St Ives, Cambridgeshire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| St. Ives | |
|
St. Ives shown within Cambridgeshire | |
| Population | 15,860 |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| District | Huntingdonshire |
| Shire county | Cambridgeshire |
| Region | East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ST IVES |
| Postcode district | PE27 |
| Dialling code | 01480 |
| Police | Cambridgeshire |
| Fire | Cambridgeshire |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| UK Parliament | Huntingdon |
| European Parliament | East of England |
| List of places: UK • England • Cambridgeshire | |
St Ives is a market town in Cambridgeshire, England, around 24 km north-west of the city of Cambridge and 110 km north of London. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Huntingdonshire.
Contents |
[edit] History
Previously called Slepe, its name was changed to St Ives after the body claimed to be that of a Persian bishop, Saint Ivo (not to be confused with Ivo of Kermartin), was found buried in the town. For the past 1,000 years it has been home to some of the biggest markets in the country, and in the thirteenth century it was an important entrepôt.
Built on the banks of the wide River Great Ouse between Huntingdon and Ely, St Ives has a famous chapel on its bridge. In the Anglo-Saxon era, St Ives's position on the river Great Ouse was strategic, as it controlled the last natural crossing point of the river. The flint reef at this point provides the foundations for the celebrated bridge.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, St Ives was a hub of trade and navigation. Goods were brought into the town on barges, and livestock rested on the last fattening grounds before delivery to London's Springfield Market. As the railway network expanded and roads improved, the use of the River Great Ouse declined. It is now mostly used for leisure and recreation.
Original historical documents relating to St Ives, including the original church parish registers, local government records, maps and photographs, are held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at the County Record Office Huntingdon.
[edit] Places of interest
The Monday market takes over the spacious town centre, and is particularly extensive on Bank Holidays (May and August). There is a Friday market, and a Farmers Market on the 1st and 3rd Saturday every month.
The Michaelmas Fair takes over for 3 days on the second Monday in October, and there is Carnival [1] and [2], the biggest public gathering in Huntingdonshire.
The trading importance of St Ives meant that it was very well provided with pubs, 66 in 1860 and 11 today. This side of its character still thrives, with many restaurants and at least three busy night-clubs.
The Norris Museum [3] holds a deal of local history, including a number of books written by its curator, Bob Burn-Murdoch. His occasional tours of the town are a treat, showing, amongst other things, how nearly every building on Market Hill has been a pub at one time or another.
There are ten places of worship, including a mosque and an Islamic Community Centre.
[edit] Communal facilities
St Ives has a main secondary school (St Ivo), 3 primary schools (Thorndown, Wheatfields and Westfield), a fire station, a police station, a bus station and 2 Post Offices.
There is an indoor recreation centre adjacent to the Burgess Hall and an outdoor recreation centre at the top end of the town. Both have football grounds, and the Colts also play football in Warners Park over the winter. The original swimming pool, fed by the river, is in the middle of Holt Island and is now used for canoeing practise and other activities.
St Ives also has a Rugby club on Somersham Road. The rugby club's junior side has been particularly successful, bringing home the first County Championship trophy in 2003. St Ives Rangers football club are also a very successful club in the area especially the u14s who have the likes of promising talents like Anthony Oliver.
[edit] St Ives's bridge with chapel
St Ives Bridge [4] has a chapel and is notable in another way. The southern two arches are different from the rest of it, rounded in form instead of being slightly gothic and pointed.
This is the shape they were rebuilt after Oliver Cromwell replaced them during the civil war with a drawbridge intended to prevent King Charles I's troops approaching London from the Royalist base in Lincolnshire.
[edit] Guided Busway
The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway [5] is a £110 million project being built to link St Ives to Cambridge along the trackbed of the disused railway. The railway to St Ives closed to passenger in the 1960s, though freight continued to be carried along some sections until early in the 1990s.
The 16 mile long concrete track will take slightly modified buses and become the longest such guided bus route in the world. The smooth and level access track alongside will make cycling the route practical for many people for the first time. The old rails between Longstanton and Cambridge have been lifted, ground-breaking started in Jan 2007 (avoiding the seasonal disturbance of bird nests). The railway bridge just outside the town has come down and the St Ives Park & Ride is scheduled to be ready September 2008. [6]
Casting the concrete sections is to be done on site at Longstanton, with the first moulding produced in June 2008. The first of two cranes has been erected to lift the sections onto delivery vehicles. A 1.5km test section will be laid between July 2007 and Dec 2007. Construction of the Longstanton to St Ives section begins March 2008 for completion in Winter 2008/2009.
The guided bus leaving St Ives will stop at Swavesey, Oakington, Histon, Arbury Park, Regional College, Science Park, Cambridge Station, Addenbrooke's, Trumpington Park & Ride. Three operators, Stagecoach, Huntingdon and District, and Whippet Coaches have committed to buying new buses and running commercial services on the scheme. The guided buses arriving from Cambridge will leave the concrete trackway at St Ives and continue to Huntingdon and Hinchingbrooke along regular roads. Major improvements have been budgeted for section of road, though the total expenditure has been cut from £18 million to £8 million.
The project has been visited by transport planners and local officials from Madrid, Linz (Austria), Livorno (Italy) and Voloz (Greece). The busway scheme is part of Transurban, a European project.
[edit] Corn Exchange
In 2001, serious structural problems were discovered with the Corn Exchange that meant it had to be closed to the public on safety grounds. The 143 year old building, located in the centre of the town, had previously entertained local arts, theatrical and musical groups, as well as markets and fairs. After a thorough and protracted analysis of the options, St Ives Town Council decided in May 2007 to dispose of the building, on the grounds that restoration costs were unaffordable from public funds.
The sale was opposed by 'ACE' (Action Corn Exchange) who proposed a solution that they felt would allow the local community and the Council to work together to obtain grant funding and donations to keep the building open. The Council's view, however, was that ACE's proposed restoration costs of £1.26m were unachievable in the light of a £1.5m - £1.6m cost suggested by their advisors, and made the decision to sell the building.[7]
The Mayor, Cllr Deborah Reynolds, made a statement that outlines the Council's position.[8]
It became apparent in late 2007 that, contrary to the reports given by the Council-employed advisers and engineers, the Corn Exchange could be brought back into use in a matter of months and that it could be done for a modest cost. Within the space of six months, a Councillor who once supported the sale of the Corn Exchange to commercial enterprises has announced, "its value to St Ives Town Council would be greater if it was repaired than left in its current dilapidated state". [9] In January 2008, the Town Council is due to consider the proposals of Mr Mike Purchas, a local businessman, who is proposing to project-manage the redevelopment of the Corn Exchange.
[edit] Flooding and pictures
St Ives has sometimes flooded, most recently at Easter 1998[1] and in January 2003.[2] Extensive flood protection works were carried out on both sides of the river in 2006/2007 at a cost of nearly £9million. 500m of brick-clad steel-piling was put into place to protect the town, most noticeably at the Waits. A further 750m on the other side of the river protects Hemingford Grey, reducing the yearly risk of flooding from 10% to 1%.[3] Building on the flood plain is now discouraged at St Ives, as everywhere else.
[edit] Mythology
The name "St Ives" is famous for the nursery rhyme/riddle "As I Was Going to St Ives". There are some who dispute whether the rhyme refers to this town or another at the furthermost tip of England.
[edit] References
- ^ Floods Easter 1998
- ^ Floods January 2003
- ^ £8.8m flood defence scheme opened - 22 June 2007.
[edit] External links
- St Ives at British Towns
- St Ives by David Bartlett
- St Ives by Philip Grosset
- St Ives Weather Station
- St Ives Town Council web-site
- Population figures
- Thorndown Community (Schools, Playgroup, Kids Club)
- Pavilion Playgroup
- St. Ives Youth Theatre
- St Ives Corn Exchange
[edit] Books on the town
St Ives, Slepe by the Ouse, by Noel Hudson. Black Bear Press, 1989, ISBN 0 9515298 0 3
