Towan Head is the promontory projecting north from the western side of Newquay. Fistral lies to its south-west, while Newquay Bay opens on the other side. It is a useful place to understand the town’s shape: harbour, open beach and exposed headland are different kinds of coastline within a short walk.
Joseph Thomas Treffry’s proposed harbour of refuge would have transformed this geography. The attraction was the possibility of shelter and maritime trade; the difficulty was that an Atlantic headland is not a sheltered estuary simply because someone draws a harbour around it.
Towan Head also belongs to Newquay’s fishing and lookout landscape. Follow Huer’s Hut for the people who watched for pilchards, and the separate harbour-of-refuge entry for the unbuilt scheme. Towan Head is not Towan Beach beside the existing harbour, and the proposed refuge should never be confused with the harbour Newquay actually used.
Where it is
Towan Head
50.425, -5.099 · Position source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towan_Head
Towan Head — headland orientation
Visiting and access
A location reference, not confirmation of public access or a visitor entrance.
Sources
Connected subjects
Read on
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