Today we spent the day in St Ives, we had read about the parking so decided to take the train which is listed as one of the most scenic railway journeys in England, unfortunately no-one told Great Western Railways this and rather like their Norwegian counterparts they hadn’t cut the bushes down so a lot of the view was of very dense foliage rather than the stunning scenery, all the same we did manage to get a good view of St Michaels Mount and some of the beaches between St Erth and St Ives. The train we got on for the first part of the journey was actually heading to Newcastle, scheduled to arrive at 17:34 (just the 8 hours after leaving Penzance but when we checked on the map it would take you 7 hours to drive as long as you didn’t get caught up in traffic so perhaps it is the right way to go after all! We arrived in St Ives about 10:00 and started walking down to the town. The beach that the train overlooks is called Porthminster named after a medieval chapel which stood here until the early fifteenth century, it was only exposed in 1870 by wind blowing the sand around, it also uncovered two stone coffins but I couldn’t find any further information on these. The first building you pass is the hotel Pendolva which is actually on the site of the engine house from a copper mine, apparently at the foot of the cliff below there are the remains of a granite wall to protect the mine from the sea. Continuing along the path brought us out by the new lifeboat station, the lifeboat seems to be moored outside the harbour, although there wasn’t an explanation as to why, the station just contained the launching tractor which looked pretty big so the boat must be of a decent size. In 1840 the first St Ives lifeboat, Hope, was operated by a local committee, it was run like this for 21 years then the RNLI took over and built a boathouse on Island Road, in 1867 a new one was built on Market Strand and rebuilt in 1911. The first motor lifeboat was introduced in 1938 which unfortunately was also the most tragic year of the lifeboats history. 2 lifeboats and 12 men were lost in separate rescues in heavy seas. In 1994 this new boathouse and slipway were built and the Mersey class lifeboat, launching tractor as well as an inshore lifeboat, workshop and crew facilities were all built, the old lifeboat station was turned into a restaurant. We walked along the front, until the sea wall was built the beach reached the doorsteps of the houses along the Shaft. As well as the Customs House, the Wharf once contained four public houses, sadly only one remains the Sloop Inn which is said to date from 1312. We carried on round the the harbour and walked down to the end of the Pier to watch the day tripper boats fill up with tourists, the boats looked quite small with very little shade and the people getting on them didn’t look like they knew what they were letting themselves in for! but we watched them head off either to go fishing or in search of seals. The Pier was built in 1767 – 70 at the cost of £10,000 and extended as far as the old lighthouse, although this wasn’t built until 1831. Three arches were built at the landward end of the Pier designed to prevent the harbour from silting up, however the currents were stopped strong it swept away small boats as well as sand so the arches were partially blocked off in 1865 and an additional pier was built to offer protection. this was know as Wood Pier, but it hardly survived 20 years before the heavy seas reduced it to its foundation! I think they have just given up now as at low tide there is definitely a sand bar in the middle of the harbour! We carried on round the beach and towards the coastguard look out station which, along with St Nicholas Chapel are on the Island called Pendinas, which apparently means fortified headland, apparently it was once an island, cut off at high tide and at low tide the only access was across what is now the road. The Victorians fortified it, although the area was decommissioned after 8 years. St Nicolas Chapel was also almost completely demolished in 1904 by the War Office, it had been used as a store but was no longer required, Edward Main rebuilt it in 1911 to commemorate the coronation of King George V, the final part of the walk took us up into the town and long Fore Street which apparently is the towns busiest shopping thoroughfare, we brought some lovely fudge and a really tasty ice cream before walking round the Market Place which is a circular building (not open) that seems to have become a roundabout! Finally we walked back down to the front, watched a seal playing by the harbour before heading off to get a drink and snack for lunch. We found a great bar that had a deck on the 1st floor giving us views over the harbour so we had a couple of drinks and something to eat then walked round the harbour again before heading back to the train to return to Penzance, another really good day, St Ives is a lot busier and far more like a ‘seaside’ town than Penzance, I liked it but I am sure in high summer it would be really hard to move because it is so busy.
