St Ives Photo Album - Before 1910

St Ives Photo Album - Before 1910

The Thicket path to Church Street

The Thicket path.

Noble's Field.

At the time this photo was taken the water meadow known as Noble's Field was still owned and used by the Noble family for their dairy business, selling fresh milk around the town centre straight from the urn. The field was bought by St Ives Town Council from the family for the benefit of the residents of the town.

Barnes Walk in 1906.

All Saints Parish Church. For current view click here.

The area to the left of the Parish Church was once one of the poorest and most densely populated areas of St Ives. Poor Folk's Square was shown on Pettis' 1728 map, part cleared in the early 1800s to extend the church graveyard. Henry Armstead, the last and youngest St Ivian to be transported to Australia, was born and lived in Poor Folk's Square.

The Vicarage, Westwood Road, c1883.

The beautiful old vicarage was demolished in the 1960s, replaced by a more utilitarian building. Its large garden was sold off to developers who built a series of flat roofed flats, some on stilts.

Westwood Road, 1880s. For current view, click here.

In the above photograph, the large house on the right is believed to be Westwood Farm, formerly West End Farm. From the 1870s this was home to John and Ann Anderson and their thirteen children. The building was knocked down in 1968.

Holt Island

Employees of John Harrison, basket maker, willow cutting on Holt Island.

Workers stripping the willow wands.

Barges loaded with bolts of willow.

The Harrison family started making baskets from willow grown on Holt Island in 1877. Workers cut and bundled willow, loading bolts onto barges for transportation across the river to the inlet located beside today's Dolphin Hotel. Willow wands were made flexible by soaking in long channels that are still visible in the field in front of Filbert's Walk (see photo under Filbert's Walk), where John Harrison and his brother Charles lived in the late 1800s. They were then woven into baskets for the fruit and potato trade, bicycles, laundry, the post office and fire service.

The Waits

The Waits, 1890s.

Old Methodist Church, The Waits. For current view, click here.

The original Methodist Church shown above was built in 1815, although St Ives Methodists had been meeting since 1784 in members' houses and a barn. It was replaced in 1905 by the present carrstone building.

Organ grinder on The Waits.

Organ grinders were a common sight at events in the 1800s and early 1900s. This grinder was photographed on The Waits, probably on market day. They're not collecting for charity, as would be the case today. After cranking the organ to collect a few coins they would move to another location to avoid arrest for loitering or being chased by residents who didn't appreciate the same repetitive tune. As often as not they'd be paid to stop playing.

Grinding the organ and pushing the contraption to its next location was hard work, unheard of for a woman. Look more closely at the adult. Could the person be a heavily made up man dressed in women's clothing, a 'dame' popular in British theatre from the 1800s onwards, the aim being to increase collections?

The Broadway

The bullock market in The Broadway, early 1880s.

The above image was taken on a Monday, when the town was taken over by more than 10,000 livestock. Approaches to the town centre would be flooded with cattle, sheep, pigs (hence Pig Lane), horses, chickens, ducks etc. all awaiting sale. The town's population was just 3,000. Dealers came from far and wide to buy for London markets.

The bullock market was held in The Broadway until 1886, when the new cattle market opened at the other end of the town. Many of these cattle were driven for weeks from as far away as Ireland and Scotland. Arriving some time before their sale date, they were fattened up in the water meadows surrounding St Ives. One young resident wrote of falling asleep on Sunday evenings to the sound of cattle lowing in Hemingford Meadow. How were the streets cleaned after market day? Ever resourceful, the Town Council sold the rights to collect cattle droppings. No surprise to learn St Ives has a good collection of bootscrapers.

The gentleman towards the front left in the black apron is believed to be John Anderson, butcher and town councillor.

The Broadway early 1900s. For current view, click here.

The Broadway early 1900s. For current view, click here.

The Victoria Jubilee Monument, The Broadway. For current view, click here.

At the end of The Broadway is the Victoria Jubilee Monument, unveiled on 30 June 1902. The event it was erected to celebrate, Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee, was actually in 1897. Elliott Odams, a wine and spirit merchant, took a fancy to a Jubilee Memorial he saw whilst on holiday in the Isle of Wight and decided St Ives deserved an identical monument. Since Elliott was paying, there was little objection locally.

By the time work was completed Queen Victoria had died and a celebration of her jubilee seemed inappropriate. Elliott decided to present the Memorial to St Ives on another day of celebration, the coronation of Victoria's son, Edward VII.

Even then things didn't go smoothly. The inscription on the Memorial already showed an unveiling date of 26 June 1902, being the expected coronation date. When Edward suffered a bout of appendicitis requiring surgery the coronation was postponed. The unveiling finally went ahead on 30 June 1902 and the coronation on 9 August 1902.

The Broadway looking back towards All Saints Parish Church.

Merryland

Merryland.

The Cherry Tree, one of St Ives' lost pubs, is shown halfway down on the left. For more information see St Ives Photo Album - Pubs and Shops. There's also a good view of the clock tower in Bridge Street. See the Bridge Street section below for more information about the clock tower.

Crown Street

The Old Courthouse, Crown Street, 1866. For current view, click here.

Built as early as the 1400s, the Old Courthouse shown above just right of centre included a cellar used as cells. The rooms fronting Crown Street were used for administration, the ground floor latterly a shop. The actual courtroom was a hall behind the building in which, amongst others, pie powder courts were held. The building was pulled down just after this photograph was taken.

Bridge Street

Bridge Street. For current view, click here.

Fishing in the River Great Ouse was far more popular a century ago. Note the roach poles leaning against the building on the right. The Kiddle coach family were originally cabinet makers and upholsterers, their shop shown on the right.

Bridge Street on market day. For current view, click here.

The basket stall on the right is that of Charles Bullard, possibly Charles himself posing in the bowler hat. Owner of a successful basket weaving business in St Ives, Charles was also a keen cycler and inventor of the treaded tyre, today a feature of all forms of transport. News of his missed opportunity to become a very wealthy man was syndicated around the world. Just a few years after the above photograph was taken he was declared bankrupt. Charles and his family ended up emigrating to America.

Bridge Street c1900. For current view, click here.

Bridge Street, before 1890. For current view, click here.

Robert Kiddle's furniture shop in Bridge Street. Note the clock tower, erected in 1802. It was dismantled in 1922 after becoming unsafe. There's an image of the dismantling work in the St Ives Photo Album - 1920 to 1939.

Bridge Street, 1898. For current view, click here.

Bridge Street c1900. For current view click here.

Note the man in the middle of the street, shovelling horse poo into the back of his cart. Animal droppings were no small problem in St Ives. In addition to daily horse transport, every Monday over 10,000 cattle, sheep, pigs and horses attended the livestock market. The Town Council, ever thrifty, sold the rights to gather droppings in the town centre. They were a valuable commodity for enriching the local allotments and smallholding. Now you know why St Ives has some rather ornate boot scrapers, which can be viewed by clicking here.

Bridge Street. For current view, click here.

On the left of the above photograph is Wadsworth's cart loaded with boxes of  ginger beer, soda water and lemonade bottles. John Wadsworth started his business manufacturing and selling mineral water from The Manor House, 1 Bridge Street, St Ives in 1869. The family firm are still trading today as wine and spirit merchants located in The Broadway.

Edward Collinson, standing in his shop entrance on the right, was a 'fish and ice merchant'. Edward was originally from Grimsby, home to the world's largest fishing fleet. Moving his wife and seven children to St Ives before 1900, he took advantage of rail transport to supply fresh fish from his home town to the residents of St Ives.

Celebrating the first Empire Day, Bridge Street, 1902. For current view, click here.

St Ives bridge

St Ives bridge. For current view, click here.

At the time of this photograph what is now the chapel on the bridge was occupied as a private residence. The top storey was removed and the building restored to a chapel in 1930. To learn more about the bridge and chapel, click here.

The White Horse Hotel, just over St Ives Bridge, pre 1910. For current view, click here.

The earliest record of The White horse is from a reported murder in 1663. It continued to operate as licensed premises with accommodation until 1914. At the start of WWI the military authorities took it over to billet soldiers sent to St Ives for training. The White Horse never reopenend after the war and was used as private accommodation thereafter.

Filbert's Walk

A rather gentrified image of Filbert's Walk before 1910, residents in their Sunday best.

Employees of John Harrison preparing willow for basket making in the field beside Filbert's Walk.

The Quay and Wellington Street

The Quay, 1891.

St Ivians await the next ice-skating race. The course started just beyond the bridge at Hemingford Meadow, swept under the bridge and ran down to the Staunch. Some eager casual skaters made it all the way to St Neots.

River Great Ouse and The Quay, 1891.

The winter of 1890/91 was particularly severe, the River Great Ouse freezing over with up to nine inches of ice. Average temperatures across East Anglia were -1°C from November to January. The above image shows Ted Worts with his son, Ernest, testing the thickness of the ice. Ted was a castrator from Fenstanton before he became licensee of The Dolphin some time in the late 1880s. Tragedy hit the family in 1904, when both father and son died through illness.

River Great Ouse, 1891.

The thaw sets in, sending huge ice floes surging toward the bridge, piling up almost to the height of the parapet. Today a bowler hat may suggest a city gent, but in the Victorian era it was everyday wear for working men. The photo above, taken from Hemingford Meadow, shows young St Ives men sporting not just bowler hats but also the fashionable walking stick of the time.

St Ives bridge and quay, taken from Tommy Doo's boatyard.

Wellington Street, looking back towards The Quay. For current view, click here.

The above photograph was taken from outside the Oliver Cromwell pub. The rather ornate bracket was transferred from The Ship, located at 4 The Quay, when that pub closed in the 1890s. The bracket has been fixed but the Oliver Cromwell sign still hanging today has yet to be installed.

Behind the photographer is Wellington Lane, originally called Magpie Alley, being the narrow footpath leading up to The Ridings.

The new cattle market

Opening day 1886, taken by Herbert Norris from the Free Church tower.

The new cattle market and sheep market, 1890s. For current view, click here.

The new cattle market, 1890s

For 700 years livestock was sold in the streets of St Ives every Monday. It's not hard to imagine the sanitary problems this caused. When it opened its own cattle market Cambridge saw an opportunity to steal St Ives' trade, questioning the continuance of the old market. Closure was threatened by none less than the Privy Council. St Ives Corporation needed to respond quickly.

Within twelve months, under the direction of Frank Warren, Mayor of St Ives, and with the support of the Duke of Manchester, the new cattle market was opened in October 1886 at a cost of £15,000 (today £2m). Described as one of the best cattle markets in England, it was perfectly positioned adjoining a large pond (Darwood's Pond, now a carpark), with three railway connections and hotels nearby. To read 1886 newspaper reports of the market's opening, including photographs of the leading men, the original plans and interesting historical facts, click St Ives cattle market.

In the 1890s Irish traders deserted St Ives for Cambridge. Improving road and railway networks meant animals could be transported much more quickly and directly to major towns and cities. The livestock market staggered on for another 90 years until the pens were finally closed for business in 1976.

Market Hill

Sheep market, Market Hill, 1880. For current view, click here.

Market Hill, 1880s. For current view, click here.

Celebrating Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, The Pavement, 1897. For current view, click here.

Market Hill, 1890s. For current view, click here.

Market Hill, c1900. For current view, click here.

Unveiling of Cromwell's Statue, Market Hill, 23 Oct 1901.

Unveiling of Cromwell's Statue, Market Hill, 23 Oct 1901. For current view, click here.

Proposed by historian Thomas Carlyle, designed by F W Pomeroy, Cromwell's statue is one of five in the UK, though the only one funded by public subscription.

Cromwell was born and educated in Huntingdon and made his civil war plans in the Falcon Inn on Market Square. Three hundred years later mention of his name still generated strong feelings. A public subscription was abandoned in 1899 when the people of Huntingdon refused to support it.

Although Cromwell had lived in St Ives for only six years, many of the town's residents saw a chance, raised the funds and the statue of Cromwell was unveiled in 1901, in imperious pose with bible and sword. To read a florid account of the unveiling by the Guardian, click here.

Market Hill, 1901. For current view, click here.

Market Hill, pre 1910. For current view, click here.

Market Hill, pre 1910. For current view, click here.

Market Hill, pre 1910. For current view, click here.

Market Hill, pre 1910. For current view, click here.

Market Hill, pre 1910. For current view, click here.

Market Hill, c1900. For current view, click here.

Market Hill, 1901. For current view, click here.

Market Hill, pre 1910. For current view, click here.

West Street / East Street

West Street, pre 1910. For current view, click here.

Although the main Monday livestock market activity took place in The Broadway (from 1886 the new cattle market) and Market Hill, other streets were used. The image above shows the sale of horses in West Street.

Needingworth Road

Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Needingworth Road, 1902. For current view, click here.

The above image shows the Sacred Heart Church in the year it was dismantled brick by brick from Cambridge, transported by barge and reconstructed within five months. Following the building of a newer church, St Andrews in Cambridge was surplus to requirements. Designed by the famous architect Pugin, the building was bought for £1,000 by George Paulin, a local businessman.

St Audrey Lane

Cromwell's Barn, St Audrey Lane. For current view, click here.

The above is an early photo of Cromwell's Barn. Oliver Cromwell was reputed to have lived for a period at Wood Farm, possibly the same location as Green End Farm. He was supposed to have drilled his troops in the barn that stood just beyond the junction of Ramsey Road and St Audrey Lane. The barn probably dated from the 1500s. Although in good condition and protected by a conservation order, it was demolished early one Sunday morning in 1964. There are two later photos of the barn in the St Ives Photo Album - 1920 to 1939.

Victoria Terrace, Hemingford Grey

Victoria Terrace, Hemingford Grey, 1900. For current view, click here.

The 1900 flood was even worse than the disaster of 1877, exceeding the previous height by an inch. In St Ives several feet of water flooded the Waits, Wellington Street and Priory Road. Inhabitants moved their belongings and lived in the upper rooms. Residents in Woolpack Lane used planks laid on packing boxes to reach their homes. The St Ives Workhouse was flooded. The above image shows all 38 houses in Victoria Terrace flooded, with provisions delivered by boat.