St Ives () is a medieval market town and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Great Ouse, and there is a historic stone bridge dating from 1425. The bridge has an unusual chapel incorporated into the structure. The nearby Quayside offers pleasing views of the river and the bridge.
The settlement was known at first as Slepe: it was at a convenient fording point on the river, which encouraged the establishment of a route for travellers between northern and eastern districts of the country, and London and the South, enhancing its importance. A little before the year 1000 CE, a coffin was dug up during ploughing: it apparently contained the remains of a holy man named Ivo of Ramsey, and as a result the town became a destination for pilgrims, and the name Slepe was changed over time to St Ives. A royal charter authorised the holding of a fair in the town; at the time this was hugely prestigious, further emphasising the town's significance.
A route for drovers became established through St Ives: they brought cattle and sheep from farming areas in Scotland and the North of England to the London and southern markets. As a stopping point en route the town developed an important cattle market. The importance of the route encouraged the building of a wooden bridge in 1107, and its replacement by the stone bridge in 1426. The bridge still exists; although very narrow it carried the main London Road from St Ives until a by-pass was built in 1980.
The economy of the town has always been dominated by agriculture. Twenty-first century changes have diminished the town's former dominance, but it remains a popular and pleasant place to live.
History Origin: Slepe and Ivo St Ives was founded on the north bank of the wide River Great Ouse between Huntingdon and Ely, probably in the fifth or sixth century CE. There had been some Roman activity in the area, but the settlement that became St Ives originated in Anglo-Saxon times.Noel Hudson, St Ives: Slepe by the Ouse, St Ives Town Council 1989, , page 1 It developed because it was possible to ford the river there; any more easterly crossing point would not have been practicable. The settlement was originally known as "Slepe", implying a muddy area. At that time and later, the area was virtually one large forest.
Little and Werba, writing in 1974, stated that "The site of the ford, of which a trace remains at the bottom of Church Street, was well upstream of the present bridge". This point of view is supported by the foundation of a Saxon church at the location of the present All Saints Church, suggesting that this was then the centre of the settlement. Burn-Murdoch, writing in 2009 argues that the straight track that became London Road "leads straight to the river bank and so must have been going to a river crossing of some kind... so the Saxon river crossing was probably either a ford or a ferry" at the location of the present-day bridge... Upstream at Slepe itself the river is deep and narrow with a muddy bottom, making it very difficult to ford..." He continues, "Crossing the river at Slepe [would have been] only half the battle: you also need to get across the wide expanse of the flood plain. The meadows on the south side of the river still flood regularly and are then impassable for days or weeks afterwards because of the mud left on them..." and there is no evidence of a Saxon causeway there.Bryan Little and Herbert Werba, St Ives in Huntingdonshire, published for the St Ives Borough Council by Adams and Dart, 1974, , page 1Bob Burn-Murdoch, The Shaping of St Ives, published by the Friends of the Norris Museum, 2009, , pages 17 to 21
Whatever the exact location of the ford, Slepe became important as it was the lowest convenient crossing of the River Great Ouse; it was an important waypoint for traffic between the Eastern Counties and London. River traffic too developed, although navigation on the river was difficult until major improvements were made much later, in the 17th century.Dorothy Summers, The River Great Ouse: the History of a River Navigation, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1973, , pages 45 to 49, 88 and 117
The legend of St Ivo relates that Slepe received a surprising visitation about a century after it had been established. One morning a tall, dignified man carrying a bishop's crozier and accompanied by two companions, forded the river Great Ouse and announced to the villagers that his name was Ivo, and that he was a missionary. He added that he had been ordered by God to travel to Slepe where he was to make his home and preach the gospel in the surrounding area. The eleventh-century chronicler Goscelin of St Bertin wrote that Ivo was a Persian archbishop, and this claim has been repeated in later reports. Ivo remained at Slepe and eventually died there in the seventh century.Goscelin's Life of Ivo is printed in Jean Bolland, Acta Sanctorum (in Latin)William Smith and Henry Weiss (editors), Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature Sects and Doctrines During the First Eight Centuries, volume 3, John Murray, London, 1888, pages 324 and 325
In the tenth century, Ramsey Abbey was founded and in 986, the Manor of Slepe, which by that time was an extensive property, was bequeathed to the Abbey. In the year 1001 CE, a peasant ploughing a field discovered a stone coffin containing a complete human skeleton. It was taken back to the church at Slepe, and declared by the Abbot Eadnoth, to be the remains of Ivo. At the time it was a lucrative matter for an Abbey to possess the bones of a saint, as wealthy pilgrims were attracted to the location. The relics were claimed to have healing properties. The editors of the Dictionary of Christian Biography describe the legend of Ivo as utterly improbable, "and the monks of Ramsey must be held responsible for the legend. Their abbey had been newly built and needed relics; a consecrated spot was wanted for a daughter-house [at Slepe]".
Ivo was a Cornish saint. Suggestions of a Persian link came about when Withman, Abbot of Ramsey, heard in the Holy Land of a Persian bishop named Ivo; subsequently the link to the Fenland Ivo was written down by Goscelin of St Bertin. The tradition is completely spurious.Cyil Hart (editor), Eadnoth I of Ramsey and Dorchester, in The Danelaw, Hambledon Press, London, 1992, , pages 613–23, originally published in Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, page 56, 1964 There is a seaside town in Cornwall named St Ives. That name derives from a holy woman named Ia of Cornwall and has no connection with the Cambridgeshire town's name.Gilbert Hunter Doble, The Saints of Cornwall, published by the Dean and Chapter of Truro, 1960, pages 89–94
Nevertheless, Slepe became an important destination for pilgrims, and in time the name used for the settlement became "Saint Ives". The presence of the remains gave Slepe considerable prestige. Ramsey Abbey had been established in AD974 with a charter from King Edgar, and the community at Slepe was made subordinate to Ramsey Abbey. The significance of Ivo's remains meant that the community at Slepe became referred to as St Ives. About 1001 CE Abbot Eadnoth had Ivo's remains moved to Ramsey, but by that time the name St Ives had become the usual name for the town that had originated as Slepe.Little and Werba, page 2"Parishes: St Ives", in A History of the County of Huntingdon: Volume 2, ed. William Page, Granville Proby, S Inskip Ladds (London, 1932), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hunts/vol2/pp210-223 [accessed 9 May 2025]
After the Norman Conquest Slepe was listed in the Hundred of Hurstingstone in Huntingdonshire in the Domesday Book. It states that
In St Ives, the Abbot of Ramsey had 20 hides to the geld [taxable]. [There is] land for 24 ploughs, and he had land for 2 ploughs in demesne, apart from the aforementioned hides. There are now 3 ploughs in demesne and 39 villains and 12 smallholders who have 20 [or 6?] ploughs. There is a church and a priest, and 60 acres of meadow [and] woodland pasture 1 league and a half broad. Value before 1066 was £20 and now £16. Three of the Abbot's men, Everard, Ingelrann and Pleines, have 4 hides of this land, and 3½ ploughs. 5 villagers and 6 smallholders with 3 ploughs. [They have] the church and the priest. Value 45s. Eustace claims 2½ ploughs. Note: merged from differing translations of the original text in Latin.John Morris (editor), Domesday, Book: 19: Huntingdonshire, Phillimore, Chichester, 1975, , section 204cAnn Williams and G H Martin, editors, Domesday Book: a complete Translation, Penguin Books, 2002, , page 554
Burn-Murdoch explains that "A hide was an area of land, probably about 120 acres. Land "in lordship" was cultivated by the lord of the manor as his own Home Farm. Villeins and borderers were different kinds of peasant. A league was probably about one and a half miles. The Eustace who claims some of the land was the sheriff of Huntingdonshire.Burn-Murdoch, Shaping, page 31
As St Ives continued to be a focus for travel in the area, it developed in importance as a trading point and a staging point for travellers. In 1107 the ford crossing of the river was replaced by a wooden bridge, at the site of the present-day stone bridge. The wooden bridge further encouraged the importance of St Ives, but it incurred heavy maintenance costs and in the early 15th century it was decided to replace the wooden bridge with a stone bridge; this was completed in 1426.E A Labrum (editor), Civil Engineering Heritage: Eastern and Central England, published by Thomas Telford Limited for the Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 1994, pages 94 and 95Bob Burn-Murdoch, St Ives Bridge and Chapel: A History and Guide, published by the Friends of the Norris Museum, 2001, , pages 5 to 10Philip G M Dickinson, St Ives Bridge and Chapel, Huntingdonshire, published by the Norris Museum St Ives, 1962, page 2
Post-medieval St Ives The key position of St Ives on a trunk route from Huntingdon to Ipswich may be seen in John Ogilby's Britannia (1675), a series of strip maps of roads.John Ogilby, Britannia Volume the First or, An Illustration of the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales, self published by Ogilby, London, 1675, map 88 https://www.fulltable.com/VTS/m/map/ogilby/e/SH023.jpg retrieved 15 May 2025
In 1689 there was a disastrous fire in the town which destroyed much of the built up infrastructure; Pettis was an eye-witness:
Tuesday april 30 hear happened a sudden and dreadfull fire in a malt house at the end of Whithart lane next padlemore. The wind being very high it ran up to the Street flew cross the Sheep market, consuming all to the reverside with part of the Bridg Street and to the other side the bridg consum’d part of them two houses.Edmund Pettis, quoted in Mary Carter, Edmund Pettis's Survey of St Ives, 1728, Cambridge Records Society, 2002, , page 3
The economy of the town was principally agricultural, more arable than livestock. Carter says that
The major crops of the hinterland were wheat and barley, but the corn market of St Neots was more important than that of St Ives... However, there are references to fifteen granaries attached to inns in the eighteenth century which suggests that the crop was traded from them before transport to St Neots or elsewhere. There were large numbers of maltsters, some of whom became wealthy men.Carter, Pettis's Survey, page 39
Carter continues: For all the benefits that the market and increased traffic on the river brought to the town it did not lead to the establishment of major new industries. Such information as we have shows that the cargoes earned by river were not produced in St Ives.Carter, Pettis's Survey, page 42