Old Images of Newquay, Cornwall

old photos and films with Local History Videos .com

Glimpse the past through old images of Newquay in Cornwall.

Newquay sits on the coast of north Cornwall, so has been a popular destination for British seaside holidays for more than a century. Not suprisingly, the cameras appeared regularly to take in the holiday fun.

Newuay’s Early Development

Vintage maps and old photos of Newquay are used in this video to illustrate Newquay’s development from a small fishing hamlet into a thriving seaside town of the 1900s.

You’ll learn about the history of the area’s pier, harbour, tithe map, and see old photos of some of the few buildings that existed there before the twentieth century, including the cottages built in 1825 which used to stand on what is now a car park.

This is a succint history, delivered with clarity in just over 7 minutes, and presented with well chosen old images and information about what has subsequently happened to the buildings shown.

The Early Development of Newquay to c1900 – Association for Cornish Heritage on YouTube

Wish you were here?

Popular Thames TV show ‘Wish you were here?’ broadcast an episode about Newquay on 27th January 1992.

When presenter John Carter and the ‘Wish you were here?’ film crew arrived in Newquay to find out what you could do on a rainy day with ‘members of the video generation’, it cost just £8.50 to take the whole family to the new £3 million leisure pool.

The Blue Lagoon offered free entry for the under 5s. Everyone else paid £3 each for the height of the summer, and £2.50 for the rest of the year.

1990s Newquay | What to do when the weather is bad | Surfing | 1992: ThamesTv (YouTube)

Bank Holiday May 1996

A home video made on the Bank Holiday of May 1996, during the VW run to the sun weekend, has captured the sights and sounds of Newquay’s busiest streets and local businesses.

There’s a lot of banter, drinking and singing, but even the policemen seem in high spirits (except for breaking up the inevitable fight).

Newquay Cornwall Weekend 1996 – Troy Goodman on YouTube

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