An ancient churchyard cross of granite has recently been restored, and placed on a modern basement; it stands near the chief entrance to the church. The granite used in building the church is said to have been brought by water from the neighbouring parish of Zennor. The inhabitants are greatly indebted to the liberality of Robert Hichens, Esq., for much of the handsome appearance of the present fabric.
Pope Alexander V., October 20, 1409; and Pope John XXIII., Nov. 18, 1410, recommended Bishop Stafford to make capellas S. Tewynnoci, said to be Towednack, et S. Ye, parochial, with font and cemetery, but dependent on Lelant. Bishop Lacy describes the church magnifico tabulata constructa, as dedicated October 20, 1428.
The following respecting the building of the church has been extracted from the borough records. “As it had pleased the Almighty God to increase the town inhabitants, and to send down temporal blessings most plentifully among them, the people to shew their thankfulness for the same, did resolve to build a chapel in S. Ives, they having no house in the town wherein public prayers and divine service were read, but were forced every Sunday and holy-day, to go to Lelant church, being three miles distant from S. Ives, to hear the same, and likewise to carry their children to Lelant church to be baptized, their dead to be there buried, to go there to be married, and their women to be churched; Whereupon the inhabitants of S. Ives did about the your of our Lord 1408, Petition the Lord Charnpernowne, lord of S. Ives, that he would be pleased to petition his holiness the pope to grant his license for a chapel to be built within the borough; so the lord Champernowne, on his petition did obtain from his holiness the pope Alexander the fifth, Primo anno Pontificatus, Annoq. Dni 1410,—his bull to build a chapel in the borough; and likewise obtained a license from the most reverend father in God, the archbishop of Canterbury, and a license from the right reverend the bishop of Exeter, for the building of the said chapel, which together with the tower, was begun in the reign of King Henry V., and finished in the reign of King Henry VI., being sixteen years and half in building.”
The churchyard adjoins the beach; and although defended from the action of the waves by a high and strong wall, they have been known to break into it. The church itself is many yards within the wall of the churchyard, yet in 1697, the waves broke over it with such violence that a great portion of the roof and the chancel window were destroyed.
The churchyard is no longer used for interments. A convenient cemetery in two parts, one for members of the established church, and the other for dissenters, with commodious mortuary chapels, has recently been laid out in an interesting position on the western cliffs, between the town and Clodgy Point.
There
were formerly four chapels in the town and parish, S.
Leonard’s Chapel still exists, and stands on or near the
old quay. In this chapel prayers were formerly read to the
fishermen before they went to sea, by a friar who was stationed
in it for that purpose. The fishermen are said to have paid him
for his services with a part of their fish, when they returned
from the sea. This chapel, which in appearance is little other
than a very ordinary barn, is now fitted with seats around by
the walls, and used by the fishermen as a place of shelter in
inclement weather. Another chapel, of which there are still
some remains, was situated on the top of Pendinas Point, and is
said to have been dedicated to S. Nicholas; it is mentioned in
Liber Regis; a third at Higher Tregenna; and one
near Brunian.
Mrs. Cheston Hicks, a widow, who died in 1648, bequeathed to the town for ever an alms-house for six poor people; also £50 in money, from the interest of which 20s. per annum was to be given to the minister of the parish, and the remainder to the poor. This charity however does not now exist.
A grammar school, under the charter of Charles I., was opened in the church in 1650 by the Rev. Leonard Welsted, then minister. It was under the control of a committee who paid the master £30 per annum. This school, although it commenced with about one hundred pupils, many of whom were educated at the expense of their parents, has long since been abandoned.
The Ecclesiastical district of Halsetown was gazetted June 5, 1846. The church, which is situated about a mile from S. Ives town, is dedicated to S. John, and was built in 1866, at a cost of £2300; it comprises a chancel, nave, north and south aisles, and vestry. The chancel arch is pointed and springs from corbels. The arcades have each five pointed arches of Bathstone, supported on octagonal pillars with moulded capitals of the same material. In the nave the clerestory is lighted with five quatrefoils on each side. The pulpit and font are also of Bath stone. The, entrances are a south porch, a west door, and vestry door. The tower is 66 feet in height; it is strongly buttressed and finished with a gabled roof covered with slate; the coping surmounted with a handsome granite cross. It contains one bell. The church is also buttressed. The interments are made in the S. Ives general cemetery.
In. a paddock adjoining the church is a substantial and tastefully built residence for the incumbent.
Robert Hichens, Esq., of S. Ives and East Dulwich, mention of whose munificence has already been made, gave the site for the church, £1000 towards the building, and another £1000 towards the endowment. J. P. St. Aubyn, Esq., was the, architect.
The stipend is £180, with two acres of glebe; the incumbent is the Rev. William-Hinton Drake, who was admitted to the district August 14, 1846. The patron Robert Hichens, Esq.
Near the church, at the junction of a narrow lane with the turnpike, stands a dilapidated ancient granite cross.
