St Ives, Cambridgeshire

Encyclopedia : S : ST : STI : St Ives, Cambridgeshire

redirect

St Ives is a medium-sized market town in the east of England, around 24 km northwest of the city of Cambridge. It traditionally lies in the county of Huntingdonshire, which is now administered as part of Cambridgeshire.

Statue of Oliver Cromwell, town centre

Previously called Slepe, its name was changed to St Ives after the body claimed to be that of a Persian bishop, Saint Ivo, was found buried in the town. For the past 1,000 years it has been home to some of the biggest markets in the country, and in the thirteenth century it was an important entrepôt.

Built on the banks of the wide, fast-flowing River Great Ouse between Huntingdon and Ely, St Ives has a famous chapel on its bridge. In recent years, St Ives has been the victim of severe yearly flooding during winter. However, property development on the main flood plain continues, risking more severe floods in the future. In the Anglo-Saxon era, the River Great Ouse was a key position for trade with other tribes and to communicate with other tribes. This was because there is a ford which was the only natural crossing point of the river for miles. In the 18th to 19th centuries, it was a vital point for trade and navigation. It was used for trade because livestock and goods would be brought into the town via barges, but when the railway was built and roads were improved, the need for this diminished, so the use of the River Great Ouse changed to mainly leisure and recreation.

St Ives has one main secondary school (St Ivo), 3 primary schools (Thorndown, Wheatfields and Westfield, which was recently named outstanding by OFSTED), 1 fire station, 1 police station and 1 bus station shared between a population of around 15,000 in 1991. There used to be a passenger train service between St Ives and Cambridge, but this closed in the 1970s. It is intended to construct the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway on the trackbed from St Ives to Cambridge.

St Ives has a successful rugby club. The rugby club's junior side has been very successful, bringing home the first County Championship trophy in 2003. The club is just on the outskirts of St Ives, just off Somersham Road.

St Ives is most famous for the nursery rhyme and riddle As I Was Going to St Ives, although it is not clear whether the rhyme refers to the Cambridgeshire town or one of several other St Ives around the country.

The Quay, seen from the medieval bridge

References

[Population figures]

Longest UK rivers: 1. Severn 2. Thames 3. Trent 4. Aire 5. Great Ouse 6. Wye 7. Tay 8. Spey 9. Nene 10. Clyde 11. Tweed 12. Eden
	River Great Ouse	[http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit ]
Administrative areas: Northamptonshire \| Buckinghamshire \| Bedfordshire \| Cambridgeshire \| Norfolk Flows into: The Wash Towns (upstream to downstream): Brackley \| Buckingham \| Old Stratford Milton Keynes (Stony Stratford, Wolverton, New Bradwell, Stantonbury, Great Linford) \| Newport Pagnell \| Olney \| Kempston \| Bedford \| St Neots \| Godmanchester \| Huntingdon \| St Ives \| Ely \| Littleport \| Downham Market \| King's Lynn Major tributaries (upstream to downstream by confluence): River Lovat (or Ouzel) \| River Ivel River Kym \| Old Bedford River \| New Bedford River \| River Cam \| River Lark \| River Little Ouse \| River Wissey Major bridges (upstream to downstream): Harrold bridge \| A428 Turvey bridge \| A428 Bromham bypass A6 Bedford Town Bridge \| A421 Bedford bypass \| Great Barford Bridge A428 Bridge St Neots \| St Neots Town Bridge \| Godmanchester Chinese Bridge A14 bridge, River Great Ouse \| Huntingdon Old Bridge \| St Ives Bridge

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.