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Cornish Riviera Holidays, The Guildhall, Street-an-Pol, St Ives (2026)

We manage a fine selection of over 70 fisherman's cottages and harbour-side flats all in the heart of St.Ives with its sandy beaches, picturesque harbour and town full of quaint cottages and cobbled courtyards, restaurants, shops and galleries. The beautiful St.Ives bay benefits from a mild climate and can be enjoyed all year round.

13/10/2026

🍂 Autumn in St Ives… a little slower, a little quieter, and just as beautiful. 🌊

Calm seas, soft autumn sunshine and those endless views across St Ives Bay. There’s something special about Cornwall at this time of year — peaceful coastal walks, cosy evenings, exploring the town without the summer crowds, and taking a moment to simply breathe it all in. 💙

Who says holidays are just for summer? 🍁 Whether you’re dreaming of a romantic coastal escape, a few days of fresh sea air or a cosy self-catering break with family, St Ives is waiting for you.

✨ Make this autumn one to remember with Cornish Riviera Holidays.

🏡 Discover your perfect autumn getaway:
https://www.cornishrivieraholidays.co.uk

🍂🌊

28/09/2026

St Ives and the English Civil War
The English Civil War was a conflict between the Stuart monarch Charles I and the English Parliament. At its heart was a simple question: who should govern England, the King or Parliament? The conflict would, however, spill beyond England and become the British Wars, drawing in all the nations of the British Isles. Cornwall was no exception.

When the English Civil War began in 1642, Cornwall stood out as one of the strongest Royalist areas, while much of the wider south west was generally Parliamentarian. Cornwall had a strong sense of its own identity, culture and traditions, and the Cornish were still very much recognised as a distinct people with their own culture and language. In the far west, the Cornish language was still predominantly spoken and the sense of being Cornish was as strong then as it is now.

This is important when looking at the Civil War, because Cornwall's support for the King was not simply a case of an English county choosing the Royalist side. There was a strong sense of Cornish particularism at work, with loyalty to the Crown through the Duchy and Cornwall itself often overlapping. Historians have argued that the Civil War in the south west had an important Cornish dimension, with many Cornish people viewing the conflict through the lens of their own distinct identity as well as the wider struggle between King and Parliament. There was even a feeling among some Cornish Royalists that Cornwall might once again have a degree of semi-autonomy under Prince, later King Charles II.

In West Cornwall, where support for Charles I was particularly strong, St Ives stood out as something of an anomaly. The town contained a significant Puritan and Parliamentarian element, with some of its leading citizens, including the Stephens, the Sises families and Major Peter Ceely. Their presence gave St Ives a political character that differed enormously from that of the surrounding Hundred of Penwith, meaning that the struggle between King and Parliament was not simply a distant national conflict but something that could divide the borough itself.

Yet the prominent Parliamentarian political sympathies of its people did not release St Ives from its obligations to the Royalist war effort. Early in the war, the town was required to provide supplies for the King's forces, including bread, butter, cheese, beef and bacon. For those in St Ives who sympathised with Parliament, being required to provision an army fighting for the opposing cause must have been uncomfortable. Whether such demands were always met with enthusiasm and on time, or whether the quality of the provisions reflected the feelings of those supplying them, is something the surviving records cannot tell us.

As the war developed, local opposition became more organised. In 1644, accounts describe men from St Ives, Towednack and Zennor gathering at Longstone Downs, just outside what is now Carbis Bay, with around 200 men under the command of Captain Francis Arundell. Sir Richard Grenville, one of the leading Royalist commanders in Cornwall, marched against them with a considerably larger force, reported to have numbered around 600 horse and foot. Unable to withstand the Royalist advance, the Parliamentarian force broke and fled from the Downs, disappearing into the lanes and byways where the Royalist cavalry could not easily follow. The fighting itself appears to have been brief, with relatively few men killed or injured during the confrontation.

The consequences, however, were more serious. At least three men were subsequently executed, including a constable from Zennor and two others taken after the fighting. Captain Francis Arundell was proclaimed a traitor and threatened with the same fate. He managed to escape by sea to Bridgwater, and later joined the Parliamentary army under Sir Thomas Fairfax.

The Royalist victory at Longstone Downs was followed by reprisals against those suspected of supporting Parliament. According to the local account, Sir Richard Grenville stayed at the house of St Ives's mayor, Edward Hammond, and fined Hammond £500 for failing to keep the town's rebellious inhabitants under control. Hammond was unable or possibly unwilling to pay and was consequently imprisoned at Launceston, where he remained for several months before being released by order of Prince Charles.

The town, however, appears to have remained difficult to bring completely under Royalist control. A later local account describes the inhabitants attempting to obstruct the movement of Royalist troops by blocking the roads with pilchard barrels filled with sand and placing a "strong guard" over the town. The surviving evidence does not confirm the story, so it needs to be treated with some caution, but it certainly points towards continued resistance within St Ives. If the account is true, it raises an interesting point: rather than suppressing opposition to the Royalist cause, the reprisals that followed Longstone Downs may actually have strengthened it.

At the same time, the earthworks known as the Bulwarks on The Island were still in use. Originally established as part of the town's coastal defences during the Tudor period, they were already more than a century old by the time of the Civil War, but they had not been abandoned. Instead, they continued to play a practical role in the town's Civil War defences. In 1645, the town records include a payment to men working around the Bulwarks, together with provisions of bread and b**r. It is only a small entry in the records, but it gives us a glimpse of the everyday realities of maintaining the defences and providing for the men working on them.

The landscape in which the Bulwarks now operated had changed considerably. The threat was no longer a foreign fleet approaching the harbour. Political and religious loyalties had divided communities and families, and the old earthworks had acquired a new significance. They could help the Royalists keep St Ives under control, and the people of St Ives would have been well aware that the guns of the Bulwarks, originally intended to protect them, could easily be turned on the town.

The tide of war eventually turned against the Royalists. A Parliamentary army entered Cornwall in early 1646, reaching Launceston in February and Bodmin in early March. On 15 March, the main Royalist army surrendered at Tresillian Bridge, near Truro. From this point, Parliamentary control was gradually extended across Cornwall, although several Royalist strongholds continued to hold out. Pendennis Castle at Falmouth remained in Royalist hands until August 1646, while the Isles of Scilly resisted for considerably longer under Sir John Grenville, nephew of our old friend Sir Richard Grenville, until 23 May 1651, when Parliamentary forces under Admiral Robert Blake arrived and the Royalists surrendered, bringing to an end the last Royalist resistance in Cornwall.

The Civil War had brought a conflict being fought across Britain directly into the everyday life and landscape of St Ives. Men from the town and surrounding parishes became involved in the fighting, the community was called upon to support a cause that many did not, and local families must have found themselves divided by their loyalties and convictions.

Much of this history has since disappeared from view. The Bulwarks on The Island have long gone, levelled by later development, while Longstone Downs has become part of the peaceful landscape around Carbis Bay. There is little indication that a Civil War skirmish once took place there. Yet these places remain part of the story of St Ives. The Island, first valued for its commanding view of the sea, retained its military importance at a time when the threat came not from an enemy across the water, but from within a nation divided by religious and political conflict.

For St Ives, as for countless other communities, the English Civil War was far more than a distant national struggle. It was a conflict that reached into the town itself, involving local families and transforming familiar places. The Bulwarks, the roads around St Ives and Longstone Downs all became part of a wider conflict that had begun far beyond St Ives but eventually reached directly into its streets and homes. Although much of the physical evidence has disappeared, the story survives, adding another fascinating layer to the long and complex history of St Ives.

25/09/2026

The Defence of St Ives
Today, we associate St Ives with its picturesque harbour, golden beaches and bustling wharf. But the sea that brought fishing, trade and, eventually, tourists also left the town exposed to attack.
The defensive history of St Ives and St Ives Bay spans more than five centuries, from the late medieval period through the Tudor and Civil War years, the Victorian era and into the Second World War. As weapons and threats changed, so too did the defences around the town and the bay.
Before following that story, however, there is an elephant in the room that needs addressing: Tregenna Castle.
Built in 1774 for John Stephens, Tregenna Castle was a country house. Despite its name and rather fanciful appearance, there is no evidence that a medieval castle, moated manor house or defensive structure ever stood on the site before it was built. The “Castle” referred to in historical records relating to St Ives’s defences was something quite different, a fort or blockhouse overlooking the harbour. Keeping these two sites separate is important, otherwise Tregenna can give a misleading impression of St Ives’s defensive history.
By the late fifteenth century, St Ives was an established fishing and maritime community and growing market town. Its position on the coast brought important commercial opportunities, but it also left the town vulnerable to attack from the sea. French raids on settlements along the south-west coast demonstrated the dangers faced by coastal communities, while the growing importance of fishing and shipping made the protection of the harbour increasingly important.
In 1487, Sir Robert Willoughby, Lord of the Manor of Ludgvan Lese, which included St Ives, obtained a charter from Henry VII granting the town a weekly market and two annual fairs. This helped St Ives develop as a more organised commercial centre, but its growing prosperity and dependence on the sea also increased the need to protect the harbour and the community that relied upon it.
Around 1490, a defensive position was established at the eastern end of the medieval harbour, close to the approach to The Island. It later became known locally as the Castle. This was not a castle in the conventional sense, with massive walls, towers and a keep. It was essentially a fortified gun position. This structure is traditionally associated with Willoughby.
This was a period when gunpowder artillery was beginning to transform warfare. Coastal defences were changing, and walls and towers designed for medieval warfare were increasingly being torn down, modified or replaced by artillery positions. A well-placed gun platform could command the sea approach and defend the town better than a conventional castle ever could.
But it was not the only defensive work at St Ives.
On The Island, further defences known as the Bulwarks were established. Unlike the blockhouse, these were ramparts and two bastions constructed from packed earth and wooden retaining framework protecting a gun position further up the headland. The Bulwarks are recorded as early as 1535, showing that The Island played an important role in the town’s defences during the Tudor period.
Their importance continued into the Civil War. In 1645, St Ives town records include payments to men working around the Bulwarks, suggesting that the earthworks were still being maintained and used.
The Castle itself also retained a military association long after Willoughby’s time. St Ives records refer to great guns being brought from The Island to the Castle in 1668, while a record from 1695 mentions the storage of gunpowder.
The terminology in the historical records can be confusing. The words Castle, Bulwarks, fort and blockhouse appear at different times and do not necessarily refer to one single structure.
The Island itself has an even older history.
Its Cornish name, Pendinas, translates as “fortified headland”, suggesting a long association with defence. There are indications of an earlier defended site here, usually described as an Iron Age cliff castle, although the precise nature and date of those earliest defences remain uncertain. The location is particularly well suited to defence. It is an elevated position at the end of a narrow isthmus, which provides a commanding view across the harbour, St Ives Bay and the land approaches to the town. It is an obvious place from which to watch shipping and defend St Ives.
By the nineteenth century, warfare had changed dramatically.
Artillery had become far more powerful, while the growing strength of the French Navy created renewed fears of invasion during the period of Napoleon III. Britain responded by strengthening coastal defences around the country, and St Ives was included in this wider programme. In 1860, a new gun battery was established on The Island.
It was a very different type of defence from the medieval blockhouse. Built into the Island, it presented a smaller target and contained state-of-the-art gun positions, a magazine and accommodation for the men stationed there. The battery was armed with a 64-pounder muzzle-loading gun and two 32-pounder muzzle-loading guns, its purpose being to help protect the approaches to St Ives Bay and the harbour.
The old Castle was demolished in 1864, leaving the Victorian battery on The Island as the principal defensive position. The Island Battery was eventually decommissioned in 1895, although the guns remained until 1909. The site later took on a very different role, first as a Coastguard lookout and eventually as an NCI, National Coastwatch Institution, lookout. In doing so, The Island continued its centuries-old role of watching over the sea and the shipping passing through the bay.
By the twentieth century, defending St Ives meant looking beyond The Island and considering St Ives Bay as a whole. During the Second World War, an emergency coastal battery was built at Porthminster Point, on the cliffs between St Ives and Carbis Bay. It was initially armed with two 4-inch guns. In April 1942, these were replaced by two 138mm guns removed from the French battleships Courbet and Paris. The guns were removed in February 1945, and the battery was subsequently dismantled.
The defensive history of St Ives is not the story of a single fortification. It is the story of repeated adaptation to changing weapons, technology and methods of warfare. From the late medieval “Castle” and the Tudor Bulwarks, through the Victorian Island Battery and the Second World War defences around the bay, each phase reflected the weapons and threats of its own time.
Yet the fundamental reason for choosing these locations remained much the same: they offered a clear and commanding view of the bay and its approaches.
These defences were closely linked to St Ives’s importance as a North Coast harbour. Although most have now disappeared, fragments in the landscape, surviving structures and local records reveal how this coastline was used to watch over and defend St Ives for more than five centuries.
So, next time you stand on The Island looking across the harbour, it is worth remembering that the view has been watched from here for hundreds of years, and not just by fishermen and coastguards.

23/09/2026

A Market That Changed St Ives
When we think about St Ives Bay, it would be easy to assume that because the bay bears the town's name, that St Ives has always been the main town on it. It would also be easy to imagine that St Ives' rise happened suddenly with the granting of a market charter in 1487.
In reality, the story begins almost two centuries earlier, in Lelant.
On 25 August 1296, during the reign of Edward I, a royal charter was granted to William, son of William de Botereux, giving him the right to hold a weekly market at his manor of Lelant. The market was held every Thursday, with two annual fairs associated with the feasts of the Purification and the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
This tells us something important about Lelant at the end of the thirteenth century. Sitting on the pilgrimage route from western Britain and Ireland to Santiago de Compostela, it was an established town and, the major port on St Ives Bay. And at this time, Lelant was the centre of trade in this part of west Cornwall.
The weekly market would have brought together farmers, fishermen, traders and pilgrims, with food, livestock, agricultural produce and everyday goods changing hands. The larger annual fairs would have attracted people from a wider area. Also, before St Ives had a market of its own, its inhabitants travelled to Lelant to do their shopping, which fits the wider picture of Lelant's earlier importance.
Over the following two centuries, however, things began to change. Environmental changes severely affect Lelant, its harbour began to become blocked by drifting sand, while St Ives grew into a busy maritime community. With its working harbour, direct access to the sea and growing population, St Ives was increasingly better placed to handle the trade flowing into the bay.
The commercial centre of gravity was moving.
It was against this background that Sir Robert Willoughby, later Lord Broke enters the scene, he is credited with obtaining a royal charter for St Ives in 1487, during the reign of Henry VII. The charter gave the town a weekly market on Saturdays and two annual fairs, traditionally associated with 10 May and 3 December, the latter becoming known as the pig fair.
The pig fair is a particularly good example of a late medieval fair. Livestock was an important part of everyday trade, while an annual fair provided an opportunity for animals to be bought and sold on a larger scale.
And by the end of the fifteenth century, St Ives had overtaken Lelant as the main commercial centre on the bay.
The pig fair may even have left its mark on the landscape. The nineteenth century historian J. H. Matthews recorded a place known as “Pigs' Town” beside Venton Eia, the area around St Ia's Well overlooking Porthmeor. He described a group of pigsties in the area. We don’t know whether these pigsties were originally connected with the medieval fair, or whether the name came directly from it, as there is no surviving evidence to prove this. But if they were connected, it would be a fascinating surviving trace .
The new market was part of a much wider period of development.
Willoughby had acquired the manor of St Ives through his marriage to Blanche Champernowne, the co heiress to the Champernowne estates, giving him a financial interest in the town's prosperity. Successful markets meant traders, customers and money coming into his manor, so there was an obvious economic reason for him to encourage its growth.
He is also associated with the construction of St Ives first Guildhall, dating from around 1490, as well as improvements to the town's defences and the construction of a fort overlooking the bay. Taken together, these developments suggest a town that was becoming more important economically, commercially and strategically.
The Guildhall was particularly significant. It provided a permanent focus for the new market, giving traders a recognised place to meet and conduct business. The original building survived for more than three centuries before being demolished in 1832 and replaced by the larger granite Market House.
There is no evidence that the Crown ever formally abolished the Lelant market or fairs. Lelant did not simply disappear when St Ives became the main commercial centre on the bay. The original settlement survived in some form at least into the seventeenth century, although its role and importance changed considerably, as the encroachment of the dunes affected the settlement and its harbour. Yet the connection between Lelant and St Ives continued. The Church of St Uny at Lelant remained the mother church for St Ives well into the nineteenth century, and Lelant itself still exists today, albeit as a village, around half a mile from the site of the original settlement.
The 1487 charter was not an orchestrated economic power grab by one manor from another. It was a formal recognition that an economic shift had taken place over generations, as environmental changes affected Lelant and trade that had once flowed towards it was increasingly drawn towards St Ives.
There is, some discrepancy. Later accounts give the charter date as 1488, while the traditional St Ives account places it in 1487, the third year of Henry VII's reign. Medieval documents can produce different dates depending on whether we are referring to the original granting of a charter, its enrolment, or a later copy or transcription. The surviving evidence therefore needs to be examined carefully before the precise date can be stated with complete certainty.
The market charter did not make St Ives important. It was granted because St Ives was already becoming an important commercial centre, giving permanence to a rise that was already happening.
It announced, St Ives had arrived.

19/09/2026

The Great Flood of St Ives, 1894

In November 1894, St Ives experienced one of the most destructive floods in its history. Remembered simply as the Great Flood, it transformed the Stennack River from a normally modest watercourse into a raging torrent that tore through the centre of the town. Roads were ripped apart, houses damaged, bridges swept away and culverts overwhelmed. Streets became tributaries for huge quantities of water and debris.

The events of 12 November were the culmination of an exceptionally wet period. Heavy rain had fallen across West Cornwall for many days, leaving the ground saturated and local streams and rivers swollen. Contemporary measurements recorded several inches of rain, with more than two inches falling during a particularly intense twenty-four-hour period. Across the region, bridges, roads, railway lines and buildings were being damaged by floodwater.

Above St Ives, the surrounding hills and moorland were saturated and sending increasing quantities of water towards the Stennack valley. Generations of mining had changed the landscape around the town. One of the most significant features was the old Consols mine and its reservoir, where water from the surrounding country normally accumulated before passing into the Stennack River system.

As the rain intensified, the amount of water entering the Consols reservoir became overwhelming. Accounts suggested that the reservoir bank gave way under the weight of the water, while the culvert carrying the stream below had become obstructed by refuse. With its normal course blocked, the water spilled onto the road.

What followed was not a gradual overflow, but a sudden deluge.

The Stennack valley provided a perfect route for this enormous volume of water. As it descended towards St Ives from Consols, it gathered speed and strength, washing away bridges and carrying huge quantities of debris downhill. Eventually, the water would break out of its normal course near Umfulla Place.

Witnesses described the sudden roar as the torrent burst into the streets. The force of the water rapidly cut a deep channel through the road. Accounts speak of a gorge up to five feet deep and several feet wide being carved into the road as the torrent carried sand, gravel, granite blocks and kerbstones, damaging houses and washing away their walls.

When the flood reached St Ives, it did so with extraordinary ferocity. Houses were inundated, in some cases to the height of the upper rooms. One particularly dramatic incident involved the Renowden family. Water began as a small stream running across the floor, but within a very short time it had risen to waist height. The family escaped upstairs, but the force of the water eventually destroyed the front of the house.

The damage was not confined to buildings. Roads and pavements were torn apart, gas and water pipes were broken as the ground beneath them disappeared, and a newly laid water main was exposed by the erosion. Streets became channels of fast-moving water and debris. The flood divided as it passed through the town. Near the Western Hotel, part of the torrent flowed down Gabriel Street towards Tregenna Place and Street An Pol, while another particularly destructive branch flowed down Chapel Street and onto High Street.

Chapel Street was overwhelmed. Waves of floodwater several feet high rushed down the narrow street, carrying debris and possessions with them. Water entered houses and businesses, forcing residents to seek refuge on upper floors. In some places it reached the upper windows of buildings. As the torrent spread outwards, enormous quantities of mud, gravel and stone were deposited. Several hundred tons of debris accumulated in Tregenna Place, in places forming a mass several feet high across the street. Accounts reported approximately six feet of water in Tregenna Place and as much as nine feet in parts of the Stennack.

The Stennack was not the only route by which water entered the town. A second torrent descended from the direction of Tregenna, overwhelming the Terrace, breaking through the walls of the Malakoff and flooding the railway yard below. Water rushed through St Ives railway station and across the embankment before flowing towards Porthminster and the sea.

St Ives was being inundated from several directions at once. For the people caught in it, the experience must have felt like the end of the world. The fact that the flood arrived during the day was a saving grace, allowing people to see the water coming and attempt escape. Houses were evacuated, or people climbed to higher floors as the water rose. Almost miraculously, no lives were lost. A commentator at the time noted, Had the flood occurred during the night, the loss of life could have been appalling.

By later in the day, the torrent had begun to subside. Only then could the full extent of the destruction be seen. Streets had been ripped apart in a matter of hours. Bridges had been washed away, culverts had failed, gas and water mains had been exposed or destroyed, and people had lost homes. Tregenna Place was buried beneath a huge accumulation of mud, rubble and stone. The clean-up was immense. Hundreds of men were employed to clear the streets and make the town safe, with more than three hundred cartloads of mud, rubble and debris removed from Tregenna Place alone. Repairs were estimated to cost at least £1,000, a considerable sum at the time, to restore roads, reinstate gas and water mains and construct a new culvert for the Stennack.

The disaster exposed the weaknesses in St Ives' drainage system. The town sits within a steep valley crossed by several watercourses, while generations of mining, road building, culverting and other changes had altered the way water moved through the landscape. Under normal conditions, these changes caused few problems, but in the extraordinary conditions of November 1894 they helped create a devastating floodway. The Great Flood forced the authorities to reconsider the way the Stennack was managed through St Ives. Further engineering, diversion and culverting subsequently altered the river and its relationship with the town.

Today, much of the Stennack is hidden from view, making it easy to walk through St Ives without appreciating that a watercourse flows beneath and around the streets. The geography of the 1894 disaster can still be followed, from the high ground around Consols, down through the Stennack, past Umfulla Place and Tregenna Place, through Chapel Street and High Street towards the sea.

Photographs taken during and immediately after the disaster provide remarkable evidence of what happened. They show streets filled with water, debris piled against buildings and familiar parts of St Ives transformed almost beyond recognition. Among those who documented the event was local resident William Trevorrow, who photographed scenes of the flood and preserved a remarkable visual record of the catastrophe.

Photos from St Ives and Morrab Archives

17/09/2026

The Cintra Gale of 1893

One of the most dramatic nights in the history of St Ives Bay occurred on the night of 17th to 18th November 1893, when a violent storm struck the Cornish coast. The storm became known as the Cintra Gale, after the Cintra, one of the vessels caught in the disaster.

Several ships had entered St Ives Bay seeking shelter from the worsening weather, but the conditions soon became too severe. Strong northerly winds and enormous seas caused anchors to drag, leaving vessels at the mercy of the storm. Before the night was over, five vessels would be lost or wrecked in and around the bay. The Cintra, Vulture and Bessie were wrecked at Carbis Bay, the Rosedale was driven ashore on Porthminster Beach, and further out the Hampshire sank with the loss of twenty one lives.

The worst of the destruction a took place at Carbis Bay, where three steamships were driven ashore.

The 418 ton iron collier Cintra was carrying coal from Newport to Dartmouth when she sought shelter in the bay and anchored off Carbis Bay. As the storm intensified, she began to drag her anchor and was driven towards the shore. Eventually she ran aground near the western end of Barrepta Cove, Carbis Bay Beach, and began to break apart in the heavy seas. The Coastguard attempted to rescue the crew using their rocket apparatus, which allowed a line to be fired from the shore to a vessel in distress. Once secured, a breeches buoy could be used to carry people from the ship to safety. During the rescue attempt, however, the equipment became fouled and a local pilot who was helping with the rescue was drowned. The crew also tried to launch their own boat, but it was immediately overwhelmed by the sea. Of the twelve men aboard, seven lost their lives and five were rescued.

In 1959, the Cintra's anchor was recovered from the seabed and in 2003 it was installed on Smeaton's Pier, where it can be seen today.

The 345 ton collier Vulture was only about one hundred yards away and was experiencing the same difficulties . She began to drag her anchors, leaving her at the mercy of the seas. Despite the worsening weather, the Coastguard managed to establish a connection with the ship, and all twelve members of her crew were brought safely ashore using the rocket apparatus and breeches buoy.

A third vessel, the 287 ton steamer Bessie, was also caught in the storm. She was driven into the surf and wrecked alongside the other vessels. Bessie has the unusual distinction of having been wrecked on both her maiden and final voyages. Built by Harvey and Company of Hayle in 1865, she was first wrecked on Hayle Bar on her maiden voyage in January 1866. It seems strangly fitting that she met her end at Carbis Bay during the Cintra Gale.

Vulture and Bessie lie close together towards the eastern end of Carbis Bay, near Carrack Gladden, Hawkes Point. The three wrecks have gradually been broken apart by the sea, while the shifting sands have covered much of what remains.

While the ships at Carbis Bay were being battered by the storm, just around the headland another vessel was in serious trouble. The cargo steamer Rosedale had been caught in the storm off St Ives Head. With conditions becoming increasingly dangerous, her captain made the decision to bring the vessel into the bay and run her ashore on Porthminster Beach.

Once Rosedale was driven onto the beach, the Coastguard immediately began an attempt to rescue her crew. The seas were so violent that the St Ives lifeboat could not safely reach the ship, leaving the Coastguard's rocket apparatus and breeches buoy as the only viable means of rescue. All sixteen members of her crew were eventually brought safely ashore.

The following day revealed the full extent of the damage. Rosedale was lying broadside to the beach, with her bow towards Pedn Olva. She had been so severely battered by the storm that she eventually broke in two. Photographs taken after the disaster show the vessel lying across Porthminster Beach, surrounded by crowds who had gathered to see the wreck.

Unlike the wrecks at Carbis Bay, little of the Rosedale remains today. The vessel was broken up and removed, but the photographs of the ship lying on the beach in the aftermath of the storm preserve a remarkable record of the power of the sea.

The disasters at Carbis Bay and Porthminster Beach were not the only tragedies caused by the Cintra Gale. Further offshore, approximately ten miles north of Godrevy, the much larger steamship Hampshire was fighting for survival.

During the storm, a spare crankshaft broke loose in the engine room, punching a massive hole in the hull below the waterline. The Hampshire was abandoned and sank within about an hour. Of the twenty two men aboard, only one survived.

The tragedy extended the reach of the Cintra Gale far beyond the beaches of St Ives Bay. While people on shore struggled to rescue those aboard the wrecked vessels, the crew of the Hampshire were fighting a desperate battle several miles out at sea.

More than 130 years later, the Cintra Gale has not entirely disappeared from the landscape.

When the weather and tides are just right, the Cintra, Vulture and Bessie emerge like ghosts from the sands of Barrepta Cove, as if they refuse to be forgotten. For the rest of the time, the wrecks are completely buried, making them a remarkable reminder of the events of 1893. The Rosedale at Porthminster Beach has long since disappeared, broken up and scrapped after the event, but the historic photographs preserve the extraordinary aftermath of the storm.

For visitors in July and August, it is hard to imagine this coast as anything but a tranquil paradise, but for those of us who live and work here and have witnessed the winter storms, it is only too easy to imagine the scene that unfolded on that November night. The beaches are now places of leisure and the bay appears calm and sheltered, yet beneath the sands lie the remains of three of the vessels caught in the gale. Together with the photographs of the Rosedale, they provide a rare physical and visual connection to a night when the seemingly sheltered waters of St Ives Bay became the scene of destruction, desperate rescue attempts and terrible loss of life.

For further information on the Cintra Gale, we suggest visiting the St Ives Archive.

Photos from St Ives Archive, Rosedale on Porthminster Beach, and Bessie on Carbis Bay Beach with Vulture's boiler in the surf behind.

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