Newquay

Prehistoric period

There are some pre-historic burial mounds and an embankment on the area now known as The Barrowfields, 400 m (440 yd) from Trevelgue. There were once up to fifteen barrows, but now only a few remain. Excavations here have revealed charred cooking pots and a coarse pottery burial urn containing remains of a Bronze Age chieftain, who was buried here up to 3,500 years ago.^[5]

In 1987, evidence of a Bronze Age village was found at Trethellan Farm, a site that overlooks the River Gannel.^[6]

The first signs of settlement in the Newquay region consist of a late Iron Age hill fort/industrial centre which exploited the nearby abundant resources (including deposits of iron) and the superior natural defences provided by Trevelgue Head. It is claimed that occupation of the site was continuous from the 3rd century BC to the 5th or 6th century AD (a Dark Ages house was later built on the head).^[7]

Medieval period

The curve of the headland around what is now Newquay Harbour provided natural protection from bad weather and a small fishing village grew up in the area. When the village was first occupied is unknown but it is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, although a parcel of land was recorded at Treninnick, which is now part of suburban Newquay. Treninnick was then part of the manor of Coswarth and consisted of one virgate (value 15d) [some 30 acres or 12 hectares] with five sheep. Crantock is the only other recognisable name in the Newquay area also recorded in Domesday, (as “Langoroch”).^[8] By the 15th century, a village referred to as “Keye” existed around the present harbour, near “Tewynblustri” (the spelling changed as Cornish evolved and is now rendered as “Towan Blystra”). “Towan” (or Tewynn) means dune or sand hill in Cornish, but the meaning of “blustri” or “blystra” is unknown. Some sources have suggested in the past that it meant boats, but this claim is not supported by modern authorities and is dismissed by Padel in his dictionary of Cornish place names.^[9] The name Towan Blystra, although often quoted as the Cornish equivalent of Newquay, was actually the name of a separate settlement some 200m away from the harbour, at the foot of Towan Head. There is no record of ‘Newquay’ as a name ever being rendered in Cornish.^[10] The anchorage was exposed to winds from the north east and in 1439 the local burgesses applied to Edmund Lacey, Bishop of Exeter for leave and funds raised through the mechanism of an indulgence, to build a "New quay" from which the town derives its name. The new quay itself did not appear until the early 17th century.

1801-1900

A 1904 image showing the Great Western Railway tramway at Newquay Harbour (top); the area in 2006 (bottom).

The first national British census of 1801 recorded around 1,300 inhabitants in the settlement (enumerated as a village under St Columb Minor parish). The construction of the current harbour started in 1832.^[11].

A mansion called the Tower was built for the Molesworth family in 1835: it included a castellated tower and a private chapel as they were practising Roman Catholics and no church for that denomination existed in the area. The Tower later became the golf club house.^[12] After the arrival of passenger trains in 1876, the village around the port of Newquay started to grow more quickly. Several major hotels were built around the turn of the 19th century, including the Victoria in East Street, the Atlantic and the Headland, while many others were created around this period by converting former large houses which had been built originally by wealthy visitors as holiday homes, particularly along Narrowcliff.

Until the end of the 19th century, the port was famous for pilchards and there is a "Huer's Hut" above the harbour from which a huer would cry "Hevva!" to call out the fishing fleet when pilchard shoals were spotted. The town's present insignia includes four pilchards, while its motto Ro An Mor is Cornish for 'from the sea'. The real pilchards now only survive in limited stocks, but a small fleet still catches the local edible crabs and lobsters. The arms of the former urban district council of Newquay were Or on a saltire Azure four herrings respectant Argent.^[13]

1901-2000

Newquay war memorial

Three churches were built early in the twentieth century, including the present day parish church of St Michael the Archangel, which was consecrated in 1911. Growth of the town eastwards soon reached the area around the railway station: Station Road became Cliff Road around 1930, and the houses beyond, along Narrowcliff, were also converted into hotels. Narrowcliff was known for a while as Narrowcliff Promenade, and then Narrowcliff Road. On some pre-war maps it is spelt Narrowcliffe.

At the time of the First World War the last buildings at the edge of the town were a little further along present-day Narrowcliff, including the Hotel Edgcumbe. Post-war development saw new houses and streets built in the Chester Road area, accompanied by ribbon development along the country lane which led to St Columb Minor, some 2 miles (3 km) away. This thoroughfare was modernised and named Henver Road, also some time in the 1930s. Development continued in this direction until the Second World War, by which time much of Henver Road had houses on both sides, with considerable infilling also taking place between there and the sea.

A thriving knitting industry became established in Newquay in the early part of the 20th century. In 1905, Madame Hawke began selling machine-knitted garments in a shop in the centre of the town. Debenhams was sent a sample of her work and commissioned her as a supplier. She opened a factory in Crantock Street, which has since been converted into housing. Several competing knitting companies were also set up in the town in this period ^[14].

In the early 1950s, the last houses were built along Henver Road. After that, there was a virtually continuous building line on both sides of the main road from the other side of St Columb Minor right into the town centre. The Doublestiles estate to the north of Henver Road was also built in the early 1950s, as the name of Coronation Way indicates, and further development continued beyond, becoming the Lewarne Estate and extending the built up area to the edges of Porth.

Other areas also developed in the period between the wars were Pentire (known for a time as West Newquay) and the Trenance Valley. Other streets dating from the 1920s included St Thomas Road, which provided the approach to the town's new cottage hospital at its far end, to be followed by others in the same area near the station, such as Pargolla Road.

More recent development has been on a larger scale: until the late 1960s a passenger arriving by train would not have seen a building by the line (with the exception of Trencreek village) until the Trenance Viaduct was reached. Today, the urban area starts a good 1.5 miles (2 km) inland from the viaduct. Other growth areas have been on the fringes of St Columb Minor and also towards the Gannel. More development beyond Treninnick, south of the Trenance Valley, has taken the urban area out as far as Lane, where more building is now under way. The Trennnick/Treloggan development, mainly in the 1970s and 1980s, included not merely housing but also an industrial estate and several large commercial outlets, including a major supermarket and a cash and carry warehouse.

Modern period since 2001

The first phase of a new Duchy of Cornwall development began to be built in 2012 at Tregunnel Hill, which was sometimes unofficially called Surfbury after the similar Poundbury development in Dorset. It has 174 houses of traditional designs.^[15]

There is now a similar but much more substantial development in progress inland, and construction on a large site known as Nansledan (‘broad valley’ in Cornish) is now apparent along the Quintrell Road. Plans were approved for the development of 800 homes at Nansledan in December 2013,^[16] but the plan now includes more than 4,000 homes, shops, a supermarket, church and a 14-classroom primary school which is due to open to its first pupils in September 2019.^[17] Following the example set at Tregunnel Hill, the buildings are again of traditional designs and all street names are in Cornish.

Places like Trencreek, Porth and St Columb Minor have long since become suburbs of Newquay: it is now quite possible that by the 2030s, should present development trends continue, the south eastern edge of the town could stretch beyond the present boundary set by Nansledan and encompass Quintrell Downs, 3 miles (5 km) from the town centre.^[18]

In April 2012 the Aerohub enterprise zone for aerospace businesses was set up at Newquay Airport. In September 2014, the UK's Homes and Communities Agency and the European Regional Development Fund agreed to fund the construction of a £6 million Aerohub Business Park there.^[19] A plan to launch space vehicles from the Airport moved ahead in July 2018 when a contract was signed with Virgin Orbit (for more details, see Transport).

Climate

As with the rest of the British Isles and South West England, Newquay experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest Met Office weather station is St. Mawgan/Newquay Airport, about 3.5 miles to the north east of the town centre. Temperature extremes in the area since 1960 vary from 31.3 °C (88.3 °F) in June 1976 and August 1995^[22] down to −9.0 °C (15.8 °F) during January 1987.^[23]

Geology

The bedrock underlying Newquay is the Devonian age Meadfoot Group, a succession of interbedded mudstones, siltstones and sandstones, with occasional beds of limestone. Quaternary age deposits of blown sand cover the bedrock in the western part of the town. Some mineralisation associated with the Cornubian granite batholith that intrudes into much of the peninsular is found in the western part of the town near Fistral Beach, in the form of lodes of lead and silver minerals.

Town trail

Newquay Discovery Trail^[30] is made up of 14 Cornish slate discs, each 1 metre (39 inches) in diameter, sunk into the ground at strategic points around the town. Each of the discs features a series of 'conundrum' words carved by sculptor Peter Martin. The trail starts in the centre of town at the Killacourt.^[31][32]

Second World War

Among many schools evacuated to Cornwall (notably Benenden Girls' School), 240 boys and 20 masters of Gresham's School were evacuated to the town from Holt, Norfolk, during the Second World War, between June 1940 and March 1944.^[34] Gresham's occupied the Bay Hotel and the Pentire Hotel.^[35]

Between 1940 and 1944,^[36] the Royal Air Force used hotels in Newquay as a Ground school for aircrew Initial Training Wings (No 7, No 8, and No 40). Recruits were taught basic flying theory and service protocols, and were sorted into their likely future RAF trades, such as Pilots, Observers, Navigators, Wireless operators, and air gunners. The training took place in the Highbury Hotel and men were billeted in nearby hotels.^[37][38]

Several of the large hotels in Newquay were requisitioned as convalescent hospitals for the Army, Air Force, and Royal Navy. These were the Atlantic Hotel, the Headland Hotel, the Hotel Victoria, the Fistral Bay Hotel and the St Rumons (now called the Esplanade).^[39]

Rail

Newquay railway station

Newquay railway station is the terminus of the Atlantic Coast Line from Par. The railway was originally built as a mineral line in the 1840s to provide a link with the harbour. A passenger service followed on 20 June 1876, and from then on the town developed quickly as a resort. The station is close to the beaches on the east side of the town centre.

Newquay handles intercity trains throughout the summer, which include a daily service to and from London in July and August and also further through trains to London, the Midlands and North on Saturdays and Sundays between May and September. It is the only branch line terminus in Britain still handling scheduled intercity trains.

Two of the three former platforms were taken out of use in 1987, but Network Rail had planned^[41] to restore one of the disused platforms to improve capacity. However, the latest draft Route Utilisation Study for the Great Western routes, published in September 2009,^[42] makes no mention of this. Instead it favours a restored crossing place (a short section of double track where trains can pass) at St Columb Road. This will depend on the progress with developing a proposed eco-town in the China clay area, much of which lies near the line.

A local user group has been campaigning for the line to be upgraded, not merely with at least one additional platform to be provided at Newquay, but also for passenger trains to run from St Dennis Junction (near St Columb Road) to Burngullow, on the Cornish Main Line west of St Austell. This would require the restoration of several miles of track, and also the improvement of a China clay line which still operates between Parkandillack and Burngullow. This route was proposed in 1987 as a possible replacement for the line to Par, much of which could then have been closed. However, although the British Railways Board obtained the necessary legal powers, the plan was not carried out.

Air

Newquay Airport

Newquay Airport provides links to many other parts of the United Kingdom. It is an HM Customs port, because it also handles increasing numbers of foreign flights, both scheduled and chartered. Newquay is the principal airport for Cornwall, although there are several minor airfields elsewhere in the county.

Until 2008, Newquay Civil Airport (as it was formerly known) used the runway and other facilities of RAF St Mawgan, but in December 2008 the Ministry of Defence handed over most of the site to the recently formed Cornwall Airport Limited. The first stage of the conversion into a fully commercial airport was completed in 2011, although further substantial development is planned.^[43] The handover, which was due to take place at the end of 2008, was delayed for almost three weeks because of problems in obtaining the essential Civil Aviation Authority licence, which was withheld until further work had been carried out.

The name has changed several times since 2008, and the airport is now marketed as Cornwall Airport Newquay. However, the IATA code is still NQY.

Usage of the airport has been rising sharply, and on summer Saturdays in 2018 there were almost 50 arrivals and departures, including flights to Germany and other European countries.^[44]

Spaceport

Newquay is now set to obtain a licence to operate as a Spaceport,^[45] in competition with sites in Scotland and Wales, and a decision had been expected in the summer of 2017. However, the additional general election in June 2017 delayed the necessary legislation, but this has now received Royal Assent. The bid is being supported by Cornwall Council and Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership. The proposal also includes the related facilities offered by the Cornish space tracking station at Goonhilly. On 16 July 2018 a new partnership was announced with Virgin Orbit to create the spaceport, with the intention of launching satellites from Newquay within three years. On the same day, the government confirmed that a grant worth £2 million would be available to developing spaceports.^[46][47]

Bus

Newquay Bus Station

There are regular bus services from Newquay to many parts of Cornwall, including the neighbouring urban centres of St Austell and Truro as well as Fowey, St Columb Major, Padstow, Perranporth and Wadebridge. The principal operator is First Kernow, while the town is also served by National Express coaches. The bus station is in Manor Road, which runs parallel to the shopping area in Bank Street. A scheme to upgrade and improve the bus station with the additions of a new enclosed waiting area and accessible facilities began in February 2018 and was completed in July.

Surfing

Fistral Beach showing the beach bar setup ready for the 2010 Boardmasters Festival

The resort is widely regarded as the surf capital of the UK.^[48] Newquay is a centre for the surf industry in Britain,^[49] with many surf stores, board manufacturers and hire shops in the town.

At the centre of Newquay's surfing status is Fistral Beach which has a reputation as one of the best beach breaks in Cornwall. Fistral is capable of producing powerful, hollow waves and holding a good sized swell.

Fistral Beach has been host to international surfing competitions for around 20 years now. The annual Boardmasters Festival takes place at Fistral beach, with a music festival taking place at Watergate Bay.

Newquay is also home to the reef known as the Cribbar. With waves breaking at up to 20 feet (6 m), the Cribbar was until recently rarely surfed as it requires no wind and huge swell to break. It was first surfed in September 1965 by Rodney Sumpter, Bob Head and Jack Lydgate and again in 1966, by Pete Russell, Ric Friar and Johnny McElroy and American Jack Lydgate.^[50] The recent explosion in interest in surfing large waves has seen it surfed more frequently by South African born Chris Bertish, who during a succession of huge clean swells in 2004, surfed the biggest wave ever seen there.^[51]

Towan, Great Western and Tolcarne beaches nearer the town and nearby Crantock and Watergate Bay also provide high quality breaks.

Newquay, harbour, Atlantic Hotel and headland from Tolcarne Beach