St Ives Archive
St Ives Archive is delighted to have their first Secret Photo Show featured in the St Ives Times & Echo and The Cornishman. If you missed reading about the recent photography show in print, we have shared digital copies of the articles below. A special thank you to Archive Trustee Celeste Allen for bringing the idea to life, to the local photographers who took part as well as to Harbour View House for hosting the event.
Here at St Ives Archive we take an interest in anything connected to the history and life of the town and area. So when our attention was drawn to an article in the Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries which claimed that Lelant was probably the target of a Spanish raid in 1405 which left the village in flames and killed numbers of the inhabitants, we pricked up our ears. None of us had ever heard of such a thing in this area, although we were aware that it had happened to coastal towns along the south coast from Cornwall to Kent over the centuries of hostilities between Britain and the Continent.
The perpetrators of this particular raid were a combined flotilla of Spanish and French galleons and galleys under the command of Don Pero El Nino, Count of Buelna, and were made in revenge for the raids of an English privateer called Harry Paye, whose base had been Poole in Dorset. He had terrorised French and Spanish shipping for years and in 1398 had also stolen a valuable crucifix from the church of St Mary in Finisterre. An apology for this ancient crime was made by the churches of Poole and Parkstone in May 2008, when a specially crafted cross was sent to the mayor of Gijon.
The story of Pero El Nino’s life and exploits are written in a biography of him by his servant, Gutierre Diaz de Gamez, published between 1431 – 1449, called El Vitorial. There have been several English translations of this including one by Dame Joan Evans, in 1928, called The Unconquered Knight. This translation states that after sailing up the west coast of France the party attacked and burnt a coastal town in Cornwall called St Ives. But the name of the place in the original Spanish is Chita or Chitta. So, why St Ives? There are no known historical records of St Ives being sacked and burned any more than Lelant, and the geographical description does not match either place more than many other Cornish ports.
The important factor here seems to be the name Chitta, which appears to have been the name that Cornish fishermen, captured by the raiders, told them the place was called. Lelant comes into the picture because some think that the word should be Chanta not Chitta, and that Chanta could be a corruption of the ancient name of Lelant, Lananta. At a very long stretch that might be so, but it would be very difficult to make an argument like that for St Ives which in Cornish is, Porthia, as we all know, and in Latin, Santa Ia.
Another problem with both of these suggestions is why would a raiding party heading for Poole, on the south coast, deviate around the notoriously dangerous Land’s End, to St Ives Bay, unless they were lost? And there is no hint of that in the account. They would also have had to make the return journey to reach their main objective of Poole.
What we do know from independent historical accounts is that after Chitta, the raiders attacked Dartmouth, Looe and Poole, also ventured a try at Plymouth and Southampton, but decided they were too big and well fortified to take on easily.
So where was Chitta? One strong clue to my mind is at Looe. It is in Cornwall and its geography fits the description in Gamez’s account far better than St Ives or Lelant. What’s more its present inhabitants believe that it was raided in 1405, and this is recorded in the town’s museum and in Philip Payton’s “A History of Cornwall.” The story is included in a fictionalised form by Carrick White in his book, Wrecks, Raids and Ambuscades. But the strongest evidence is in the ancient name for Looe which is Shutta. If you put Shutta into your search engine you will be presented with “Wikipedia – Shutta is a Northern suburb of Looe, Cornwall, or Ordnance Survey, Shutta, Cornwall – area information; or numerous advertisements for holiday accommodation in Shutta, Looe. There are street names like Shutta Lane, and Shutta Road in Looe.
The Cornish dictionary published by the Cornish Language Board, edited by Dr Ken George, has Shuta – a water conduit, and then the interesting comment: Included by Nance to explain plural noun Shutta, but no evidence of this word in Cornish. Origin Middle English, Old French a chute. So Shutta seems to be the plural of Shuta meaning more than one water chute. This would fit well for Looe as Shutta Road passes down hill towards the harbour in the salubrious district of Shutta. Incidently St Ives used to have a street called Shute Street into the 19th century but at some time its name was changed to Street an Pol.
If you were a Spanish sailor interrogating a frightened Cornish fisherman about the name of the port you were standing off and he told you Shutta, it’s not too unlikely that with the noise of wind and sea in your ears, that what you heard sounded more like Chitta, it’s certainly the nearest I’ve found so far to Chitta.
So all things considered, it seems that it wasn’t St Ives, or even Lelant, that was sacked that day in 1405, but Looe, where it’s an accepted fact of local history. Jolly narrow escape, St Ives, you probably wouldn’t have been in such a good position to petition the Pope for a new church to reduce your dependence on Lelant in 1408 if you had been rebuilding the extensive destruction of a 1405 sacking and burning.
By: Dr John Sell
References:
Devon and Cornwall notes and Queries Spring 2021. 1405: The Spanish Destruction of Lelant, Cornwall – Andrew Breeze. Page 285
The Unconquered Knight: A chronicle of the deeds of Don Pero Nino, Count of Buelna by Gutierre Diaz De Gamez. Translated and selected from El Vitorial by Dame Joan Evans, B.Litt., F.R. Hist.S. published by the Boydell Press
Wrecks, Raids and Ambuscades, around and about Looe, by Carrick White. Published by Carrick-White Ltd. 2016
A History of the Parishes of St Ives, Lelant, Towednack and Zennor, by John Hobson Matthews 1892
Featured image: Map of Cornwall by Christopher Saxton, published in 1579 (Wikimedia Commons)
For the first time, St Ives Archive is collaborating with local photographers to put on the Secret Photo Show, a two-day art sale to raise money for the Archive.
The show will include works by a talented group of photographers from a range of specialities and expertise. All photos, to go on display next week, were taken in and around St Ives, complementing the Archive’s own collection of 35,000 images and the photographic heritage of the town.
To support these incredible local photographers, join us on the 5th and 6th of April at Harbour View House in St Ives (see poster below). Until then, be sure to check out their photography and creative practices by visiting their websites and social media profiles below.
We hope to see you at the Secret Photo Show, and who knows, you may even take home a beautiful print by a photographer you never knew!
Warbey is a professional photographer based in St Ives, capturing the beauty and magic of the sea and the surf. His work is regularly featured in publications like Local, Oceanographic and Salt Water and all of his images are available as fine art prints on his website.
Georgia runs a boutique hotel in St Ives, Cornwall, with her husband Ant where you can find a small selection of her travel prints on display. Her background is in interior design which she continues to practice at Harbour View House. To browse and order her bright and beautiful prints, please visit her website below.
Oli is a photographer, filmmaker and artist from St Ives. As a surfer and all-around nature lover, he feels inspired to share the beauty of nature with others and hopes to make people more aware of the intricate details in nature that lie all around us. Learn more about his award-winning work and upcoming projects on his website.
Tegen is a young photographer based near St Ives with a passion for the sea and the environment. She loves exploring different techniques and processes within photography and the creativity it offers. Her practice also includes experimenting with lumen prints and interviewing locals for her “connected to water” series.
Jack is an artist who lives and works in St Ives. Inspired by his immediate surroundings, he works across photography, film, drawing, bookmaking and site-specific earthworks. To learn more about his art, photography and publications, be sure to visit his website and profile on Instagram.
Born within a stone’s throw of the harbour, John loves chronicling the changing seasons around St Ives’ historic port, as well as other locations around West Cornwall. He offers a wide range of prints and gifts on his website and takes on private commissions in the local area.
A passionate photographer living in St Ives, Tom is known for documenting stunning sunrises and natural phenomena around the coast. His nighttime photography of star trails and moonrises is just as magnificent. Find more of his work on Alamy below.
Anthony is a painter and photographer based in St Ives. He is the director of the National Acrylic Painters’ Association and a regular exhibitor at STISA open shows. His art can be described as Geometric Abstraction, often mixing layers and planes, colours and patterns.
Cornwall being his favourite place in the world, Keith has captured many gorgeous scenes in and around St Ives. He takes family portraits, commercial headshots, cast images for shows, pictures at gigs, and other events. Check out his website and Facebook for more.
Toby is a photographer living in St Ives, specialising in film and black and white photography. The natural landscape and old buildings feature in his work alongside travel scenes and striking portraits. Follow his Instagram account for more.
Owner of Meor Design agency in St Ives, Nik is a natural storyteller working across all aspects of brand strategy. He specialises in the hospitality, tourism, food and drinks industries so pop over to his Instagram for tempting food shots and beautiful lifestyle photography.
Alex was first drawn to street photography when he moved to London from Bucharest, experimenting with digital and film. After relocating to St Ives during the pandemic, he loves photographing the stunning coastline and light-filled streets of the town.
Sam is a photographer, musician, poet and surfer living in St Ives. He specialises in black and white film photography and recently held his first exhibition at Black Seal Gallery. To discover more of his emotive film collection, visit his Instagram profile below.
Tom is an artist from St Ives, working mainly with photography to inform artworks created using sculpture, printmaking, and bookmaking. His focus revolves around the local rich industrial heritage and landscape and explores the relationship between the two. You can find his work via Instagram, and his website.
Based in Carbis Bay, Chris paints in acrylics and used to work as an imaging scientist and professional photographer. He’s also working on a long-term photographic project using equipment that allows him to shoot infrared landscapes of local landmarks. The project is called ‘Where Human Eyes Fail’.
The logo for the show was designed by Kelly Jolliff. Based in St Ives, Kelly is a freelance digital designer with an interest in UX. To learn more about her work and portfolio, you can connect with her on LinkedIn.
The refresh of our website has spurred us on to modernise our Archive “catalogue”. For many years we have been using two separate systems, one for recording scanned photographs and the other for recording acquisitions. In order to provide a single web browser-based search facility we have, with the help of Cornwall Council Cultivator funding, obtained a new “catalogue” system from Metadatis Ltd. called Epexio.
We have set up a small in-house implementation team to manage the task of moving from the old systems to the new.
Once implemented, the longer-term task of creating appropriate catalogue records for the tens of thousands of items that have been acquired can start. This includes developing a training package and training several “trainers” who will then be able to pass on their skills and knowledge of the new catalogue system to all those interested in helping.
A project of this size not only takes a huge amount of dedication and input from all our volunteers, it also requires financing.
If you share our commitment to preserving our heritage and making our archival information more accessible for current and future generations, why not donate to support our new catalogue project.
The implementation team will provide regular progress updates.
The Archive Centre was asked to put together a display to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of John Passmore Edwards. Over the past few months, two volunteers sifted through the information and photographs held in the archives and put together a display to be held at the St Ives Library.
From humble beginnings, Passmore Edwards worked to establish a successful business and dedicated 90% of the money he made to fund buildings to enrich the lives of others. Over a space of 14 years, 70 major buildings were established as a direct result of Passmore’s bequests. These buildings included 24 libraries along with hospitals, schools, orphanages, museums, gardens, and drinking fountains. Twenty of the seventy buildings are in Cornwall, with one of them being the library in St Ives, opened in 1896.
To learn more about the life and legacy of John Passmore Edwards, visit the Greta Williams Room in St Ives Library. The Passmore Edwards display will be on view until the 30th March and throughout the month, visitors will be encouraged to share their own memories of the library.
The St Ives Archive are delighted to have been featured in the launch edition of Cornwall Heritage Trust’s new magazine, An Gwithyas, which is Cornish for ‘The Custodian’.
Written by Cornwall Heritage Trust’s CEO, Cathy Woolcock, the article recounts Cathy’s first visit to the Archive, including a pleasant discovery of family photographs from our collection.
Thank you, Cathy, for visiting! We hope to welcome you back soon. In the meantime, we encourage everyone to check out her wonderful write-up above.
St Ives Archive is open Tuesday to Friday, 10:00 am – 1:30 pm. If you would like to visit us, you can book a time in advance here.
A photo of St Ives has been selected for every month from the Archive’s extensive database. This year’s calendar in particular features a selection of photographs by Andrew Lanyon.
You can purchase our calendar by visiting the Shop page or by visiting the Archive during our opening hours.
St Ives Archive opened a pop-up Archive at 1A Bedford Road, St Ives, between the 12th and 17th September as part of this year’s St Ives September Festival. The purpose of the pop-up was to raise awareness of the wealth of local historical information that is held by St Ives Archive in their Research Centre in Carbis Bay, by making it more accessible to locals and visitors alike in the centre of St Ives during the popular festival.
The focus of the displays at the pop-up centred on the history of the Old Vicarage Flats (which can be found in Street An Pol, next to the Guildhall) and the Archive loved welcoming visitors who have memories of the building throughout its past history, as well as any memories of Street An Pol (or Shoot/Shute Street as it used to be known).
Photo caption: Elephants walking up Tregenna Hill, probably part of a parade to advertise a circus in town. At the bottom of the hill on the left is Mrs. Wall’s boot shop. Just out of sight beyond is the newly-opened Cornish Bank, opposite which stands the library. Behind the crowds in Tregenna Place is the Consolidated Bank in High Street. c1910
St Ives Archive is excited to have been a part of this year’s St Ives September Festival! In addition to having a ‘Pop-up Archive‘ during the Festival, there were guided walks and specialist history talks around town. A huge thank you to Trustee Tony Mason, social historian Janet Axten, volunteer Madie Parkinson-Evans and all of our volunteers and trustees who contributed to and helped at the Pop-up Archive.
