St Ives is a working harbour town on the north coast of Cornwall, built around a small quay on the western side of St Ives Bay. In Kernewek it is Porth Ia, the cove of Saint Ia, the saint the parish church is named for. The town made its living from the pilchard shoals long before it made its name in art, and the two histories sit side by side today: a harbour that still fills with boats, and a Tate gallery above the beach at Porthmeor.
The harbour
The pier that shelters the harbour was designed by the engineer John Smeaton and completed in 1770, and it is still the town's front door, with boats working from it as they always have. For generations the catch was pilchards, salted, pressed and shipped out, and the narrow streets behind the harbour were built for the families who worked them.
The artists
The railway changed the town's luck. The branch line from St Erth opened in 1877, and it brought artists with it; by the 1880s painters were settling in the town, drawn by the light that comes off the sea. The St Ives Society of Artists was founded in 1927.
Barbara Hepworth moved to St Ives in 1939 and lived and worked in the town until her death in 1975. Her studio and sculpture garden remain there, run by Tate, and Tate St Ives itself opened in 1993 above Porthmeor.
The town today
Four beaches edge the town: Porthmeor, Porthgwidden, Porthminster and the harbour beach. On the headland called The Island, the small chapel of St Nicholas looks back over the rooftops. The harbour is still a working one, and the art is part of the weather here now rather than a chapter that closed.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Ives,_Cornwall
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smeaton%27s_Pier
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Ives_Bay_Line
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Ives_Society_of_Artists
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Hepworth
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tate_St_Ives
Last checked: 2026-10-11