St Ive

A village that rode the Victorian mining boom and crashed with it. Once a sleepy agricultural parish, St Ive exploded into life when copper was discovered on nearby Caradon Hill, then emptied again when the mines closed, leaving engine house ruins and memories of prosperity. History: St Ive (pronounced "St Eve") experienced one of Cornwall's most dramatic transformations. Between 1841 and 1871, the population almost quadrupled as miners flocked to the copper mines of the Caradon district. South Caradon Mine, just over the parish border, became the largest and most prosperous copper mine in the world. An entirely new village – Pensilva – emerged in the 1840s to house the influx of workers, built in rows of cottages on cheap land near enough to walk to the mines but far enough from mining operations. Then came the collapse: between 1871 and 1900, the parish lost 53% of its people. Miners emigrated to Wales, the USA, Canada, Australia, and South Africa. By 1895, mining around Caradon Hill had finished. A 1892 report described Pensilva as "a large mining village with a decreasing population, with dilapidated cottages with limited facilities and poor hygiene." Those who remained turned back to farming. Today, the wind whistles through crumbling engine houses, mine waste mounds dot the hills, and the area holds World Heritage status for its mining legacy. The medieval church and Trebeigh Manor (once held by the Knights Hospitaller) remind visitors of the parish's pre-industrial past.