St Ives

St Ives - St Ia, the missionary daughter of an Irish King, landed in the Hayle estuary and persuaded a local lord to build a church.  The church was given her name and the town which grew around it became Saint Ives. 

It is from the sea that St Ives first earned its living.  By 1377 it had taken over from Lelant as the most important port of West Cornwall.  In 1487 the town became a borough with the right to hold a market and two fairs, and in the same year, Sir Willoughby de Broke built the first pier.  A second pier was built in 1770 by Smeaton, fresh from his constuction of the Eddystone Lighthouse, and a third pier was built in 1894.  In the 19th century, St Ives vied with Newlyn for the title of premier pilchard port, but mining too was of importance.  Sadly, both industries were destined to decline and die before the century was out.

The closing years of the 19th century brought the new trade which was to save the town.  Artists found St Ives and established there the most important colony of outdoor artists in the country.  Their names are household words - Sickert and Whistler, Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and the potter Bernard Leach.  The St Ives Society of Arts was founded in 1927.

St Ives today is a busy tourist resort - still full of artists and home of the Tate Gallery.  There are wonderful restaurants and bakeries selling HUGE homemade Cornish Pasties.  The several beaches are ideal for lazing in the sun or surfing and watersports.

In my opinion one of the very best places on earth.