St Ives

With broad sand beaches, a picturesque harbour and the modern architecture of the Tate, St Ives is in an altogether different category from the granite villages and jagged cliffs that characterise most of west Cornwall. St Ives’ dual fishing and artistic legacies are continued today in the numerous galleries, jammed into its narrow alleys, and in the daily landing of fishing catches on Smeaton’s Pier.

The original settlement of St Ives took its name from the 6th century missionary, St Ia, who is said to have landed here having sailed from Ireland on an ivy leaf. Her Feast Day is celebrated every year with the Hurling the Silver Ball, which should be held on the first Monday of February. It is a rugby-style game, traditionally played between local ‘Upalongers and Downalongers’. The mayor throws the ball from the church wall in the middle of the morning; it is then thrown from person to person, through the streets and down to the beach, until noon when the person holding it receives a small prize.

  The 15th century St Ia’s Parish Church, near the harbour, bears her name, along with those of the two fishermen Apostles St Peter and St Andrew. The 80-feet tower is built of granite brought by sea from quarries at Zennor, a few miles south. Nearby on St Ives Head, stands another ecclesiastical building, the mariners’ Chapel of St Nicholas and there are inspiring views across St Ives Bay.

Known locally as The Island, St Ives Head was also the spot from where a lookout would scan the sea looking for shoals of pilchards. One of the most important pilchard fishing centres in Cornwall, until the industry declined in the early 20th century, St Ives holds a record dating back to 1868 for the greatest number of fish caught in a single seine net. On catch days, the streets of St Ives would reek of the smell of pilchard oil; the diarist Francis Kilvert was told by the local vicar that the smell was sometimes so great as to stop the church clock! A local specialty, called Hevva Cake but now usually called Heavy Cake, is a sweet loaf decorated with a criss-cross pattern resembling a fishing net (so called because the Cornish word for a shoal of fish is ‘hevva’), which was traditionally made for the seiners on their return from fishing.

As well as providing shelter for the fishing fleet, St Ives’ harbour was developed for exporting locally mined ores and minerals, and the sturdy main pier was built by John Smeaton, the 18th century marine architect who was responsible for designing the famous Eddystone Lighthouse. The town’s two industries led to the labyrinth of narrow streets and alleyways to become divided into two communities:  Downalong, where the fishing families lived, and Upalong, a district of mining families. In fact, St Ives Museum is housed in a building belonging to an old mine and here can be seen a wide range of artefacts that chronicle the natural, industrial and maritime history of the area.

There is also a display dedicated to the exploits of one of the town’s most colourful people, John Knill.  Mayor of the town in 1767 and a customs officer by profession, it was widely rumoured that Knill was an energetic smuggler himself and that the tall monument he built to the south of the town, now known as the Knill Steeple, supposedly as his mausoleum, served to guide ships carrying contraband safely to the shore. Though buried in London, Knill left a bequest to the town so that every five years, on July 25, they could hold a ceremony in his honour; a procession, led by a fiddler, two widows and ten young ladies or children from fishing and mining families, dances its way from the town centre to his monument to sing the 100th Psalm. The first such ceremony took place in 1801, and John himself took part as he didn’t die until 1811. The 40 acres of open space around the monument is Steeple Woodland Nature Reserve, where visitors can explore the woods and stroll over the heathland.

As both the fishing and mining industries declined in the late 19th century, St Ives developed as an artists’ colony. Since the 1880s, the town has attracted many diverse painters, brought here by the breathtaking scenery and special quality of the light, and they have included such talents as Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Naum Gabo and the potter Bernard Leach. Many of the old pilchard cellars and sail lofts were converted into workshops, studios and galleries.

Whatever your knowledge of art, the galleries in St Ives will evoke your senses. The best-known gallery is the Tate St Ives, which is worth a visit for its architecture and spectacular beachfront location alone. The seaside sounds are a constant presence inside the airy white building, creating a lively soundtrack to the paintings, sculptures and ceramics, most of which date from the period 1925 to 1975, and many inspired by St Ives itself. The Tate gallery has succeeded in a way that could not have been foreseen; with the opening of the national maritime museum in Falmouth and before that the Eden Project, St Ives is now part of what has become known as the golden triangle of top attractions in Cornwall.

Allied to Tate St Ives is the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden at Trewyn Studio on Barnoon Hill. One of the foremost nonfigurative sculptors of her time, Hepworth lived and worked here until her death, in a fire, in 1975. The Sculpture Garden is a haven of peace, and a visit here is most rewarding, particularly on busy days in the town.

Most of St Ives’ private galleries are small, and their contents can usually be glimpsed from outside, but most welcome visitors. The St Ives Society of Artists Gallery is a bigger affair, occupying the Old Mariners’ Church – as it has done since 1945. The Society’s exhibition programmes feature work chosen by guest curators, and invited exhibitions that are a diverse mix of contemporary visual art. St Ives also holds a major arts and music festival each September, which runs over two weeks and has an eclectic brief, featuring a range of music, poetry and theatre.

Located at Higher Stennack on the upper outskirts of St Ives, Leach Pottery is an interesting heritage museum founded in 1920 by Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada. The pottery is considered to be the birthplace of British studio pottery where potters, students and apprentices have come to train from across the world. A new museum has been created on site as a living tribute to Bernard Leach, who played a crucial pioneering role in creating an identity for artist potters across the world. The purpose-built studio houses exhibition, gallery space and workshop space.

However, it is not only artists who have been inspired by the beauty of St Ives and the surrounding area. Virginia Woolf, who spent every summer here to the age of, 12 described St Ives as ‘a windy, noisy, fishy, vociferous, narrow-streeted town; the colour of a mussel or a limpet; like a bunch of rough shell fish clustered on a grey wall altogether.’ Said to be the happiest time of her life, she recaptures the mood of those days in her novel To the Lighthouse.

The beaches of St Ives are its crowning glories. Magnificent Porthmeor Beach on the town’s western edge is famous for powerful surf, yet is ideal for non-surfers of all ages. The more sheltered Porthminster Beach on the town’s eastern edge has perfect conditions for family groups.