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Newquay - A quiet bathing-place c1895

Newquay - A quiet bathing-place
From a Photo. by Frith & Co. Search for similar at Francis Frith

The Great Western Railway found Newquay a small and almost inaccessible Cornish fishing village, and have transformed it into quite a fashionable seaside resort, containing nearly 3,000 inhabitants; it is now the terminus of a branch line from Par junction. Newquay lies at the western end of Watergate Bay, under the shelter of Towan Head - a grand promontory and fine point of view, reached by the path across Beacon Hill. The splendid sandy beach, which is so firm that tennis may be played on it, extends eastward for three miles beneath a range of beautiful cliffs. The scenery around Newquay is well known from the pictures of Hook and John Brett. Although this grand coast is usually visited in the summer, the best time to study its stern, impressive beauty is during the winter season, when the long, crested waves dash themselves against the keen-edged rocks, and the misty rain and salt spray drive inland before the wind, the only spectator being the raven, whose croaking is intermittently heard in the roar of the breakers. The pilchard fishery here employs a great number of hands from July to November, when the shoals disappear as suddenly as they come. They are caught in nets averaging 190 fathoms in length. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of Newquay is the Headland, which juts out for nearly a mile and forms a natural promenade and pier, with a bay on each side. The bathing-place on Newquay Beach is provided with caves and bathing- machines. Fistral Beach, on the other side, is exposed to the full force of the Atlantic rollers, and, besides being more wild and broken, it is studded with rocks, pools, and ledges that are the delight of juvenile naturalists.