In 2023, St Ives Town Council approached the Trustees of St Ives Archive and offered them a permanent home – Market House in Market Place. It is a perfect partnership, enabling the guardians of St Ives history to breathe life once again into this important building, which was Grade II listed in 1972.
The Market House has been the home of commerce and administration in St Ives since 1490. The original building was made of wood with an open ground floor which provided a sheltered area for trading. In 1832 this building was demolished and replaced by the larger granite building that exists today. The rounded ends of Market House, which gives the building such a distinctive shape, were designed for a specific purpose. The rounded ends allowed space for carts carrying ships’ masts to and from the Harbour to negotiate around the tight corners of St Ives’ streets.
The first floor of the new Market House became the Town Hall. It became both the council chamber for St Ives Town Council and also the Magistrate’s Court until the new Guildhall was built in Street an Pol and the Municipal Offices relocated there in 1940.
Since it was founded in 1996, St Ives Archive has never had a permanent home. Wesley Methodist Church in Carbis Bay is currently its third location, and to move back into St Ives was always the aim of the Archive. So when the Archive Trustees were approached by the town council with the offer to move into the first floor of Market House, they were delighted to accept. The proposal is subject to raising the necessary funding, with the aim of completion in 2025. Applications for a St Ives Enterprise grant and the Government’s Community Ownership Fund are being prepared.
Archive volunteers were the first members of the public to have an escorted tour of the premises. An Open Day hosted by the Archive was held on 15th December 2023, and the response from the many visitors was overwhelmingly positive towards the move. On Thursday 28th March 2024, from 10am until 3pm, St Ives Archive will once again open the doors of Market House and hold a second Open Day with the co-operation of the Town Council.
It will be an opportunity to see the historic first floor – complete with the ceremonial chair and cells – before the first floor is closed for renovation. Refreshments will be available on the Open Day and a selection of Archive publications will be on sale. Volunteers will be there to give information and answer questions about the Archive and also to extend a warm welcome to any prospective volunteers. Volunteers are the life blood of the Archive and each one is valued for their commitment, time and skills at every level. This is an exciting time to join the team of enthusiastic volunteers and to experience being part of this unique project of relocation and the creation of a new Heritage and Study Centre.
By: Wendy Grove
This article was originally published in the March / April 2024 issue of St Ives Local magazine.
Image: Market Place, St Ives pictured in April 2010. Market House and Moffat Gallery can be seen on the right with St Eia House and No Worries souvenir shop on the left (Source: Wikimedia Commons).
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[…] welcoming space for both visitors and the local community. At the same time, we wish to retain the historic heritage of the building once home to the Town Council before 1939 and where a Magistrates court was regularly held. The […]