The parish used to be a large rural area of rolling landscape with wooded valleys and the population was sparse with the largest village being St Ive itself, sited on the A390. The hamlet of Woolston lies to the northwest of St Ive. The demography of the parish was radically altered with the mid-Victorian mining boom centred on Caradon Hill. South Caradon Mine situated just over the parish border was at one time the largest and most prosperous copper mine in the world.