Kelly’s Directory of Cornwall 1873

ST. IVES is a municipal and parliamentary borough and parish, on the north coast of Cornwall, bounded by the Irish Sea, 9 miles north from Penzance, 275 from London, in the Western division of the county, hundred of Penwith, Penzance union and county court district, rural deanery of Penwith, Cornwall archdeaconry, and Exeter diocese. Formerly it was called Pendennis or Pendunes—the Head or Fortress—and was first incorporated by Charles I., which charter was confirmed by James II. The corporation now consists of a mayor, four aldermen and twelve councillors. Through the instrumentality of Sir Francis Basset the first charter was obtained, and he, being a burgess, presented a silver cup to the corporation, bearing the following inscription:—

Previous to 1822 St. Ives returned two members to Parliament; but now in conjunction with Lelant and Towednack, it returns one. The borough includes the parishes of St. Ives and Towednack. The borough magistrates meet at the Town Hall on the first and third Wednesday in every month. The nearest railway station is at St. Ives road on the West Cornwall line, 4 miles distant, but a branch is about to be constructed to this town. The town is very irregularly built, and the streets are very narrow; but several terraces of good private houses and many villas have been recently erected, and on entering the town from Hayle or St. Ives road, it has a charmingly picturesque appearance. The church of St. Andrew is a fine old granite building of the early part of the fifteenth century: it consists of chancel, nave, aisles, south chapel, and south porch, square embattled tower with pinnacles, 2 bells and clock: the tower (including pinnacles) is about 104 feet high, and in 1872 it was restored and pointed, at a cost of about £90, by subscription: the church was repaired and re-seated in 1853–4, at a cost of about £900, which sum was provided by subscription: the chancel restored by the late Nathaniel Pyne esq. in 1854, and in 1870 the church was entirely re-paved, at a cost of £150, by the late Robert Hichens, esq., of London: the seats are free, and some of them are very old and curiously carved; there are some very ancient brasses and monumental tablets, several stained memorial windows, and an organ: the font is of granite, and is exceedingly old and rare; it was restored, at a cost of £30, by J. N. Tremearne esq., in 1854; at the base of it are four figures representing demons, and on the bowl are four other figures to represent angels: the lectern is an eagle, copied from that in Wantage church, Berkshire, and was presented in 1866 by the Rev. J. B. Jones, vicar. The register dates from the year 1651. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £300, with residence, in the gift of the vicar of Lelant, and held by the Rev. John Balmer Jones M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge. There is a Mariner’s chapel in connection with the parish church, which has a mission district assigned to it, the mission priest being the Rev. N. C. Bennett, curate. There are National schools for boys and girls, which are supported by Government grant, contributions, and pence; also an infant school; there is also a large Wesleyan school for both sexes; and in 1872 E. G. Davenport, esq., established an evening school for young men, which is chiefly supported by himself. There are chapels for Wesleyans, Lady Huntingdon’s connexion, Primitive and Teetotal Methodists. The principle trade here is the pilchard and mackerel fishery. The pilchards are cured and packed in hogsheads, and are chiefly exported to Spain and Italy, and the mackerel help to supply the London markets. Shipbuilding is carried on to some extent; there is also and extensive sail and netting manufactory. St. Ives Consols and Trelyon Consols are mines which are employing a great number of hands. Here is a stone pier, with quay light which was built under an Act of Parliament passed in 1767, after a personal survey and report from the celebrated Mr. Smeaton, of Newcastle, who was the contractor for its construction, at a cost of £10,000. There is also a pier on wood piles, erected in 1864–6, at a cost of about £15,000, and which affords additional shelter to the inner harbour. There are two subscription reading and news rooms, and a masonic lodge, No. 1272. In the centre of the town is a plain building which serves as Town and Market hall; it was erected in 1832. A fair is held on the 29th of November. There is a battery of 3 guns on the “Island” (still so called, although it is now connected with the town), which is under the charge of a sergeant of the coast brigade and one man. St. Ives bay is a creak under Hayle, and a life boat station, and affords excellent shelter, except against north-east gales, which too frequently prove fatal to such vessels as may not be moored within the pier. On a hill south-east of St. Ives is a triangular pyramidical monument, which was erected by John Knill about the year 1800; it has a receptacle in the base, intended by him for his place of sepulchre; on the one side are the words “John Knill,” on another “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” and on the third the word “Resurgam.” The charities are small. The principal landowners are Earl Cowley K.G., the Duchess of Bolton, and Messrs. Bolitho. Here is Tregenna Castle, a commodious and beautifully situated residence, now the seat of Edward Gershom Davenport, esq., and for many years the residence and property of the Stephens family. To the north-east of the parish the soil is composed of compact and slaty felspar rock, traversed by metalliferous veins. The area of the parish is 1,812 acres; gross estimated rental, £18,[obscured]: rateable value, £14,[obscured]; and the population of the parish in 1871 was 6,965; the municipal borough, 7,007; and the parliamentary borough, 10, 034.

Parish Clerk, Robert Smith.