ST. IVES, CORNWALL
=How to get there.=—Train from Paddington. Great Western Rly.
=Nearest Station.=—St. Ives.
=Distance from London.=—325 miles.
=Average Time.=—About 9 hours.
1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=—Single 50s. 3d. 31s. 6d. 25s. 1-1/2d.
Return 88s. 0d. 55s. 0d. 50s. 3d.
=Accommodation Obtainable.=—"Tregenna Castle," "Porthminster,"
"Western," "Queen's," etc.
=Alternative Route.=—None.
St. Ives is a quiet, old-world fishing town on the northern coast of Cornwall. The town occupies the western limb of the wide bay of St. Ives. On the narrow neck of land joining the promontory known as The Island to the mainland, most of the houses of the fishing town are packed away in picturesque confusion, while the streets are tortuous in the extreme. On either side of this isthmus the land rises; behind it thunder the waves on Porthmeor beach; in front are the deep green waters of the harbour, protected by two piers. The beach is of firm, hard sand, upon which the boats are hauled up in safety. The fifteenth-century church, standing on the site of the former Norman chapel, is a large building near the harbour. It is said that the Norman structure was dedicated to St. Ivo, a Persian bishop, who is supposed to have Christianised the Britons in Cornwall in the ninth century, and to have erected six chapels. Others think that St. Ia was the daughter of an Irish chieftain, and was murdered at Hayle. The beautiful font is thought to be a relic from the former chapel. A fifteenth-century cross has been dug up in the churchyard and re-erected. On the island is a little building which is thought to be the remains of one of St. Ivo's chapels. There is also a fort of Cornu-British origin, and a grass-covered battery on the hill, whose green slopes are covered with fishing-nets. Half-way across the bay the river Hayle enters the sea, and at the furthest extremity is Godrevy Point with its lighthouse.
St. Ives became an important town in the time of Edward III., and its present church was erected in Henry VI.'s reign. Perkin Warbeck from Ireland and the Duke of Monmouth from Holland each landed at St. Ives on their ill-fated ventures.
During recent years St. Ives and the neighbouring fishing villages have attracted numerous artists of considerably varying merit, and an exhibition of the Royal Academy is now almost certain to contain at least one picturesque glimpse of the place.
[Illustration: Photochrom Co., Ltd.
ST. IVES.
A quaint little Cornish fishing village.]