IVES (ST), a parish and borough and sea-port and market-town,
possessing separate jurisdiction, though locally
in the hundred of Penwith,
county of CORNWALL,
8 miles (N. B. by N.) from
Penzance, and 278 (W.S.W.)
from London, containing
3526 inhabitants. The ancient
name of this place was
Forth-la, derived from St.
jjya, or la, the- daughter
of an Irish chieftain, who, about the middle of the
fifth century, visiting Cornwall with some Christian
missionaries, died and was buried here, and being
afterwards canonized, the parish church was originally
dedicated to her. In the beginning of the reign of Edward
VI., the portreeve of this town, whose name was
Payne, was hanged, by order of the Provost-marshal,
Sir Anthony Kingston, on account of having
been engaged in the rebellion under Humphrey Arundel,
the governor of St. Michael's Mount. The town.is
situated on the western side of a bay to which it gives
name, and which opens to the Bristol channel. At the
entrance to it from Redruth most of the houses are
well built and roofed with slate; but in the lower part
of the town the streets are narrow and uneven; they
are not lighted, nor regularly paved, but there is a good
supply of water. The general appearance is mean, except
when viewed from the surrounding heights, whence
the prospect is extremely picturesque. A good pier was
erected for the improvement of the harbour, in 1770, by
Mr. Smeaton, the builder of Eddystone lighthouse. The
pier originally belonged to the corporation, who still receive
a rent of £25 per annum from the proprietors of
the hew pier. This port, like most of those on the
northern coast of the county, is incommoded by the
constant accumulation of sand, driven in by the northwest
winds; to prevent which it has been proposed to
extend the pier, and construct a breakwater: the latter
was commenced a few years ago, but was discontinued
after an expenditure of about £5000. Ship-building
and rope and sail-making are carried on here; but the
trade depends chiefly on the neighbouring mines and
fisheries; the commercial imports consisting almost
wholly of articles for the use of the miners and fishermen,
and the exports being derived from the produce
of their industry. The number of vessels which entered
this port in 1826, was five British and six foreign,
and -the number that cleared outwards was twelve British
and six foreign: the number of vessels belonging
to the port in 1828, was, seven of more than one
hundred tons burden, and severity-seven below that
rate. By means of this shipping, commercial intercourse
isextensively maintained with the merchants of
Bristol, to whom is consigned the produce of the neighbouring
mines by agents residing at St. Ives. Off the
coast the pilchard fishery is carried on upon a very
large scale; arid during the season. Which lasts from
July till the end-of -November, in some years-, the quantity
of fish taken and cured has been sufficient to fill
three thousand five hundred hogsheads, which are
chiefly exported to Italy, and other parts bordering
on the Mediterranean. The valleys in the vicinity
of the town are watered by small streams, the currents
of which work the machinery used in prepar
ing for the market copper and tin ores, and they also
turn several corn-mills. On a peninsular promontory
extending northwards from the town was formerly a
light-house, now used for preserving government stores;
and near it is a battery for the defence of the harbour.
Markets are held by charter on "Wednesday and Saturday,
but that on the former day is inconsiderable; there
were anciently four fairs, but those only deserving
notice are, on the 29th of May and the Saturday before
Advent Sunday. The town is said to have been anciently
governed by a portreeve: it was first incorporated
by a charter dated in the 16th of Charles I., and under a
subsequent charter granted by James II., in 1685, the
corporation consists of a mayor, recorder, ten aldermen
(exclusively of the mayor), and an unlimited number
of common council-men, with a town-clerk and other
officers. The mayor is elected by a majority of the aldermen
and assistants, or common council-men, from
two persons nominated by the aldermen, who are chosen
by their own body from the assistants, and the latter
by the mayor, recorder, and aldermen: the recorder
is elected by the aldermen, who also form a select
vestry, and manage the affairs of the parish. The
mayor, the late mayor, the recorder, and the senior alderman,
are justices of the peace, and hold quarterly
courts of session for misdemeanors committed within
the borough. No courts of record are now held, though
it appears the justices have power to take cognizance
of suits for sums to an unlimited amount: courts baron
for the manor are held annually. The borough has
sent members to parliament since the 5th of Philip arid
Mary; the right of election is vested in the inhabitants
paying scot and lot, between three and four hundred
in number; and the mayor isthe returning officer; the
patronage of the borough belongs to the Marquis of
Cleveland.
The living is a perpetual curacy, annexed to the
vicarage of Uny Lelant, in the archdeaconry of Cornwall,
and diocese of Exeter, endowed with £2000 four
per cents., royal bounty. The church, dedicated to St.
Andrew, is a handsome edifice with a lofty tower, erected
as a chapel of ease to Uny Lelant, in the early part of
the fifteenth century. Here are places of worship for
the late Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion, and for
Wesleyan Methodists. An endowed grammar school
was formerly established here, but the property belonging
to it has been lost. There is a charity school
for boys, which was founded and supported by the late
Sir Christopher Hawkins, Bart. Almshouses for six
poor widows were founded by Mrs. Cheston Hext, in
1649, which, having become ruinous, were sold by the
corporation, and the produce applied to the building of
a poor-house. A whimsical custom was established here
by John Knill, Esq., a bencher of Gray's Inn, and some
time collector for the port of St. Ives; who-died in 1811:
he directed that, every five years, two old women, and
ten girls under ten years old, dressed in white, should
walk in procession, with music, from the market-house
at St. Ives, to a pyramid which he erected on the summit
of a lofty hill near the town, and which he designed for
his burial-place; they were to dance round the pyramid;
singing the hundredth psalm j and for the purpose
of keeping up this custom he gave an annuity charged
on freehold lands, which are vested in the trust of the
officiating-minister, the mayor of St. Ives, and the collector
s who are allowed £ 10 for a dinner. At St. Ives
was born, in 1713, the Rev. Jonathan Toup, a celebrated
critic, who published an edition of Longinus, and other
learned works.