The parish of

NEWQUAY

Created 1882

Newquay Parish was formed in 1882, making it separate from St Columb Minor. A Chapel of Ease, dedicated to St Michael, was built in Bank Street, Newquay, and opened in 1858, pictured here c1881. It continued to serve the people of Newquay until 1911 when the current parish Church, also dedicated to St Michael, on Marcus Hill was opened. After the new church opened, the land where the Chapel of Ease stood was purchased by the Women’s Institute, and it stood there until 1937 when the land and building was purchased by FW Woolworth, and was subsequently demolished for the new store to be built. However, there is still a reminder of the fact that a church once stood here in the footpath, named Church Path, which runs from Mount Wise to Bank Street which is still in use today.
 
The building of the new church commenced in 1909 on a site on Marcus Hill. A sign was erected stating that the sum requested for the building was £10,000, and that contributions were urgently requested, and thankfully received. The church, a large building in the Cornish perpendicular style, was designed by Sir Ninian Comper. It was first built without the tower, which was subsequently added in 1967. The church was destroyed by an arson attack on 29th June 1993, but was rebuilt and rededicated in 1996.

The Parish Church, without tower not long after it opened in 1911	The Parish Church, 2012 © Pauline Pickup	The Church interior © Charles Woolf

PARISH INFORMATION

CENSUS:

Information can be found at COCP (Cornwall Online Census Project) which is complete for 1841 to 1891 and has been verified, FreeCen at Rootsweb, which has a very good search engine and information from COCP, as well as GenUKI, which has more reference information and alternate resources.

REGISTERS:

Transcriptions of Newquay Parish Registers and other resources are in our online searchable database (C-PROP) which is updated frequently. The parish coverage page is here.

Of interest in the parish registers, is that even after 1882, the incumbents of the day still referred to being "of the parish of St Columb Minor". Whether this was just habit or not is unknown. The marriage registers up to 1915 were still entered in that way.

The OPC has the following records available for look-ups:-

Newquay St Michaels Baptisms 1882 - 1987
Newquay St Michaels Banns 1911 - 1988
Newquay St Michael Burials 1911 - 1979
 
NC Registers for Perranporth, St Agnes & Newquay Circuit
Baptisms 1950 - 1978
 
NC Registers Newquay Claremont
Baptisms 1908 - 1946
Marriages 1937 - 1969
 
NC Registers Sydney Road
Baptisms 1928 - 1977
 
NC Registers Newquay Wesleyan
Baptisms 1857 - 1992
Marriages 1901 - 1986

DIRECTORIES:

Directories:

1. 1852-53, Slater's Directory of St Columb and Newquay

For more information, visit the University of Leicester's Historical Directories website.

OTHER:

Newspaper Articles:

1. 1910 - The year's happenings in brief
2. 13 Jan 1911, Letter to Editor re: housing needs

Other Photographs:

Newquay Wesleyan Church	Newquay Old Cemetery	Newquay Crantock St. Cemetery

Information about the cemeteries can be found here.

War Memorial:

Click images to enlarge Photographs © Pauline Pickup

An article about the Memorial can be found here.

Wills:

Early 1600s - mid 1850s, an Index of Wills & associated papers, copies of which are available from the Cornwall Records Office.

For further resources see GenUKI.

MAPS:

For a zoomable and printable map of Cornwall please visit Cornwall Council’s mapping website. To see the Parish boundaries, click on the Layers Tab for Government Boundaries.

For maps and satellite images use Google Maps.

To enjoy a "walk" around this parish, search for Newquay at http://maps.google.co.uk/, then drag the person icon from above the zoom commands and place it at a specific location on the map.

RECOMMENDED READING:

The previous OPC, Andy Ross, has edited 2 books written by his great-grandfather, William Francis Allen Burnard, which contain many reminiscences of life in Newquay, Forrabury (Boscastle), Trevalga and surrounding parishes. Very generously, he has allowed copies to be available as downloadable pdfs. Click on the title to view - History of Boscastle and Trevalga and My Early and Older Days.

Around Newquay, Francis Frith
Images of England Newquay, compiled by Joyce Greenham and Sheila Harper
Old Newquay, by S. Teague Husband

ADJACENT PARISH:

St Columb Minor