THE NAMING OF CARBIS BAY

CARBIS BAY | 1877

carbis-bay-large-courtesy-of-STEAM-Museum-Of-The-GWR

The station in 1935, courtesy of STEAM Museum of the GWR

“Carbis Bay” was invented by the Great Western Railway Company. So said the St Ives Times on the front page of their 29 October 1954 issue.

They explained that before the St Ives branch line opened, the bay within a bay had no official name but was known by some locals as Barrepta Cove and others as Barrippa Cove.

At the head of the valley, through which a stream runs, was a tiny hamlet called Carpis Water.

The St Ives Times explained their thoughts on what had happened.

“Well, thought someone on the railway executive, “Barrepta” wasn’t much of a name for a prospective pleasure beach; “Carpis” wasn’t very euphonious; and “Water” – well, water did less than justice to the sapphire seas that flooded to the cove.

“So it was that “Carbis Bay” appeared on the station nameboard. Just like that; and “Carbis Bay” it has been ever since.”

A local railwayman sent the paper to the Editor of British Railways (Western Region) Magazine (for staff) and he duly reported the story in the December 1954 issue. We found that article when researching this project.

We contacted the St Ives Times & Echo and they very kindly went through their archives to dig out the original story.

Newspaper front cover: The St Ives Times - How Carbis Bay Was "Invented"

The St Ives Times also went on to print a letter about the topic on 5 November 1954 and two more the week after.

The St Ives branch line, today’s St Ives Bay Line, opened on 1 June 1877. Carbis Bay station opened with the line that day.

In 1954, 77 years later, there would still have been some people alive who were children when the line opened and clearly a good many more whose parents and grandparents remembered the time before the railway.

The story of how Carbis Bay got its name must have been passed down - the paper doesn’t say who told them.

More than 70 years on, we have the internet and particularly the great resource that is the British Newspaper Archive.

Newspapers dating back well before the building of the St Ives line have been scanned and are available to look at and download. The archive is fully searchable. Papers available include the Cornishman, the West Briton and long gone titles such as the Cornish Telegraph.

A search of the archive backs up the St Ives Times story. The name Carbis Bay did not appear in any newspaper before the railway and Carbis Bay station opened.

The St Ives Times, today’s St Ives Times & Echo, is not currently part of the British Newspaper Archive and back issues of the newspaper are kept in bound volumes in their offices in St Ives. Many thanks to the team at the St Ives Times & Echo for their help with this piece.

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