowing with gusts up to 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). The lifeboatJohn and Sara Eliza Stych was launched at 3 o'clock to search for a ship reported in trouble offCape Cornwall. It rounded the Island where it met the full force of the storm as it headed westwards. It capsized three times and drifted across St Ives Bay when its propeller was fouled. The first time it turned over four men were lost; the second time one more; the third time left only one man alive.[38] He scrambled ashore when the boat was wrecked on rocks nearGodrevy Point.[40]
On 28 July 2007 there was a suspected sighting of agreat white shark. The chairman of the Shark Trust said that "it was impossible to make a conclusive identification and that it could have also been either aMako or aPorbeagle shark". Coastguards dismissed the claims as "scaremongering".[41] On 14 June 2011 there was a suspected sighting of anoceanic whitetip shark; the Shark Trust said that the chances of the species being in British waters were "very small".[42] On 18 July 2017 a suspected blue shark was spotted close to the harbour.[43] On 16 July 2018, another blue shark was spotted in the harbour, prompting the Shark Trust to ask people to "give it plenty of space".[44][45]
St Ives is on the western shore ofSt Ives Bay, its harbour sheltered by St Ives Island (a headland) and Smeaton's pier. Close to the harbour, in the old part of the town, the streets are narrow and uneven while its wider streets are in the newer parts of the town on rising ground.[11] The town has four beaches: Porthmeor a surfing beach, Porthgwidden a small sandy cove, Harbour by the working port and Porthminster which has almost half a mile of sand.[46] St Ives has anoceanic climate and has some of the mildest winters and warmest summers in Britain and Northern Europe. It is therefore a popular tourist resort in the summer, and also benefits from an amount of sunshine per year that is above the national average.[47] TheSouth West Coast Path passes through the town.[48]
| Climate data for St Ives | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 9.8 (49.6) | 9.7 (49.5) | 11.0 (51.8) | 12.7 (54.9) | 15.3 (59.5) | 18.1 (64.6) | 20.0 (68.0) | 20.0 (68.0) | 18.4 (65.1) | 15.6 (60.1) | 12.4 (54.3) | 10.8 (51.4) | 14.5 (58.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 5.2 (41.4) | 5.0 (41.0) | 5.7 (42.3) | 6.7 (44.1) | 9.1 (48.4) | 11.7 (53.1) | 13.7 (56.7) | 13.8 (56.8) | 12.5 (54.5) | 10.6 (51.1) | 7.6 (45.7) | 6.2 (43.2) | 9.0 (48.2) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 133 (5.2) | 101 (4.0) | 98 (3.9) | 63 (2.5) | 65 (2.6) | 62 (2.4) | 58 (2.3) | 73 (2.9) | 83 (3.3) | 111 (4.4) | 126 (5.0) | 133 (5.2) | 1,151 (45.31) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 23 | 18 | 19 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 210 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 58.5 | 80.1 | 128.8 | 184.1 | 216.6 | 212.4 | 207.8 | 199.0 | 158.6 | 111.2 | 76.5 | 55.6 | 1,689.2 |
| [citation needed] | |||||||||||||
St Ives has been a populartourist destination since theSt Ives Bay Line opened in 1877, allowing visitors to easily get to the town.[49] St Ives has been named the best UK seaside town byThe Guardian in 2007,[7] and by the British Travel Awards in 2010 and 2011.[5][50] In 2020, St Ives was named the most expensive seaside resort in the UK.[51] The town has the second highest visitor-related spend in the UK, with tourists spending £85 million per year.[52] Around 540,000day trippers and 220,000 staying tourists visit St Ives every year, with the tourism industry accounting for around 2,800 jobs in the area.[52]
Likein the rest of Cornwall, tourism has been criticised for bringing about problems inseasonal work andaffordable housing in St Ives.[53][54] In 2016, St Ives residents voted to bansecond-home owners from buying new build housing, with 83% in favour.[55] This came after average house prices in the town had been pushed up to over £320,000, almost 14 times the median annual earnings of someone in Cornwall. In 2019, theFinancial Times reported that average house price was £351,800, saying that the new build policy had failed to stem the number of second homes.[56] St Ives also faces a shortage ofrentals; in 2021, while there were over 1,000 properties in the town available for short-termholiday let, there was only one long-term house available to rent.[57]
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There are two tiers of local government covering St Ives, atparish (town) andunitary authority level: St Ives Town Council andCornwall Council.[58] The town council is based atSt Ives Guildhall on Street An Pol, which was completed in 1940.[59][60]
St Ives historically formed part of theancient parish ofUny Lelant (also known as Lelant) in thePenwith Hundred of Cornwall. WhenSt Ia's Church was built in the early 15th century it was achapel of ease to Lelant. Thechapelry of St Ives subsequently came to be treated as a separatecivil parish, but remained part of theecclesiastical parish of Lelant until 1826, when St Ives was given funding fromQueen Anne's Bounty to support its own clergy.[61]
ASt Ivesparliamentary borough (constituency) was established in 1558. The town was incorporated as aborough for municipal purposes too in 1639 under acharter fromCharles I. The borough boundary matched the civil parish.[15][62] The borough was reformed to become amunicipal borough in 1836 under theMunicipal Corporations Act 1835, which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country.[63] The 1836 reforms also saw the borough take responsibility for local policing. TheSt Ives Borough Police existed from 1836 until 1889, when it was taken over byCornwall County Constabulary.[64]
The borough was enlarged in 1934 to take in the northern part of the neighbouring parish of Uny Lelant, which was abolished, including its main settlements of Lelant village and Carbis Bay. A smaller area was transferred into the borough from the neighbouring parish ofTowednack at the same time.[65]
The borough of St Ives was abolished in 1974 under theLocal Government Act 1972, when the area became part of thePenwith district.[66][67] Asuccessor parish called St Ives was created at the same time, covering the area of the abolished borough.[68] As part of the 1974 reforms, parish councils were given the right to declare their parishes to be a town, allowing them to take the title of town council and giving the title ofmayor to the council's chairperson.[69] The new parish council for St Ives exercised this right, taking the name St Ives Town Council.[59]
Penwith district was abolished in 2009. Cornwall County Council then took on district-level functions, making it a unitary authority, and was renamed Cornwall Council.[70][71]
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St Ia's parish church is dedicated toIa of Cornwall, an Irish holy woman of the 5th or 6th century, andSt Andrew, the patron saint of fishermen.[72] In 1408 the townsmen attempted to get a papal bull to authorise the consecration of their church and cemetery, but they did not achieve this, so they continued without the rights of baptism or burial. However, they undertook the building of the present church between 1410 and 1434 as a chapel of ease, St Ives being within the parish of Lelant. They were able to obtain the right to a font in 1428 but consecration of the cemetery only in 1542. For over a century the vicars of Lelant had resisted demands from the inhabitants of St Ives and Towednack for the right of sepulture but in 1542 the right was granted so the vicars transferred their residence to St Ives and abandoned the vicarage of Lelant.[73] There was damage to the church in 1697 when a storm broke through the sea-wall and damaged the roof and a large window over the altar.[74]
There are chapels dedicated toSt Nicholas on the headland of St Ives Island andSt Leonard on the quay which were used by the fishermen and have been converted for other uses.[75] The former chapel of St Nicholas was partially demolished by theWar Office in 1904[76] but rebuilt in 1909, possibly byE. H. Sedding, from the old materials. It is plain and rectangular and has since been converted into the New Gallery.
The Roman Catholic Church of theSacred Heart and St Ia was built in 1909 to a design byA J C Scoles. There are also two Methodist chapels, one in Fore Street of 1831, and another of 1845 higher up the valley, and a Congregational chapel of 1800.[77]
J. M. W. Turner arrived in St Ives in 1811.[78] In 1884,James Whistler andWalter Sickert visited on the improved railway.[79]Bernard Leach andShōji Hamada set up theLeach Pottery in 1920. Leach, who was astudio potter and art teacher[80] and is known as the "Father of British studio pottery",[81] learned pottery under the direction of Shigekichi Urano (Kenzan VI) inJapan where he also met Shōji Hamada. They promoted pottery from the point of view of Western and Eastern arts and philosophies. Leach produced work until 1972, and theVictoria and Albert Museum held an exhibition of his work in 1977.[82] The Leach Pottery remains operational and houses a small museum showcasing work by Leach and his students.[83]
English artistJessie Case Vesel lived in St Ives around 1913.
In 1928, theCornish artistAlfred Wallis andBen Nicholson andChristopher Wood met at St Ives and laid the foundation for theSt Ives School artists' colony there. In 1939, Ben Nicholson,Barbara Hepworth andNaum Gabo settled in St Ives, attracted by its beauty. In 1993, a branch of theTate Gallery, the Tate St Ives, opened.[84] The Tate has owned theBarbara Hepworth Museum and hersculpture garden since 1980,[84] as well as herPalais de Danse studio since 2015.[85] The town attracted artists from overseas such asMaurice Sumray who moved fromLondon in 1968,[86] andPiet Mondrian, and continues to do so today with younger artists such as Michael Polat, who took up residence there from his native Germany in 1999.
Before the 1940s, most artists in St Ives and West Cornwall belonged to the St Ives Society of Artists, but events in the late 1940s led to a dispute between theabstract andfigurative artists in the group.[citation needed] In 1948, the abstract faction broke away to form thePenwith Society of Artists led by Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson.
In 1962Frederick Spratt took a sabbatical in Britain for one year, where he lived and painted representationally in St Ives.[citation needed]
The studio potteryTroika was set up in 1963.[citation needed]
In 2010, aBBC Four film,The Art of Cornwall, presented byJames Fox said that the St Ives artists "went on to produce some of the most exhilarating art of the twentieth century...for a few dazzling years this place was as famous as Paris, as exciting as New York and infinitely more progressive than London."[87] The programme explored the lives and works of the key figures and their contributions in establishing St Ives as a major centre of British art from the 1920s onwards.[88]
The Barbara Hepworth Museum and her sculpture garden are the responsibility of Tate St Ives.[89][90] It was the wish of the late sculptor to leave her work on public display in perpetuity.[90] The St Ives Museum has exhibits illustrating local history and culture, including mining, fishing, agriculture and domestic life.[91]
John Knill, a former mayor, constructed the Knill Steeple, a granite monument overlooking the town. In 1797, Knill laid down instructions for the celebration of the Knill Ceremony, which was to take place every five years on 25 July (St James's Day). The ceremony involves the Mayor of St Ives, a customs officer, and a vicar accompanied by two widows and ten girls who should be the "daughters of fishermen, tinners, or seamen". The ceremonies used to have athletic games, called the "Knillian games", which includedCornish wrestling.[92][93][94]
A second celebration, of perhaps greater antiquity, is St Ives Feast, a celebration of the founding of St Ives by St Ia, which takes place on the Sunday and Monday nearest to 3 February each year. It includes a civic procession to Venton Ia, the well of St Ia, and other associated activities. It is one of the two surviving examples ofCornish Hurling (in a gentler format than its other manifestation atSt Columb Major).
A third festival is the St Ives May Day, a modern revival ofWest Cornwall May Day celebrations that were once common throughout west Cornwall.
The St Ives September Festival celebrated its 30th anniversary in September 2008. It is one of the longest running and widest ranging Festivals of the Arts in the UK lasting for fifteen days and includes music (folk, jazz, rock, classical & world), poetry, film, talks and books. It was founded in 1978 as a joint venture by local entrepreneurs and the International Musicians Seminar. Many local artists open up their studios to allow visitors to see how their art is produced. There is free music in many pubs almost every night, and concerts.[95] Many events are held at the Western Hotel or St Ives Guildhall.[96] St Ives has a 500-seat theatre which hosts some of the festival events.[97]
Early-20th-century figures in St Ives appear inVirginia Woolf's reflections contained in "A Sketch of the Past", fromMoments of Being, "... I could fill pages remembering one thing after another. All together made the summer at St. Ives the best beginning to life imaginable.[98] Her 1927 novelTo the Lighthouse is said to have been influenced by the view from Talland House where she stayed with her parents on family holidays.[99]
This St Ives is generally believed to be the one referred to in the famousnursery rhyme"As I was going to St Ives".
The Cornish language poetMick Paynter is resident in St Ives.
Modern-day novelistElizabeth Day, author ofThe Party, writes many of her novels whilst staying in St Andrews Street in St Ives.[100]
TheUlysses Moore series of books, written byPierdomenico Baccalario are based in the hypothetical village ofKilmore Cove nearZennor and St Ives.
Helen Dunmore's novelZennor in Darkness is set locally, at the time of the First World War, whenD. H. Lawrence and his German wife came to Cornwall to escape the war in London.
Lauren St John'sDead Man's Cove is situated in St. Ives. The first in a series of books about an eleven-year-old girl called Laura Marlin, who becomes a detective.
The St Ives Literature Festival is an annual week-long event, started in 2008, in May. Open air performances are held in Norway Square and the St Ives Arts Club, as well as talks, workshops and live music.[101]
In 1978/1979 the town, the pub The Sloop Inn and Barnoon Cemetery were filmed and appeared in Jerry Jameson's filmRaise the Titanic released in 1980.[102] The final scenes withAlec Guinness were meant to have occurred in a local church but a unusually strong storm a few days earlier had damaged the building rendering it unsuitable for filming.
In 1989, a public television crew from Alaska shot scenes for a docudrama about American artist Sydney Mortimer Laurence (1865-1940), who was a member of the St. Ives Arts Club in the late 19th century. Several St. Ives residents, in period costumes, appeared as extras in the production. "Laurence of Alaska," which won two regional Emmy Awards, was produced by KAKM, Alaska Public Television, and later aired on public stations across the U.S.[103]
TheDiscovery Travel and Living programmeBeach Café, featuring Australian chef Michael Smith, was filmed in St Ives.[104]
Regional TV news is provided byBBC South West andITV West Country. Television signals are received from either theRedruth orCaradon Hill TV transmitters.[105][106]
Local radio stations areBBC Radio Cornwall on 103.9 FM,Heart West on 107.0 FM, andCoast FM, a community radio station that broadcast to the town on 96.5 FM.
TheSt. Ives Times & Echo is the town’s local weekly newspaper.[107]
St Ives is the home ofSt Ives Rugby Football Club (founded 1889) who play at the Recreation Ground on Alexandra Road. Once one of the dominant clubs inCornish rugby, they currently play inTribute Western Counties West league, (tier 7 of theEnglish rugby union system). There is also a football team, St Ives Town F.C., who play in theCornwall Combination (division 12 of the English football system). Their ground is atLelant Saltings.
Cornish wrestling tournaments, for prizes, were held in the following places over the last two centuries:
St Ives railway station is linked to thePaddington toPenzance main rail route via the St Ives branch line which runs frequent services fromSt Erth. The line was opened in 1877 by the St Ives branch railway, but became part of the Great Western Railway in 1878. Before 2019, thepark & ride facility for visitors to St Ives ran fromLelant Saltings railway station. The station had been opened on 27 May 1978 specifically for this purpose. After development works at St Erth station in 2019 to improve transport links, the park and ride was moved there. The branchline also links the St Ives to nearbyCarbis Bay and Lelant.
The town also has regular services byNational Express coaches from LondonVictoria Coach Station,Heathrow and other places in Britain.First Kernow buses also connect St Ives to nearby towns and villages, such as Zennor, Penzance andTruro.
The nearest airports to St Ives areNewquay andLand's End Airport, nearSt Just. Private jets, charters and helicopters are served byPerranporth Airfield.
St Ives istwinned withCamaret-sur-Mer (Breton:Kameled) inBrittany, France and has friendship agreements withLaguna Beach, California andMashiko, Tochigi, Japan.[113]
On Sunday 7 September 2014, St Ives had a ceremony to make St Ives and Laguna Beach, California, US sister cities.[114]
the sloop inn 1312.
An old copper mine, which probably was first worked in the 18th century, when an adit was driven westwards under St Ives town from Pedn Olva Point. In 1822-23, the driving of the adit was resumed, and a shaft and several winzes were sunk. At a distance of 95 fms from its mouth, the adit intersected with a lode that was believed to be one of the St Ives Consols lode. In 1859, the North Wheal Providence Mining Company was formed to work the property, and "Old Wheal Trenwith", the eastern section of Wheal Trenwith, was included with the sett. An engine shaft was sunk, and a cross-cut was commenced from adit level to connect with the Wheal Trenwith lode, but this was still not completed when the company ran out of money in 1861. In 1862, a limited company was formed to work the property, but this was started to wind up in 1863 and liquidated until 1873. When the working of Wheal Trenwith was resumed by St Ives Consolidated Mines, the Pedn Olva adit was explored, but no further development was carried out. The engine house, which once stood on top of the cliff at Pedn Olva Point, was demolished in the early 20th century. Its staircase was incorporated in the Pednolva Hotel, which now occupies its site.
The first meeting of St Ives Town Council to be held in the new Guildhall took place on Monday...
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