Cornwall Attractions

St Ives (Cornish: Porth Ia) is a seaside town, civil
parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
The town lies north of Penzance and west of
Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea.

In former times it was commercially dependent on
fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a
shift in commercial emphasis and the town is now
primarily a popular holiday resort, notably achieving
the award 'Best UK Seaside Town' from the British Travel Awards in both 2010 and 2011.

St Ives was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1639. It has become renowned for its number of artists and was named best seaside town of 2007 by the Guardian newspaper. The origin of St Ives is attributed in legend to the arrival of the Irish Saint Ia of Cornwall, in the 5th century. The parish church in St Ives still bears the name of this saint, and the name St Ives itself derives from it.

From medieval times fishing was important at St Ives; it was the most important fishing port on the north coast. In 1847 the exports of pilchards from Cornwall amounted to 122 million fish.
St Ives fisherman strictly observed Sunday as a day of rest. St Ives was a very busy fishing port and seining was the usual method of fishing there. Seining was carried on by a set of three boats of different sizes, the largest two carrying seine nets
of different sizes. The total number of crew was 17 or 18.
However this came to an end in 1924.

The bulk of the catch was exported to Italy.

Click here to view a map of St Ives
and all the local visitor attractions.