Editing St Ives, Cambridgeshire (section)

===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 (atlas)|Britannia]]'' (1675), a series of strip maps of roads.<ref name = ogilby>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</ref>

In 1689 there was a disastrous fire in the town which destroyed much of the built up infrastructure; Pettis was an eye-witness:

<blockquote>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.<ref name = pettis3>Edmund Pettis, quoted in Mary Carter, ''Edmund Pettis's Survey of St Ives, 1728'', Cambridge Records Society, 2002, ISBN 0 904323 16 1, page 3</ref></blockquote>

The economy of the town was principally agricultural, more arable than livestock. Carter says that

<blockquote>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.<ref name = carter39>Carter, ''Pettis's Survey'', page 39</ref></blockquote>

Carter continues:
<blockquote>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.<ref name = carter42>Carter, ''Pettis's Survey'', page 42</ref></blockquote>

From the 17th to the mid-19th century, St Ives remained a hub for trade and navigation in this part of East Anglia. There were inns to cater for the merchants, mariners and drovers who did business in the town. Goods were brought into the town on barges and livestock rested on the last fattening grounds before being sent to London's [[Smithfield Market]]. However, with the of the [[Cambridge and St Ives branch line|Cambridge and St Ives railway line]] in 1847,<ref name = ecr>D I Gordon, ''A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain'', Volume V, The Eastern Counties, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1977, ISBN 0 7153 7431 1, page 149</ref> and improvements to the local road networks, commercial traffic on the River Great Ouse entered a steady decline.<ref name = ballard9>Ken Ballard, ''Old Industries of St Ives Revisited'', published by Friends of the Norris Museum, St Ives, 2002, ISBN 0 9525900 5 0, pages 9 to 28</ref>

The commercial activity of St Ives was dominated by agriculture: its weekly cattle market was said to be second only to [[Smithfield, London|Smithfield Market]], in London.<ref name = kelly>Smith and Werba, pages 27 and 28, quoting ''Kelly's Huntingdonshire Directory of 1847''</ref> Situated on [[Drovers' road|the drove road]] from the north of England and southern Scotland, it was a convenient market to sell beasts to meat wholesalers of southern and eastern counties.<ref name = ballard9/>

[[File:Broad Street Market, St Ives.jpg|thumb|The cattle market in progress in Broad Street, before the move]]The cattle market had, for decades, been held in Broad Street, but in 1886 it was moved to a dedicated site adjacent to the railway station.<ref name = shaping52>Burn-Murdoch, ''Shaping'', page 52</ref>

Nevertheless the town did have some industries as well. The company [[Tom M. Scotney|Tom M Scotney Limited]] established itself in St Ives in 1916, having operated on a small scale in [[Sawtry]]. The business manufactured timber products for agricultural use: sheep and cattle troughs, and fencing. After [[World War II]] the range was extended to include poultry houses, piggeries, farm carts and trailers, and motor lorry motor bodies. The original ownership was sold on in the 1960s and manufacturing ceased in the mid 1990s.<ref name = ballard9/>

Joseph Fowell had established himself as a designer of steam engines for agricultural use, employed at the engineering company of [[Charles Burrell & Sons]]. In 1876 he set up independently in St Ives, chosen because of its agricultural commerce. He became associated with William Box who was patentee of a transmission system allowing sprung suspension of traction engines, at the time a novel concept. The company was mainly involved in the manufacture and repair of agricultural machinery. In 1923 the business was sold on, the new owner continuing to at least 1965.<ref name = ballard37>Ballard, pages 37, 40, 41, 47 and 48</ref>

After 1846 [[Potto Brown]] established a flour mill, that became known as Brown and Goodman's Steam Corn Mill. In 1902 the mill was sold to the [[Chivers and Sons|Chivers Company]] of [[Histon]]. They converted the mill to a printing works for their jam jar labels. A subsidiary company named Enderby and Co. Ltd. was set up. Later the company supplied any business requiring its services. The works closed down in 1965. In 1968 the mill building was taken over by Advanced Instrumentation Modules, an electronics manufacturer. [[Clive Sinclair]] was the next occupier of the mill, in 1971, manufacturing pioneering microprocessor devices.<ref name = ballard55>Ballard, pages 55, 58, 61, 63 and 66</ref>

The factors that held the town back from further urban growth were that it lacked an industrial base, and had no monopoly to exploit except the sale of livestock, a trade whose major profits went to outsiders, like the Duke of Manchester. River traffic, largely controlled by outsiders, had to compete with traffic by road, and the more important centre for transport and many other aspects of life was the nearby county town of Huntingdon.<ref name = carter43>Carter, ''Pettis's Survey'', page 43</ref>

The River Great Ouse at St Ives flooded in 1947, and some parts suffered seriously again at Easter 1998<ref>{{cite web|url=http://saint-ives.info/history/Floods/ |title=1998 Floods in St Ives |access-date=6 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721232441/http://saint-ives.info/history/Floods/ |archive-date=21 July 2011 }}</ref> and in January 2003.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.st-ives.info/history/floods2003/ |title=2003 Floods in St Ives|access-date=6 September 2009}}</ref> Extensive [[flood protection]] works were carried out on both sides of the river in 2006-07 at a cost of nearly £9&nbsp;million. {{convert|500|m|ft}} of brick-clad steel-piling was installed to protect the town, most noticeably at the Waits, where a plaza has also been created. A further {{convert|750|m|ft}} on the other side of the river protects [[Hemingford Grey]], reducing the yearly risk of flooding from 10% to 1%.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/6231974.stm|title=£8. 8m flood defence scheme opened|date=22 June 2007|work=BBC News|access-date=6 September 2009}}</ref> Building on the flood plain at St Ives is now discouraged.