by Lejouack
In 2014 Newquay in Cornwall is known as a Surfing and Holidaymakers Mecca. Newquay Bay and the adjoining Fistral Beach are perfectly positioned on the north coast of Cornwall facing out into the Atlantic Ocean, to catch the full awesome force of the waves.
But the often bleak and windswept coast around Newquay has a softer side, and its seven beaches with miles of golden sand attract thousands of families on holiday every year as well as the surfing dudes and dudettes.
 Towan Beach Newquay Photo by Lejouack |
Up until the later part of the 19th Century, Newquay was little more than a tiny fishing community. A man who was a child in Newquay in the 1850s wrote that he remembered there being about 20 thatched cottages, 3 pubs and a general store that was both a grocers and chemist.
The mail arrived only once a week on a Friday and if anyone needed a doctor it required a visit to St. Columb Major, several miles away.
The first proper church wasn’t built in Newquay until 1858 and then only had seating capacity for 100.
By the 1880s the railway had arrived in Newquay and the town began to grow by leaps and bounds, although some of the older buildings are still there today.
 Newquay Town Photo by Lejouack |
 The Fort Inn and Old Cottages in Newquay Photo by Lejouack |
Fistral Beach and Little Fistral are around the headland from Newquay Bay and this is probably the most popular of the beaches for surfers. Then there is Towan or the Town Beach which is linked to Jago’s Island by a suspension bridge. There is only one building on the island – a house which is now a holiday cottage.
Next in line is Great Western Beach then Tolcarne, Lusty Glaze and Porth. Watergate Bay which is another well known surfing beach is slightly further up the coast.
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Because of its popularity as a beach resort, it is often forgotten that Newquay still has a working harbour. These days it is used as much for boat trips for visitors as for local fishermen, but there remains a small fishing fleet.
Grey seals are frequent visitors and can be found basking in the shallow water within the harbour walls.
 Newquay Harbour (Harbor) Photo by Lejouack |
 Seal in Newquay Harbor Photo by Lejouack |
This large church was built to replace the tiny St. Michael’s built in 1858. Unfortunately the new church was the victim of arsonists in 1993 and was gutted by fire.
The outer walls remained, as by some miracle did the lovely stained glass windows which survived due to the fast response of local fire-fighters who smashed some plain glass windows to relieve the pressure on the decorative windows.
The remainder of the church has since been rebuilt.
 St Michael the Archangel Church Photo by Lejouack |
 Interior of the New Church |
Boardmasters
The second week of August sees Fistral Beach being transformed into a smaller venue for this annual music festival, while Watergate Bay hosts the main event. This year there are 8 stages for the different types of music, along with a huge number of bars, eating places serving all kinds of food and many festival stalls.
The Fish Festival
This is the highlight of the fishing communities year and takes place in mid September for 3 days. Different type of fish is cooked, games played and entertainment provided.
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Comments
The computer crashed before I could add the other question related to your photographic skills.
Do you recall when during the morning, afternoon or early evening the image leftward of your title was taken? The sky has some rainy-, stormy-looking cloud cover!
Sometimes the computer does not cooperate with the color-, location- and shape-clarity on smaller wizzley images.
Such is the case with your intriguing photo leftward of the title Newquay Cornwall. What is going on in the image, and where is it taken?
Your sub-subheading Boardmasters under the subheading Feasts and Festivals mentions that diverse foods are available through the eating places participating in the annual area music festival.
What would be the most delicious drinks to order at Fistral Beach and Watergate Bay bars?
Re-visiting your wizzley brought to mind something I've been wondering about since my first reading.
Is the boating by visitors not sufficient to disturb the sea-life? How is the grey seal population doing?
Are the fish species that fishermen catch what is available in local grocery stores and listed on local menus? Or are local fishermen employed by a commercial concern that exports the catch elsewhere?
Lejouack and FrankBeswick, Thank you respectively for the article and for the answers!
Why did they burn it? Easy. They want to make an impact on life and to do it the easy way. It is far easier to damage something precious than it is to produce a work of art or artifice.
Lejouack, Thank you for the lovely tour of Newquay! Do you speak Cornish? Why would anyone want to burn such a beautiful church dedicated to such a fearless archangel? Was the restoration true to the original or were there significant changes?
Good article. Newquay is on the north coast of Cornwall, whose hard rocks withstand the mighty Atlantic rollers that crash into it, but it is these that provide the surf, which is attractive to surfers along the whole North Cornish coast. Newquay is a nice, well-maintained little town with a range of facilities to attract the visitor.
I really like the images you have here.