Editing Newquay (section)

===Medieval to Early Modern period ===
[[File:Map showing the settlement now part of Newquay.png|thumb|267x267px|left|The settlements of Towan and 'New Key']]
The origins of modern Newquay can be traced back to the [[Middle Ages|medieval period]] to a small cluster of cottages known as "Towan,"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lysons |first=Daniel |title=Magna Britannia; being a concise topographical account of the several counties of Great Britain. With copious illustrations. vol. 1-6. L.P. (Volume 03) |publisher=[[Cadell & Davies]] |year=1806–22 |location=London |publication-place=United Kingdom |pages=66}}</ref> located where the Central Inn now stands. About 200 meters (660 feet) away was another settlement called "New Quay," referring to a small harbour within the Manor of Towan Blystra.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dugdale |first=James |title=The New British Traveller, or, modern panorama of England and Wales; exhibiting ... an ... account ... of the most important portion of the British Empire ... Illustrated by ... maps, views of public buildings, antiquities, etc. (Volume 01) |publisher=J.Robins and Co |year=1819 |location=[[London]] |pages=424}}</ref> Despite occasional confusion, "Towan Blystra" is not a Cornish equivalent of Newquay, and there is no historical record of the name "Newquay" being rendered in [[Cornish language|Cornish]].<ref name=":6">Teague Husband, S. (1923) ''Old Newquay''. Redruth: Dyllansow Truran {{ISBN|0-907566-86-3}}</ref> The two settlements were connected by a track that eventually became today's Fore Street. The local economy at the time relied primarily on fishing, agriculture, and some [[mining]] activity

The earliest mention of a fish market in the area dates back to 1571, found in the Arundell papers.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |date=2003 |title=Cornwall & Scilly Urban Survey – Historic characterisation for regeneration: Newquay |url=http://newquayplan.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/csus_newquay_report.pdf |access-date=September 24, 2024 }}</ref> It is believed that this market may have been located in what is now Central Square, though fish trading also likely took place directly at the quay and in nearby cellars.<ref name=":8" /> The public house later known as 'The Central' (rebuilt in 1859) became a hub of local trade, with farmers parking wagons of grain in the square and conducting business inside the inn.<ref name=":8" />

[[Richard Carew (antiquary)|Richard Carew]]’s [[Survey of Cornwall]], published in 1602, includes the lines: “Neyther may I omit newe Kaye, a place in the North coast of this Hundred, so called, because in former times, the neighbours attempted, to supplie the defect of nature, by Art, in making there a Kay, for the Rode of shipping, which conceyt they still retayne, though want of means in themselves, or the place, have left the effect in Nubibus [unfulfilled].”<ref>{{cite book |last=Carew |first=Richard |title=The Survey of Cornwall, Book 2 |publisher=John Jaggard |year=1602 |edition=1st |series= |location=London |page=}}</ref>

In 1615 Thomas Stuer, who was [[Lord of the manor|Lord of the Manor]], applied for permission to build a single pier, and the development of the modern harbour then began.