Market Hill, St Ives

History of Market Hill

St Ives market was one of the most important commercial centres in eastern England, serving a wide rural hinterland across Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire and the Fens. Positioned beside the River Great Ouse and on key road routes, the town became a major centre for the trade in grain, livestock, wool and agricultural produce. Weekly markets and large annual fairs attracted farmers, merchants, carriers and travelling traders from surrounding villages, helping to connect isolated rural communities to wider regional and national economies. The market also shaped the physical and social character of the town itself, supporting inns, warehouses, shops and coaching trade while creating a busy public space where commerce, news and social life mixed together. Even into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, St Ives market remained an important focus of community identity and rural exchange.

Market Square St Ives by S Orchart

Market, St Ives c.1906

Market Hill, St Ives (Hunts Archives)

Market Hill, St Ives, 1900

Market Hill, St Ives, pre 1932

Market St Ives c,1957

Second picture taken July this year.

Market Hill, St Ives (photo DG 2022)

Then and Now (David Gent) – Market Hill St Ives showing the pens of the sheep market on the right, This has been the economic centre of St Ives ever since the cattle market moved to this end of town in 1886, it was previously located in the Broadway. Bob Burn-Murdoch’s wonderful book, ‘The Pubs of St Ives’ lists no less than 21 pubs/hotels around Market Hill. Many of these licensed premises were open all day on market day, Monday, long before all day opening became a thing in the rest of the country. Of these 21, only two survive today, the White Hart and the Golden Lion.
The first picture is an undated postcard, however, it shows the Parrot Hotel which closed and was demolished in 1932, so clearly is pre this date. The site of the Parrot was most recently a branch of Barclays Bank, although that has since closed and it is now a vacant building.

Then and Now