Local History

In December 1928 Newquay's Old Cornwall Society was formed. It's been going strong ever since.

Newquay's society was one of the earliest to be set up. The first was founded in 1920 at St Ives. Celebrations are now underway in Newquay to commemorate 80 years of the local society.

An Iron Age neck-ring found in a Newquay garden and left in a shed for over a decade was the centrepiece of an exhibition celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Newquay Old Cornwall Society.

Iron age neck ring discovered in Newquay

The neck ring was discovered in 1996 by a resident of Pentire, Newquay, as he was digging up his garden before laying a path.

Having brushed it clean, the resident decided it was probably nothing of value and stored it in his garden shed, but last year he decided to show it to the chairman of the Newquay Old Cornwall Society.

Suspecting the value and significance of the neck ring the society called in the expertise of Jackie Nowakowski, senior archaeologist from Cornwall County Council’s Historic Environment Service. Jackie authenticated and identified it, together with experts from the British Museum, as a neck-ring dating to the 1st century AD (late Iron Age and Romano-British period).

It is only the second ever found in Cornwall. The neck-ring has been well preserved, weighs 540g and is made from two cast sections. The upper side has cross-hatched decoration at both terminals.

Newquay Harbour in the past

Cornwall Collections Manager for RCM, Sarah Cooper, said:

"This is one of most stunning and exciting recent archaeological discoveries in Cornwall. It increases the evidence of an early Roman presence in the South West and points to local people adopting the Roman’s new metalworking techniques. We will be delighted to have it as one of our exhibits."