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St Ives, Cornwall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| St Ives | |
| Cornish: Porth Ia |
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  St Ives shown within Cornwall |
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| Population | 11,165[1] |
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| OS grid reference | |
| District | Penwith |
| Shire county | Cornwall |
| Region | South West |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Truro |
| Postcode district | TR26 1/2/3xx |
| Dialling code | 01736 |
| Police | Devon and Cornwall |
| Fire | Cornwall |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | St Ives |
| European Parliament | South West England |
| List of places: UK • England • Cornwall | |
St Ives (Cornish: Porth Ia) is a seaside town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance, and west of Camborne. In former times it was commercially dependent on fishing as an industry. The decline in fishing, however, has caused a shift in commercial emphasis and the town is now primarily a holiday resort. St Ives was incorporated by Royal charter in 1639. St Ives has been named best seaside town of 2007 by the Guardian and has become renowned for its number of artists.
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The legendary origins of St Ives are attributed to the arrival of the Irish Saint Ia of Cornwall, in the 5th Century AD. The parish church in St Ives still bears the name of this saint, and the name St Ives itself is believed to be a later anglicised corruption of that name.
The town was the site of a particularly notable atrocity during the Prayer Book rebellion of 1549. The English Provost Marshal came to St Ives and invited the portreeve, John Payne, to lunch at an inn. He asked the portreeve to have the gallows erected during the course of the lunch. Afterwards the portreeve and the Provost Marshall walked down to the gallows; the Provost Marshall then ordered the portreeve to mount the gallows. The portreeve was then hanged for being a 'busy rebel'.
Modern St Ives came with the railway in 1877, the St Ives Bay branch line from St Erth, part of the Great Western Railway. With it came the 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 the Beeching axe and has become a tourist attraction itself. St Ives hit the national headlines on 28th July 2007, following a suspected sighting of a Great White Shark.
Porthmeor beach is St Ives' major surfing area, and is overlooked by holiday apartments. A rocky hill, which features a single cliff-top chapel, separates the beach from Porthgwidden, a much smaller beach. Much of the town's outskirts are built on steep terrain.
In 1928, the Cornish artist Alfred Wallis, plus his friends Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood met at St Ives and laid the foundation for the artists' colony of today. In 1939, Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Naum Gabo settled in St Ives, attracted by its quiet beauty. In 1993, a branch of the Tate Gallery, the Tate St Ives, opened here. The Tate also looks after the Barbara Hepworth Museum and her sculpture garden. It was the wish of the late sculptor to leave her work on public display in perpetuity. The town also attracted artists from overseas like Piet Mondrian who let the landscape influence their work. Alongside traditional landscape art, St. Ives also attracted and inspired the inspirational Maurice Sumray. A successful and highly respected contributor to the St. Ives art scene, when he moved to the town from London in 1968.
Prior to the 1940s the majority of artists in St Ives and further afield in West Cornwall belonged to the St Ives Society of artists however events in the late 1940s led to a growing dispute between the abstract and figurative artists within the group. In 1948 the abstract faction broke away from the St Ives Society forming the Penwith Society of artists led by Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson.
- See also: list of St. Ives artists
St Ives is home to 3 celebrations of interest. John Knill, a former Mayor of St Ives, constructed the Knill Steeple a granite monument overlooking the town of St Ives. In 1797, Knill laid down instructions for the celebration of the Knill Ceremony which was to take place every five years on 25 July. The ceremony itself involves the Mayor of St Ives, a customs officer, and a vicar - accompanied by two widows and 10 girls who should be the "daughters of fishermen, tinners, or seamen".
A second celebration of perhaps greater antiquity is St Ives feast which is a celebration of the founding of St Ives by St Ia and takes place on the Sunday and Monday nearest February 3 every year. The day itself includes a civic procession to Venton Ia or the well of St Ia and other associated activities however, it is most notable for being one of the two surviving examples of Cornish Hurling (however, in a more gentle format than its other manifestation in St Columb Major).
A third festival is the St Ives May Day which is a modern revival of May Day customs that were at one time common throughout the west of Cornwall.
St Ives is well known from the nursery rhyme and riddle "As I Was Going to St Ives", although it is not clear whether the rhyme refers to the Cornish town or one of several other St Ives around the country.
The Discovery Travel and Living programme "Beach Cafe" is filmed in St. Ives, featuring Australian chef Michael Smith. [1]
St Ives railway station is linked to the Paddington to Penzance main rail route via the St Ives branch line which runs regular services to St Erth station. A Park-and-Ride facility for visitors to St Ives runs from Lelant Saltings railway station, which was opened on 27 May 1978 specifically for this purpose.
The town also has regular services via National Express Coach to London Victoria, Heathrow and numerous other destinations throughout the UK. The nearest airports to St Ives are Newquay and Plymouth. Private jets, charters and helicopters are served by Perranporth airfield.
Prior to 1974, the St Ives Borough Council was the principal local authority for what now forms the civil parish of St Ives. Since the reform of English local government in 1974, St Ives has elected a town council. The principal local authority function for St Ives is now undertaken by Penwith District Council and the Cornwall County Council. For the purposes of election to Cornwall County Council, St Ives forms a single multi-member electoral division returning two members.
St Ives is twinned with Camaret-sur-Mer in Brittany, France. 
- ^ 2001 UK census
| This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007) |
- For all lovers of St Ives
- St Ives Arts Club Society
- Illustrated Guide to St. Ives
- St Ives at the Open Directory Project
- Postcards of St. Ives and Lelant
- Guide to St. Ives
- Photos of St. Ives
- Letter from the St. Ives Arts Club, 1898
- Fullscreen QTVR panorama of Porthmeor Beach and Tate St Ives
- St Ives Satellite Map & Geographic Features
- Seventeenth Century Records of the Borough of St. Ives
- St Ives Business Directory
- Cornwall Record Office Online Catalogue for St Ives
- Manor of St Ives and Treloyhan Archive
- artcornwall.org online journal for art and artists in Cornwall
- Photographs taken at St. Ives by Cornwall resident Ian Lewis - 17th October 2007
 Cornwall-related topics |
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| History | Timeline · Kingdom of Cornwall · Hundreds · During the Civil War · 1497 Uprising · Prayer Book Rebellion · Legendary Dukes of Cornwall | ||||
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| Politics | Parliamentary constituencies · Self-government movement · Status debate · Cornish Assembly · Mebyon Kernow | ||||
| Economy | Communication · Media · Fishing · Mining · Tourism · Transport | ||||
| Culture | Cornish people · Language · Flag · Gorseth Kernow · Literature · Rugby · Cuisine · Music | ||||
| Other | Notable residents · Duchy · Diocese · Diaspora · full list of topics... | ||||
| See also: Cornwall Portal · WikiProject Cornwall | |||||
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| Cornwall |
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| Gwinear-Gwithian | Hayle | Ludgvan | Madron | Marazion | Morvah | Paul | Penzance | Perranuthnoe | Sancreed | Sennen | St Buryan | St Erth | St Hilary | St Ives | St Just | St Levan | St Michael's Mount | Towednack | Zennor | |