Kernow Goth

Over recent years St Ives has been recognised world–wide as a holiday resort, attracting visitors from many countries as well as our own. Its popularity has caused problems for local families as second home owners increased, reducing available properties and raising prices. Only those living in inherited homes are secure, as perhaps their children will be in future. The town was not always so attractive though, as pictures taken at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century have shown.

Wharf Road, known as ‘Beach’, consisted mainly of dilapidated buildings overlooking a roadway just above the harbour sands, though films show that there was a Salvation Army ‘citadel’, Lifeboat and Customs Houses. Two main communities provided occupations for local people, namely fishing and mining; Downlong was where fishing families lived as it gave access to the harbour and the necessary associated industries. Traditionally ending at Market Place, it was then a short walk up High Street to the Stennack [tin] mines, while the surrounding area was known as Uplong. Mining continued as far as the large Consols Mine at Hellesveor and spread beyond it. Recently, ancient shafts from this old discarded mine have caused damage in the Ayr Estate, as have adits that ran eastward underground to empty excess mine water into the sea.

The two communities were very different, especially as miners also came from other areas looking for work: most public houses were in Downlong and at weekends, with money to spend, there could be clashes. Hamilton Jenkin reports that battles with stones and wooden swords often took place between lads of the two communities.  It has been reported that one young miner courting a Downlong maid, was warned off one night with a syringe of animal blood , which with the discharge of a pistol convinced the young man that he had been shot as blood ran from his head; a lesson learned no doubt!  Downlong is the more interesting area because of its diversity, especially at Porthgwidden, where currents swirl around its large Merryn rock. One approach to the cove is a lane past the Island gates where once large vats held liquid ‘cutch’, a tree bark used to preserve nets, the process known as ‘barking’. Nets were dried on the Island and on flat rocks on the eastern side, where the marks can still be seen.  On the Island, the town’s rubbish was taken by dustcart to a large metal tube, known as the ‘chute’, on the Porthgwidden side where it emptied into the sea. Children were warned to keep well away because of the dangers, but who is to say that some hardy boys would see that as a challenge! In a field below stood a large hut built 150 years before as a refuge for Protestant Huguenots fleeing from France after suffering religious prosecution during the reign of Louis XIV.  As they proceeded to integrate locally, it was used by Breton fishermen for living in and storing gear on their annual summer visits; it seems there was no love lost between the two groups who were rivals in fishing. The hut was then used as an animal shelter before disintegrating. Another approach to the cove is through Burrow Road with Carncrows Street [carn–rock, crows–cross] so called because of a cross reported to have once stood there, the last houses on the right hand side before Porthgwidden. At the back of this ‘row’ , one of three,  was a piece of waste ground known as Bird Bank where, it has been said, in hard and hungry times wild birds were caught there for food, using a ‘kep’ [net]. There were three kippering houses in the approach to Porthgwidden; William Rouncefield’s, built in 1894, and on the right hand side  was the largest, Woodgers [which became MacFisheries] while opposite was William Veal’s smokehouse. Later, near the descent to the beach, the Polmear brothers worked as engineers in a large shed: with more vessels being fitted with engines after the 1st World War, they were, no doubt, much in demand. Further east the land sloped so gently to the sea that it was possible to wade into it by being careful of the many rocks. Known as Breakwater, this was where unwanted items were thrown into the water; with no indoor toilets, chamber pots were regularly emptied under cover of darkness. Opposite, high soaring cliffs were ideal for what can only be described as a shanty town that nestled into them. Here men who were retired or had time on their hands carried on their hobbies in spaces divided up between them. Popular pets were canaries, budgies and rabbits with a number of pigeons; tarpaulins could be drawn over them when necessary against rain or cold, and for the men-only community it became a social meeting place where they could smoke their pipes and exchange yarns. Only the name remains, the high cliffs now shelter a large car park.

Improvements to Wharf Road were begun in 1914, but were interrupted by the war, although restored afterwards. Rose Lodge, said to have been named after a dog whose owner lived in Court Cocking opposite, was joined with the Shore Shelter, known to previous generations as Hart’s Shop because of a blacksmith who worked there. All traffic had to go through Fore Street before the road was completed in 1928, with railings and a bandstand added later. The building of council houses also began before the war intruded, with some families already settled on the Ayr Estate. Older homes around the Sloop Inn were torn down with the loss of the ancient Pudding Bag Lane, ‘in one way and out the same’, where a large car park now exists.  Most homes were rented out, usually by representatives of wealthy families such as the Earls of Mornington, so now it was in the council’s interest to supply housing whereby rent money would eventually show a profit for its outlay.  People living in cramped conditions, many with large families and few facilities, were only too glad to move to new homes, attracted by more space and the lure of a bathroom. It must have been tiring for fishermen though, with a long uphill walk home, which is why many remained in Downlong for years: but changing circumstances, such as the decline in fishing and mining led eventually to the break-up of both strong communities, leaving houses empty and available to any absent new owner for holiday lettings, while many Downlong streets are dark and deserted in winter.

St Ives is now a very different town, with different people and accents, but without the local characters who lightened the days of long ago; humour though, can still be found all around us, especially in summer!