So productive were the offshore waters that sixteen and a half million fish were caught in one net in a single day in 1868. At the time it was reported that the smell of fish was so great at times as to stop the church clock! By the beginning of the 20th century, the fish stocks became depleted, the fishing fleet largely disappeared and the town has became famous for its vibrant artists' colony.

Dating back to the first days of Christianity in Britain St Ives is named after a young woman missionary called St Ia who, according to local legend, floated from Ireland on a leaf and gave her name to the settlement. For much of its history St Ives has been a fishing port, home to about a 1000 fishing families who earned a living catching the local Mackerel, Herring and Pilchards.

Much of the town’s historical charm remains in the granite cottages and the labyrinth of lanes and alleys in the area still known as “Down-Long” or “Downalong”. Traditionally the old fishermen's quarter around the harbour Downlong is a jumble of cobbled streets and lanes with quaint names such as Virgin Street, Love Lane, Tee-Total Street, Bethesda Place, Mount Zion and Court Cocking.

 

Other street names in the Downalong area of St Ives such as Fish Street, Wheal Dream, Teetotal Street and Salubrious Place are street names that point to centuries of fishing, tin-mining and Methodism in this area. Many of these lanes will lead you to one of the lovely beaches which have surrounded St Ives for centuries.

Images used with kind permission of the St Ives Museum
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