We found St. Ives to be a lovely place, and it was really noticeable that there were very few cars in the middle of the town, which gave it an accessible and calmer feeling. We continued our exploration.
The Waits is a nice little mooring hidden away a little but handy for the town. On the right is the Norris Museum that is well worth an hour of your time at least, if for nothing else than the mummified cat and rat! On the other side is the Actual Waits. This is an island that was used as a commercial osier bed up until the 1930's I think. The willow were planted in neat rows, with fruit trees between as a by crop. The willow kept an industry going in the town making baskets etc. The island is now a reserve and has the Sea Scouts HQ too.
You maybe able to see that this memorial is dedicated to the Diamond Jubliee of Queen Victoria. The whole thing is a shame though. The monument was given to the time by a Mr. Odam of nearby Fenstanton as he had seen and liked one the same in Sandown on the Isle of White several years after the actual Jubilee! He had a replica made. The one in Sandown has since gone!! It wasn't until 1902 that it was finally erected, fully five years after the event. On it is recorded that it was it was presented to St. Ives on 26th June 1902 the day of the coronation of Edward VII. Yet again this was not rue as the coronation was actually put off until 30th as the future King was ill!!,
This view of the Town Bridge can not of changed much in many years. The bridge was built in 1425 and the chantry chapel, on the right, a year later. It was dedicated to St. Leger and also acted as a toll house. Over the years it has been used as an inn, a private residence and when used as accommodation it had two floors added. In the 1850's and 60's it became the notorious pub, 'Little Hell'. Later again is was used a a doctors. By the 1930's it was found to be in quite poor condition so the extra two floors were removed and it was restored to act as a chapel. It is occasionally used for services still, and is unusual as it has a crypt too. The bridge was partly demolished in 1645 when the southern most arches were blown up and a draw bridge erected to assist in defending the town. It was held by Cromwell's men. The drawbridge remained until 1716 when the arches were restored but you can see the different style of them to the original Gothic ones.
Speaking of Oliver Cromwell, his statue is in the Market Place. He was actually born in Huntingdon
but when a plan to raise a monument to him is his birth place fell apart in 1899 St. Ives seized the opportunity. There was still much enmity to the Commonwealth for along time after in ended in the 1650's. The people of the town chose F.W. Pomeroy to be the sculptor and it is in broze, Portland stone and Scottish Granite. It was well reviewed at the Royal Academy of Arts in London before being erected in 1901. It is the only statue to the statesman in the country that was raised by public subscription.
Close by on the Market Hill is the Swan and Angel a Wetherspoon's and our next destination. The pub opened in 2017 and is actually named after two other pubs that were situated just next door but one called, yes you've guessed it the Swan and the Angel. In the 18th and 19th Century St.Ives animal market was second in size only to the Smithfield in London, You can imagine the number of drovers, farmers etc that would want a drink, and this was catered for by the 64 pubs that were in the town. The pub was busy, aren't they always, and had a fair selection of real ales on.
I chose one from the Westerham Brewery that I had never heard of before. Westerham is a town near Sevenoaks in Kent. A brewery was started there in 1841 called the Black Eagle Brewery by a Robert Day. He already had a brewery in Bermondsey, London, that brewed porters that the soft London water was good for. Here in Westerham the water was from the Greensand level and was great for pale bitter beers. By 1862 Ben Bushell joined and really moved the business ahead, so much so that by 1881 a branch line from the railway was brought in to move the large quantity of beer that was going to London. The expanded by taking over other local brewers in Sevenoaks, Oxted, Canterbury and the other brewery in Westerham the Swan. They became known as Bushell, Watkins and Smith. The brewery came intoits own in WWII as it was close to Biggin Hill Air Base and so was popular with the lads of the Battle of Britain and afterwards. After D Day in June 1944 they wanted to do their bit for the lads fighting in Normandy so offered to give beer to the troops. This was not a priority cargo, but ingenuity meant that a local firm that was making auxiliary fuel tanks for Spitfires filled them up with beer to take over to the lads. Bitter on one side and mild on the other! In fact other breweries devised a method of suspending a beer barrel beneath each wing of a Spitfire to get their beer to the soldiers. In 1948 the brewery was taken over by Taylor Walker and Co., and in 1959 they became part of the Ind Coope conglomerate. The Black Eagle brewery became just a distribution centre until 1964 when then Allied Brewers closed it down completely. That is until 2004 when the beer was resurrected by Robert Wicks. They now brew from the National Trust's Grange farm and have their own bore hole to access the greensands water below. They use Kentish hops and actually reactivated the original yeast from the old brewery that had been freeze dried and placed in the National Yeast collection by the head brewer when Taylor Walker, and then Ind Coppe had taken over. They now have the sole rights to the yeast. Yes, who knew you needed rights to a yeast.
I tried a pint of British Bulldog, 4.1%. It is a traditional British bitter, hence the name with a great mix of the two malts and four Kentish hops. The biscuity malt and the fruit hops make this a beer you could drink all day. I will definitely look out for more beers from this brewery.
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