St Ives Guide Cornwall

UK Guides: St. Ives, Cornwall

St. Ives

Jake Davies

St. Ives is a seaside resort on the spectacular north coast of Cornwall. Repeatedly voted best seaside town in the UK in numerous surveys, St. Ives has beaches, cliffs, a picturesque harbour and old town but is also renowned as a center for the arts.

St. Ives, Cornwall. — St. Ives, Cornwall

St. Ives Harbour, Cornwall, UK. — St. Ives Harbour, Cornwall

St. Ives History

The origin of St. Ives lies in the fifth or sixth century with the arrival of St. Ia from Ireland. One of many Christian missionaries that came from Ireland to the area, according to legend she was the daughter of an Irish chieftain.

Supposedly she is buried beneath the church named after her, St Ia Church, in the town center and the name St. Ives is a derivation of her name. During the medieval period St. Ives prospered as a fishing port eventually becoming the most important port on the north coast of Cornwall.

St. Ives from the pier, Cornwall, UK. — St. Ives from the pier, Cornwall

The stone pier dates from the 18th century and the amount of fish landed, primarily pilchards, continued to increase through the 19th century. In 1877 a branch line of the London to Penzance Great Western Railway was built connecting St. Ives to St. Erth and so St. Ives began its rise as a seaside resort.

Over the following decades the fish stocks became depleted and the tourism increased. In the mid twentieth century many artists moved to the St. Ives area attracted by the quality of light.

St Ia Parish Church of St. Ives, Cornwall, UK. — St Ia Parish Church of St. Ives, Cornwall

Beaches

Being a seaside resort, beaches are one of the main attractions and St. Ives boasts some of the cleanest seas in western Europe, perfect for swimming, surfing, or sunbathing.

Porthmeor Beach is suitable for surfing as well as swimming and has facilities nearby. Portminster Beach is half a mile of fine sand and is also served by nearby facilities.

Porthgwidden Beach and Bamaluz Beach are both in small sheltered coves, and the harbor itself has a fine beach at low tide.

St. Ives is on the Southwest Coast Path so that path can be walked in either direction, though it is usually suggested taking a bus to Zennor and walking back because of the infrequency of the buses.

There are several suggested short walks around the town itself, and the recently re-opened St. Michaels Way, a 12 miles route across the peninsula to St. Michael's Mount. This is an ancient route used by pilgrims from Ireland and Wales heading to Santiago de Compostela in Spain who wished to avoid the treacherous sea passage around Land's End.

Tate St. Ives, Cornwall, UK. — Tate St. Ives, Cornwall

Galleries & Museums

There are numerous art galleries in the town, but the three most important are the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Tate St. Ives, and the Leach Pottery.

The jewel in the crown is the Hepworth site, set in the house and gardens where the famous sculptress lived and died. The Tate, the second of its provincial galleries, opened in 1993 and exhibits national and international artists as well as shows based on artists who made St. Ives their home.

Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada established the Leach Pottery in 1920 and went on to become one of the most influential studio potteries in the world and was a big influence on the mingei folk arts movement in Japan. The pottery is still active today and also has a small museum of works produced by Leach & Hamada as well as eminent students of theirs.

Entertainment & Accommodation

Being a resort, the town is well served with eating and drinking establishments. There are cafes, pasty shops, fish & chip shops and a complete range of restaurants. There are numerous pubs, including the Sloop Inn (Tel: 01736 796584) right at the harbor which has been a pub for over 700 years since 1312.

There are a complete range of accommodation options including campsites, caravan parks, hostels, self catering cottages, guest houses and hotels that range from budget to luxury.

Some good places to stay in St. Ives are the refurbished Primrose Valley Hotel close to Porthminster Beach and the nearby St Ives Harbour Hotel & Spa with terrace bar and restaurant.

See here for a listing of hotels and guesthouses in St Ives.

St Ives Access - Getting To St Ives

St. Ives is 5 hours by train from London Paddington on the First Great Western, changing at St. Erth. A good option is to take the overnight Night Riviera Sleeper Service (www.gwr.com/plan-journey/journey-information/on-board/night-riviera-sleeper) which leaves at 11:45 pm and gets you to St. Ives at 8.14 am the next morning.

Exeter in Devon, located at the end of the M5 motorway, coming south from Bristol makes for a good starting point if you are driving into Cornwall. Exeter is also a good place to hire a car.

From Exeter follow the A30 dual carriageway, north of Dartmoor through Okehampton, Launceston, Bodmin and Redruth.

Leave the A30 at the junction of the A3074 to St. Ives.

Hire a car in St Ives to explore the south west of England.

St Ives, Cornwall, UK. — St Ives, Cornwall

Exeter International Airport, just 5 miles to the east of Exeter city near Clyst Honiton off the A30 has regular domestic flights to Aberdeen, Alicante, Belfast, Edinburgh, Faro, Geneva, Guernsey/Jersey, the Isles of Scilly, Leeds Bradford, Manchester and Newcastle. International destinations include Amsterdam, Dubrovnik, Dublin, Funchal, Hannover, Larnaca, Nice, Palma, Paris, Malaga and Salzburg.

National Express coaches take about 8-10 hours to St. Ives from either Birmingham or London Victoria Bus Station.

Local buses from St. Ives run direct to Penzance with others going round the coast via Zennor. Local buses also connect St. Ives to Truro.

Newquay Cornwall Airport (NQY) has connecting flights to Bristol Airport, Cardiff, Glasgow, Isles of Scilly, Leeds Bradford, London Gatwick, Manchester Airport, Newcastle and international flights to Cork and Dublin in Ireland as well as seasonal flights to Alicante in Spain with Ryanair and Dusseldorf in Germany with Lufthansa.

Most UK flights are operated by Air Southwest. The airport offers airport parking for over 500 cars.

There is a passenger ferry from Penzance to the Scilly Isles. The Scillonian III passenger ferry takes between 2 hours 40 minutes and 3 hours. (Timetable)

There are Skybus flights to the Scilly Isles from Exeter, Newquay and Land's End airports.