Torquay is a town on the south coast of England in the county of Devon which has extended along the coast of Torbay to the extent that it is now inextricably intermingled with the neighbouring town of Paignton. In the 19th century it became a fashionable seaside resort, renowned for its healthy climate it gained a nickname as the English Riviera.

Although it has been suggested that Torquay roughly signifies 'Thor's Harbor' (cognate to Tórshavn, Faroe Islands and Þórshöfn, Iceland), a more likely root is the Devonian word Tor, for a hill or outcrop, especially common in placenames on nearby Dartmoor.

History of Torquay

Early Torquay

After the failed Spanish Armada of 1588, a part of Torre Abbey was used to house 300 Spanish prisoners, this building has now been named the 'Spanish Barn' in recognition of this.

Early 19th century

Torquay owes much to Napoleon: the Napoleonic wars meant that the rich elite could no longer visit abroad, and instead looked for local destinations to visit. Torbay, the large bay which was founded on the Northern side of Torquay, alongside the other towns of Paignton and Brixham (together founding the Unitary Authority of Torbay), is ideal as a large sheltered anchorage for ships, and was frequently used by the Channel Fleet which protected England against invasion by Napoleon. Wives and relatives of officers, visited Torquay to be near their loved ones in the fleet.

After Napoleon was captured, he was held on the warship HMS Bellerophon, nicknamed 'Billy Ruffian', in Torbay for two days before being taken to Plymouth and then to St. Helena. Napoleon also helped the prosperity of Torquay in another way, local smugglers did very good business 'importing' French brandy during the Napoleonic Wars, and since then smuggling of one kind or another has not completely stopped.

The mild winter climate and good air in Torquay attracted many visitors, who came for health reasons. During the whole of the 19th century ,Torquay was considered a health resort where the wealthy would come during the winter to recover from any illness.

The population of Torquay grew rapidly from 838 in 1801, to 11,474 in 1851. By 1850, there were about 2000 bedrooms in the small hotels of Torquay.

Later 19th century

The people of Torquay knew that the railways would bring visitors and prosperity, and they wanted the railway to come to their town. Finally, on 18 December 1848, the station in Torre (some distance from the sea) was opened, and Torquay was connected to the world!

The railways also had a great effect on the surrounding towns and countryside. Torquay grew in importance because it a had a railway station, but not all towns were so fortunate. Many towns looked on desperately as the trains passed them without stopping - taking their prosperity with them. These towns died economically; even the road transport was reduced, because so many goods were carried on the new trains.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was an important figure in the town's history; he built the nearby Atmospheric railway and the rail links to Torquay, and had began buying up large areas of the Watcombe district of Torquay where he had planned to retire in his old age. Unfortunantely, the great man died an early death, and never reached his retirement. ^*

In later years, Queen Victoria reviewed the entire Royal Navy in the waters of Torbay.

In 1892, two events took place which were to radically change both the appearance and outlook of Torquay. Through trains were introduced, and Torquay was granted Borough status; the town was now ready for expansion and to start building a new image. The healthy were encouraged to come as well as the ailing - the Victorian watering place soon became transformed into a holiday resort.

Early 20th century

Once again, the Royal Family and Royal Navy descended on the town, as King George V reviewed the Home Fleet in the waters of the bay.

World Wars and Inter-War Years

During the Great War, Torquay was mainly used for military hospitals, and was largely spared the horrors of war beyond the hospital bays; many troops also used the town as a staging area, before shipping off to the continent to join the war effort. Notable happenings in the town during the war were the visit of King George V and Queen Mary in September 1915, and the medical care of many soldiers that participated in the famous Gallipoli campaign.

After the war, an effective advertising campaign by The Great Western Railway Company was responsible for making Torquay a major resort. The busiest day was on August Bank Holiday in 1938, just before the outbreak of World War II, when 20,000 passengers arrived in Torquay station, followed by 50 trains the next day.

When war broke out for a second time, the town would see more action, including bombing raids; the stationing of American military personnel would play a large part in the D-Day landings.

During the war, Devon (and by extension Torquay) was considered a safe place to send child evacuees, and stately homes were used as boarding schools for children from the London area.

Torquay suffered a number of bombing raids during this period, mainly from planes dumping excessive loads after participating in the Plymouth Blitz; however, they succeeded in causing substanial damage throughout the town, especially so to the Palace Hotel, which was being used as a RAF Hospital at the time.

The first of the thousands of US Army personnel arrived in Torquay in early 1944. Men of the 3204th Quartermaster Service Company were billeted mainly in Chelston and Cockington. In the build-up to D-day, raids on coastal areas were expected, and that of Torbay took place on Whit Monday, on 29th May, when some 20 planes are believed to have been in Torbay, laying mines; some carried bombs, and these were dropped around the Harbour, in Chelston and elsewhere. This was the last recorded raid during the war, and the air attacks had resulted in well over 700 'air raid alerts' being sounded in the Bay.

With the successful conclusion of the war, Torquay was 'open to visitors' in May 1945, although there were still signs of war damage to be repaired.

1945 to present day

Since the war, tourist patterns have changed considerably. Many more people have the money to travel abroad for their holidays and nearly everyone has a car. This means that fewer visit British holiday resorts but when they do they do usually travel by car. The British holiday has become a touring holiday with visitors staying only one or two days in each place. The visitor does not bother to book a hotel, but prefers to stay at one of the numerous cheap bed & breakfast establishments instead (b&b's). The Beatles song "Day Tripper" is about this form of holidaymaking. With its unrivalled Bay, the English Riviera has been famed for its watersports for many a year and in 1948 the watersports events of the Olympic Games were held here. The Olympic flame was brought from London and burned for the duration at Torre Abbey Gardens.

In recent years Torquay has become better known abroad and has received more foreign tourists who usually tour in cars like the British holidaymakers. It is also a major destination for foreign language students, who visit the town for the summer to learn English and see the sights of England.

Torquay was also hoping to be a part of the London 2012 games by being the official warm up venue for the sailing events. The actual events during the Olympics will be held in Weymouth unlike in 1948. However they also missed out on this opportunity and the town will play no part in the Olympics.

Eponymous Royal Navy ships

• HMS Torbay (1693), 80-gun second-rate which participated in the Battle of Vigo Bay, 1702 a naval battle of the coast of Spain during the War of the Spanish Succession.

• HMS Torbay (1919), destroyer

• HMS Torbay (1940), submarine

• HMS Torquay (F43) (10th May 1956 - Scrapped 1987), Whitby Class Frigate Type 12. Torquay participated in the Suez War.

• HMS Torbay (S90) (February 7,1987 - Present Day) Trafalgar-class nuclear submarine of the Royal Navy. Laided down December 3, 1982, Launched March 8, 1985 and commissioned February 7,1987.

Geography

Torquay is also set along a coastline renowed for its beaches, having no fewer than nine popular beaches. The high standards of water quality and beach facilities mean that many carry coveted awards, including no fewer than three European Blue Flags - more than any other resort in the UK. The nine main beaches of Torquay, a string of nine beautiful beaches and coves stretched out along the palm lined coast, are as follows:

• Maidencombe Beach
• Watcombe Beach
• Oddicombe Beach
• Babbacombe Beach
• Anstey's Cove
• Meadfoot Beach
• Torre Abbey Sands
• Corbyn Sands

Transport

Tourist attractions

Living Coasts, another popular Torquay attraction, is built on Beacon Quay which has existed since 1680. In 1857 the Bath's Saloons complex was built on the promontory overlooking Beacon Cove. This included a ballroom, concert hall and sunlit conservatory and private bathing facilities with, underneath, a large public swimming bath open to the sea. The beautiful stone arches of this public bath can still be seen today and have been cleverly incorporated into the shop at Living Coasts.Development of the site, as a marine animal exhibit was first proposed in the early part of 1999. It was in response to a call from Torbay Borough Council for submissions from interested parties. The project, developed by Kay Elliott architects, included an exhibit to house marine birds, rather than fish, due to the need to avoid duplicating the exhibits at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. The project was subsequently taken on by Paignton Zoo Environmental Park and named Living Coasts.

Another old favourite of tourists, is the Babbacombe Model Village. Opened in 1963 it has attracted children and adults of all ages for generations and is considered one of the best examples of a model village in England.

Paignton Zoo is situated in the nearby town of Paignton (inextricably intermingled with Torquay), this is a top tourist atrraction and one of the best zoos in the country currently. It has undergone extensive rebuilding in the past decade, marking a movement from the old way of caged animals to displaying animals in exhibits as close to their natural habitat as possible. This renovation has been made possible thanks to investment by the European Regional Development Fund and the zoo itself.

The Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway is another top attraction operating heritage steam trains over part of the railway referred to in this article, from Paignton to Kingswear

The Princess Theatre is a popular venue in the town.

Professional sports

Torquay also hosted the World Snooker European Open 2003 at the Palace Hotel, which was won by Ronnie O'Sullivan, in the same year the town also hosted the World Snooker Championship Qualifiers, also held at the Palace Hotel.

Torquay in English culture

It was while staying in Torquay at the Gleneagles Hotel with the Python team in 1971, that John Cleese found inspiration for Fawlty Towers, a popular sitcom made in the 1970s. Incidents during the Pythons' stay are said to include the owner, Donald Sinclair, having thrown Eric Idle's suitcase out of the window thinking it was a bomb. Cleese later described the eccentric owner as, "the most wonderfully rude man I have ever met", although Mr Sinclair's widow has since said her husband was totally misrepresented in the comedy.

Although it is claimed that location filming for Fawlty Towers was actually done in Cambridge, Berkshire and Bedfordshire, in the episode "Gourmet Night", there is film footage of Basil in a shopping area where shopfronts show Torquay addresses and phone numbers.

Torquay is the birthplace of the crime novelist (and second highest selling fiction author of all time) Agatha Christie and of the comedian Peter Cook.

Issac Merritt Singer and his family held a strong presence in the area, especially during the late 19th century, building Oldway Mansion in nearby Paignton (partially in the style of the Palace of Versailles).

Torquay is also the home of the co-presenter of popular Sky Sports One program "Soccer AM" Helen Chamberlain.

Oscar Wilde is said to have written A Woman of No Importance while visiting the area.

Los Angeles radio personality Richard Blade is originally from Torquay.

International erotic entertainment artiste, Layla "Potty-Mouth" Jade was born in Torquay in 1980.

Torquay is popular for self-catering accommodation and English Riviera Holidays.

Torquay is the setting for the 2003 movie Blackball staring Paul Kaye and Vince Vaughn. The movie is about Cliff Starkey who is the Bad Boy of Lawn Bowls

Demographics

Population (2001 census)

Marital status (2001 census)

Religion (2001 census)

Employment status (2001 census)

All Demographics are for Torbay as a whole, not just Torquay and are taken from the 2001 British Census, information available Here

Social issues in Torquay

Politics

From the 1920s until 1997 Torbay constituency was a safe Tory seat until Adrian Sanders overturned spy novel writer Rupert Allason's majority by just 12 votes, widened to 6,708 in 2001. During the 2005 general election, Conservative leader Michael Howard visited the town. However, Sanders retained the seat with 40.8% of the votes (19,317, down from 23,012 in 2001). A swing of 9.7% away from the Liberal Democrats was split between the Conservatives (with a 4.9% swing), Labour - who gained a substantial increase in their vote as support for Lib Dems in 97 and 01 moved back and UKIP, whose bigwig Graham Booth improved on his deposit-losing 2001 performance with a 4.7% increase in his vote.

In 2005, a referendum was held to appoint Torbay's first Elected Mayor. In the ensuing election in October 2005, the winning candidate was a former Liberal Parliamentary Candidate, Nicholas Bye, who won the election as a Conservative.

Education

There are four main secondary schools in the town. One is Torquay Community College, previously known as Audley Park. This school has had its troubles in the past and has in the past two years come out of governmental special measures. Its 2004 exam results are available Here

The other mainstream secondary school in Torquay is Westlands Secondary School and Technology College. This is a combined secondary college and 6th form that takes students of all variations and has recently moved to a brand new modern building. Its 2004 exam results are available Here

The other three state secondary schools of Torquay are more selective than the previous two. They are St Cuthbert Mayne School, a secondary school exclusively available to followers of Roman Catholic and Church of England faiths, and Torquay Boys' Grammar School and Torquay Grammar School for Girls' which are available only to those that pass the 11+ intelligence test and the schools' own standardised test. The 2004 results for St Cuthbert Mayne school are available here, the Boys' Grammar School results here and finally the Girls' Grammar School here. There are also a number of private schools in the area including Studley Knowle School and the Abbey School.

For further education, students can either go to one of the sixth forms at the previous mentioned Westlands, St Cuthbert's Mayne or Grammar schools, or they can go to South Devon College which is based in Long Road in Paignton on a new campus which became fully open in Jan 2006.

Should students pass through school or college and wish to continue in their education at university, they will have to leave Torquay. Should they wish to continue living in Torquay they have the option of applying to either Exeter or Plymouth universities, each roughly an hour train journey from Torquay train station.

Crime

Information taken from 2001/2002 crime figures in Torbay, available Here

Healthcare

See also

• Babbacombe Cliff Railway
• Kents Cavern

External links

• Torbay Council
• General Election 2005 Results
• Westlands Secondary School and Technology College
• Torquay Community College
• South Devon College

• History of Torquay
• Torquay Museum
• Torquay Pottery
• Torbytes "Bytes Of Torbay's Past"

• Attractions list
• Torquay Beaches
• Cockington Village
• Kents Cavern
• Babbacombe Model Village
• Living Coasts
• Paignton Zoo
• Torre Abbey

• Torquay Local Sports Information
• Torquay United Official Website

• Self Catered Holidays in Torquay
• Torquay (DMOZ.org)
• Torquay Webcam
• Photographs of Torquay on Devon CAM

Seaside resorts in England | Torbay | Towns in Devon

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