History of Newquay Harbour

In 1439, the Bishop of Exeter granted permission for the building of a stone quay in the manor of Towan Blystra. This was built where the harbour now stands and was known as the ‘new quay’, and is the origin of the town’s name.

The manor of Towan Blystra (including the quay) was bought by an investor from London – Richard Lomax. In 1832 he began the construction of the North quay, followed shortly after by the construction of the South quay. He died in 1837 before the harbour was completed.

In 1838, the harbour was bought by Joseph Treffry, and industrialist from Fowey. He built a tunnel from the harbour up to what is now Sainsbury’s car park, to carry a railway line which wagons could be hauled up and down, with the railway lines continuing out on to the quay. He also built a tramway linking the top of the tunnel to the train station.

The harbour was used for the export of china clay, iron ore and grain, and the import of coal, manure, salt and limestone.

To increase the amount of space available for loading schooners, in 1870 the central jetty was built. This was linked to the south quay by a wooden trestle bridge that carried a railway line.
To the north of the harbour there are areas where fish cellars existed in the 19th century. The two remaining areas are Fly cellars and Active cellars, the remainder have disappeared completely.

Today the harbour has a small fleet of commercial fishing vessels, landing mainly crabs and lobsters. In addition to this, there is a fleet of tripping boats offering fishing and pleasure trips. Watersports tuition and equipment hire are also available.

The RNLI lifeboat station and shop is situated at the top of the harbour slipway; visitors can go and see the 2 lifeboats in the boathouse, adjoining the RNLI station is the harbour mission. Newquay Rowing club has a full program of pilot gig rowing events, and provides refreshments in the clubhouse.

There are 2 restaurants at the harbour, providing everything from teas and coffees, through to evening meals.