Old St Ives
Talk given to the Huntingdonshire Local History Society by Bob Burn-Murdoch, curator of the Norris Library and Museum, on Thursday 24 November 1983.
One of the oldest signs of human activity ever found in St Ives is a flint hand axe dating from about 300,000 years ago, found in a garden in St John's Road. But the history of the present town really began with the Saxons, who cleared the woodland and established a small settlement around the church, on the site of the present Parish Church.
The settlement was known as Slepe, and it has long been maintained (with dubious etymology) that this name was derived from the slippery slope, or slipway, next to the church. This slipway was said to indicate the site of an old ford crossing the river before a bridge was built further east. But no trace has been found of any roadway from such a ford crossing the Hemingford Meadow, and even aerial photographs reveal nothing of the kind. Also the parish boundary between Hemingford and Fenstanton runs along the middle of the existing road southwards from the bridge, indicating that this road must have been in existence when the parish boundaries were first determined in Saxon times.
It seems therefore that the site of the bridge was already a crossing point - by bridge, ford or ferry - before the Norman Conquest, and the existence of a ford next to the church must therefore be regarded as very uncertain.
The settlement was known as Slepe, and it has long been maintained (with dubious etymology) that this name was derived from the slippery slope, or slipway, next to the church. This slipway was said to indicate the site of an old ford crossing the river before a bridge was built further east. But no trace has been found of any roadway from such a ford crossing the Hemingford Meadow, and even aerial photographs reveal nothing of the kind. Also the parish boundary between Hemingford and Fenstanton runs along the middle of the existing road southwards from the bridge, indicating that this road must have been in existence when the parish boundaries were first determined in Saxon times.
It seems therefore that the site of the bridge was already a crossing point - by bridge, ford or ferry - before the Norman Conquest, and the existence of a ford next to the church must therefore be regarded as very uncertain.
Some time around the year 1000 AD a Saxon ploughman unearthed a stone coffin containing a skeleton which was claimed to be that of St Ivo, a Persian bishop on a missionary tour here. The abbot of Ramsey had the relics transferred to the Abbey there, to become a focus of veneration and pilgrimage (and so of funds!) and arranged for a priory to be built on the site where the coffin had been discovered, somewhere on the area between the Old Rover and Cromwell Terrace garden. This too became a place of pilgrimage (and a further source of revenue).
Later, Aldwin, a Saxon abbot of Ramsey who died in 1113 AD, obtained permission from the king for an annual fair to be held in front of the Priory gates. The charter was granted in 1110, and the earliest reference to the existence of a bridge was in 1107. Together the bridge and fair brought more and more travellers here, and gradually the temporary stalls and booths of the tradesmen and merchants were replaced by more permanent buildings.
In time the fair became one of the four principal fairs in the kingdom. Here a great variety of goods, including exotic spices and foreign wines, costly silks and velvets and leather goods could be bought. As the abbot exacted tolls on all those crossing the bridge, and a tax on all goods sold, in addition to the rents of the stall holders, St Ives as it had then become known was a source of considerable wealth to the abbey. This great fair was the reason for the street plan which has survived to this day.
Travellers entering the town from the south, as most did, crossed by the abbot's bridge, traversing the short length of Bridge Street to turn east towards the Priory or west towards the Church. Either way they came into a great open space about a third of a mile long and seventy-five feet wide, where the fair was held extending from the Waits to the Market Hill. The two blocks of buildings in Crown Street, and the paved area on the site of the old Sheep Market, are later intrusions. In order to accommodate as many merchants as possible, and so to attract more dues, most of the properties adjoining this wide open space had narrow frontages, but extended a long way behind, providing accommodation for numerous workers and for stores. Several narrow alleyways were provided to give access from the 'Back Street' to the front, and this pattern can still be seen today.
Later, Aldwin, a Saxon abbot of Ramsey who died in 1113 AD, obtained permission from the king for an annual fair to be held in front of the Priory gates. The charter was granted in 1110, and the earliest reference to the existence of a bridge was in 1107. Together the bridge and fair brought more and more travellers here, and gradually the temporary stalls and booths of the tradesmen and merchants were replaced by more permanent buildings.
In time the fair became one of the four principal fairs in the kingdom. Here a great variety of goods, including exotic spices and foreign wines, costly silks and velvets and leather goods could be bought. As the abbot exacted tolls on all those crossing the bridge, and a tax on all goods sold, in addition to the rents of the stall holders, St Ives as it had then become known was a source of considerable wealth to the abbey. This great fair was the reason for the street plan which has survived to this day.
Travellers entering the town from the south, as most did, crossed by the abbot's bridge, traversing the short length of Bridge Street to turn east towards the Priory or west towards the Church. Either way they came into a great open space about a third of a mile long and seventy-five feet wide, where the fair was held extending from the Waits to the Market Hill. The two blocks of buildings in Crown Street, and the paved area on the site of the old Sheep Market, are later intrusions. In order to accommodate as many merchants as possible, and so to attract more dues, most of the properties adjoining this wide open space had narrow frontages, but extended a long way behind, providing accommodation for numerous workers and for stores. Several narrow alleyways were provided to give access from the 'Back Street' to the front, and this pattern can still be seen today.
By about 1300 the fair was declining in importance, a process hastened by the Hundred Years' War, the Black Death, and the famines. It no longer attracted the numbers of merchants from the continent. However, weekly markets had developed, and these flourished. The town continued to prosper, as evidenced by the building of the Parish Church and of the stone bridge, both dating from the 15th century, and both surviving still.
It is interesting to note that the chapel on the bridge dedicated, according to a will of 1479, to St Leger, is said in a document of 1570 to be dedicated to St Lawrence. It is known that in the mid 14th century an abbot of Ramsey obtained a charter to hold a second fair in St Ives, to begin on St Lawrence's day (August 10th) and St Lawrence did therefore have a special significance for St Ives at that time, so the chapel may indeed have been dedicated to him. Without further evidence no-one can say which is correct.
It is interesting to note that the chapel on the bridge dedicated, according to a will of 1479, to St Leger, is said in a document of 1570 to be dedicated to St Lawrence. It is known that in the mid 14th century an abbot of Ramsey obtained a charter to hold a second fair in St Ives, to begin on St Lawrence's day (August 10th) and St Lawrence did therefore have a special significance for St Ives at that time, so the chapel may indeed have been dedicated to him. Without further evidence no-one can say which is correct.
The greater part of the Parish Church dates from the latter half of the 15th century, but the window at the eastern end of the south aisle is obviously of earlier date. There are traces elsewhere of parts of earlier building incorporated. The font for example dates from the early 13th century.
Other traces of the mediaeval town can be seen, not in the streets and buildings, but in the surrounding land. In Warner's Park for example, slight undulations are still visible, particularly when the sun is low or after a light covering of frost or snow. These are the ridge and furrow remains of the open fields of the Middle Ages.
At the beginning of the 18th century a thorough survey of the town was carried out by Edmund Pettis, who spent most of his adult life here. He made plans of all the open fields of St Ives, with details of each man's holdings. He added various notes of local and national history, some road maps and much else besides. His manuscripts are preserved in the Norris Museum.
The survey includes three maps, one of them being a plan of the town centre at that time, and on it are carefully detailed drawings of the elevations of all buildings fronting the main street, shown in their correct positions relative to the line of the street. Few of these buildings have survived, though some remnants can still be found behind more recent facades. Those that remain bear witness to the accuracy of his drawings.
The plan also shows the marked difference between the planning of the market town of St Ives and that of the earlier settlement of Slepe, with its far more open pattern of settlement, and paddocks and closes dotted with farms, one of which, Green End Farm, still remains. Most of this open area, and of the open fields to the north and east of the market town, have now been built over and few traces remain. But the streets and buildings of out town centre, of old St Ives, are the living evidence of more than a thousand years of history.
The survey includes three maps, one of them being a plan of the town centre at that time, and on it are carefully detailed drawings of the elevations of all buildings fronting the main street, shown in their correct positions relative to the line of the street. Few of these buildings have survived, though some remnants can still be found behind more recent facades. Those that remain bear witness to the accuracy of his drawings.
The plan also shows the marked difference between the planning of the market town of St Ives and that of the earlier settlement of Slepe, with its far more open pattern of settlement, and paddocks and closes dotted with farms, one of which, Green End Farm, still remains. Most of this open area, and of the open fields to the north and east of the market town, have now been built over and few traces remain. But the streets and buildings of out town centre, of old St Ives, are the living evidence of more than a thousand years of history.
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