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Turn down the side of the church down Lifeboat Hill to the harbour. The St. Ives Lifeboat Station is on the right and is well worth visiting.
Many ships and lives were lost in the often-treacherous seas around Cornwall and until 1840 when the first lifeboat 'Hope' was built; brave local men in their own boats or the coastguards did any lifesaving. The original lifeboats had no engine, they were rowed or sailed. On dark nights with icy seas filling the boat and the vessel almost perpendicular on the high waves, great courage and strength was called for.
The first motor lifeboat which arrived in 1933 was the 'Caroline Parsons', she saved 73 lives before she met her end off the Island on 31st January 1938 trying to save passengers and crew of the S.S. Alba who took too long disembarking and then attempted to bring their luggage! Miraculously all bar five of the crew were saved.
Go left along the harbour front for about 100 yards. Look out for Hobblers House and turn sharp left under an archway into Court Cocking, formerly Porth Cocking (Beach of small boats). Climb the short steps, turning right into Fore Street then left into the Digey, possibly named after 'Di-Chy' - dye house.
From the next junction, keeping ahead and following the road around left above Porthmeor beach you can reach the St. Ives Tate Gallery. (If visiting the Tate you will have to retrace your steps to the junction).
Back on the main walk turn right at the junction, to your left, on the wall of Harry's Court is a plaque to Alfred Wallis, the primitive painter, now at rest in St. Ives cemetery. You are now in Back Road West where a number of artists have their studios. This area is known as 'Downalong'. Porthmeor Studios are situated here and have been occupied by such artists as Julius Olsson, Jane and Tony O'Malley, Borlase Smart, Roy Walker, Ben Nicholson and Patrick Heron, and are still used by Stephen Dove and others. Beneath Porthmeor Studios is the only pilchard cellar, which remains in almost its original state.
For many centuries fishing was the lifeblood of St. Ives and seining for pilchards became very organised. The huers would watch for the shoals announcing their arrival by a cry of 'hevva'. The boats would take out the seine net, a quarter of a mile in length, which would then be shot around the shoal, often containing millions of fish.
The net was hauled into shallow water and the fish taken to shore in boats called 'Dippers', which often took several days. The pilchards where then cured in salt, packed into barrels called 'hogsheads' and the majority transported from Cornwall, sometimes numbering 5,600 hogsheads - 122 million fish.
The tradition came to an end when the last seine was shot in 1924 and the pilchard shoals had gone. A huers lookout can be found on Hain Walk, on the coastal path between St. Ives and Carbis Bay.