St Ives

"ST. IVES, a parish, seaport, market town, and parliamentary borough, locally in the hundred of Penwith, county Cornwall, 18 miles W.N.W. of Falmouth, and 20 W. of Truro. The nearest railway station is at St. Erth, on the West Cornwall line, about 3 miles distant. It is situated on the W. shore of a spacious bay of the same name, on the N.E. coast of Cornwall. The harbour is commodious and safe, and the bay is about 12 miles deep by 3½ wide from St. Ives Point to Godrevy Island. An excellent pier, defended by a battery, has been recently constructed, at the extremity of which is a lighthouse. The anchorage outside the pier is in 6 fathoms, but it is exposed to N. winds and moving sands. There are several steamers and about 150 sailing vessels belonging to the port, to which St. Agnes, Hayle, and Portreath, are subports. The principal trade is the pilchard fishery, of which from 12,000 to 20,000 hogsheads are caught from July to October, and sent for the most part to the Mediterranean. Shipbuilding is also extensively carried on, and considerable business is done in the coasting trade. Many of the inhabitants are employed in the extensive brewery, &c., or in connection with the mining speculations, of which the Trelvyan Consols, Trenwith and St. Ives Consols, are the principal mines now in operation. The metalliferous veins chiefly occur in the N.E. part of the parish, where the substratum is composed of compact and slaty felspar, abounding with actynolite, and intersected by veins of copper and tin; the subsoil in the other districts is granite or slate. The limits of the borough, which includes Lelant and Towednack, are much more extensive than those of the parish, which is bounded on the S. and W. by the above-named places, and on the other sides by the Irish Sea. The population of the parliamentary borough in 1851 was 9,872, and in 1861, 10,353, while the municipal borough contained in 1851, 6,525, and in 1861, 7,027. It was formerly called Pendennis, or Pendunes, and is a borough by prescription, first chartered by Charles I., and confirmed by James If. Before the passing of the Reform Bill it sent two members to parliament, but since one. Under the New Act it is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors, with the style of "the mayor and burgesses of the borough of St. Ives." The town is very irregularly built, and the streets narrow, but tolerably straight and well kept. It is plentifully supplied with water, lighted with gas, and is increasing. It contains a townhall, custom-house, coastguard station, and an institute with public newsroom. The living is a perpetual curacy* in the diocese of Exeter, value £160, in the patronage of the Vicar of Lelant. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is a spacious structure of the time of Henry V., with a tower 90 feet high containing a clock and two bells. In the interior are many ancient mural monuments. The register commences in the 16th century. There are four Dissenting places of worship belonging to the Wesleyans, Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, &c., also National and Wesleyan schools. The parochial charities produce about £8 per annum. The principal residences in the vicinity are Tregenna and Trenwith. Market days are Wednesday and Saturday. A fair is held on the 29th of November.

"HALSETOWN, (or Halestown), a village in the parish of St. Ives, hundred of Penwith, county Cornwall, 2 miles from St. Ives. It is situated on the W. side of St. Ives Bay, and was founded by J. Halse, Esq., late M.P. for St. Ives. The living is a perpetual curacy* in the diocese of Exeter, value £160.