St Ives, Cornwall

St Ives
St Ives Harbour and Porthminster Beach
St Ives
Location within Cornwall
Population10,748 (Parish, 2021)[1]
5,410 (Built up area, 2021)[2]
OS grid referenceSW518403
Civil parish
  • St Ives
Unitary authority
  • Cornwall
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townST. IVES
Postcode districtTR26
Dialling code01736
PoliceDevon and Cornwall
FireCornwall
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament
  • St Ives

St Ives (Cornish: Porthia,[3] meaning "St Ia's cove") is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times, it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial emphasis, and the town is now primarily a popular seaside resort. It is notable in achieving the title of Best UK Seaside Town from the British Travel Awards in both 2010 and 2011.[4][5][6] It was named best seaside town of 2007 by The Guardian newspaper.[7]

St Ives has become renowned for its number of artists, and is home to the Tate St Ives gallery,[8] among other artistic outlets.

The town was incorporated as a borough in 1639.[9][10] As well as St Ives itself, the parish also includes Carbis Bay, Lelant and adjoining rural areas. At the 2021 census the population of the parish was 10,748 and the population of the St Ives built up area as defined by the Office for National Statistics was 5,410.

  1. ^ "2021 Census Parish Profiles". NOMIS. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 31 March 2025. (To get individual parish data, use the query function on table PP002.)
  2. ^ "Towns and cities, characteristics of built-up areas, England and Wales: Census 2021". Census 2021. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  3. ^ "Akademi Kernewek - Henwyn Tyller". Archived from the original on 29 April 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  4. ^ "British Travel Awards 2010". The British Travel Awards. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  5. ^ "The BTA winners". Just About Travel. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  6. ^ "St Ives wins travel award". The Queens Hotel St. Ives. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  7. ^ Herd, Mike (13 July 2007). "St Ives named best seaside town". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  8. ^ "History of the Tate St Ives". Tate. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  9. ^ "Stories of Old St Ives, Cornwall". St Ives Cornwall. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  10. ^ "St. Ives". History of Parliament. Retrieved 31 March 2019.