The Westbank, Torquay

Paignton is a coastal town in Devon in England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the unitary authority of Torbay which was created in 1998. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paignton’s population in the United Kingdom Census of 2001 was 48,251.

It has origins as a Celtic settlement and was first mentioned 1086. It grew as a small fishing village and a new harbour was built in 1847. A railway line was opened to passengers in 1859 creating links to Torquay and London. As its population increased, it merged with the villages of Goodrington and Preston.

Paignton is mentioned in records dating back to the Domesday Book of 1086 AD. Formerly spelled both as Peynton and Paington, the name has is derived from Paega’s town, the original Celtic settlement.

Paignton was a small fishing village until the 19th century, when in 1837 the Paington (sic) Harbour Act led to the construction of a new harbour. It was around this time that the modern spelling of Paignton first appeared. The historic part of Paignton is centred around Church Street, Winner Street and Palace Avenue which contains fine examples of Victorian architecture. Kirkham House is a late medieval stone house in the town which is open to the public at certain times of year. The Coverdale Tower is adjacent to Paignton Parish Church and is named after Bishop Miles Coverdale, who published an English translation of the Bible in 1536. Coverdale was Bishop of Exeter between 1551 and 1553 and is said to have lived in the tower during this period, although this is regarded as doubtful by modern historians.

The railway line to Paignton was built by the Dartmouth and Torbay Railway, and was opened to passengers on 2 August 1859, thus providing Torquay and Paignton a link to London. The people of Paignton acquired the nickname of pudden eaters when thousands turned up hoping to obtain a piece of a huge pudding that had been baked to celebrate the arrival of the railway. A Paignton Pudding was baked in 1968 to celebrate the town’s charter, and another was baked in 2006 to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Oldway Mansion is a large house and gardens in Paignton constructed in the 1870s for Isaac Merritt Singer, who had amassed a considerable fortune by dint of his improvements to the sewing machine. The building is now occupied by Torbay Council. Other Singer legacies in Paignton include the Palace Hotel and the Inn On The Green, which were built as homes for Singer’s sons Washington and Mortimer respectively.

As Paignton’s population grew, it merged with the coastal villages of Goodrington and Preston. The town had its own urban district council until 1968, when the creation of Torbay Council led to a single body covering Torquay, Paignton and Brixham. The unitary authority formed in 1998 now handles all local government for Torbay, which has its own directly elected mayor.

Paignton is part of Torbay, which is a unitary authority area. Torbay has an elected Mayor and 36 councillors. They are elected every four years. The Mayors choses nine councillors to form the Cabinet. The Chairman of Torbay Council wears the chain of office. The current Mayor is Nick Bye, who was elected in 2005.

Paignton’s economy relies extensively on tourism and the town is marketed as a location for family holidays. The main seafront area is dominated by Paignton Pier, a 780-foot long structure opened in 1879. It was designed by George Soudon Bridgman, the local architect who also designed the original Oldway Mansion. The Festival Theatre, opened in 1967, was once a seafront theatre capable of staging large summer shows. In 1999 it was converted into a multiscreen cinema. Regatta Week during early August is the peak holiday season. During this period there is a funfair on Paignton Green, along with a large fireworks display. Later in August is Children’s Week, which includes a wide range of events and competitions. Paignton has a variety of holiday accommodation, complemented by numerous pubs, nightclubs and restaurants.

Paignton Zoo is one of the largest in the United Kingdom. The Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway operates steam trains from Paignton to Kingswear, from where a ferry can be taken across the River Dart to Dartmouth. The line was closed by British Rail during the cutbacks of the Beeching era in the 1960s, and is operated today as a heritage railway line.

Suttons Seeds, a major supplier of seeds, bulbs and horticultural products, is based in Paignton.

The Torbay Picture House (now closed) is believed to have been Europe’s oldest purpose-built cinema and was built in 1907. Seat 2 Row 2 of the circle was the favourite seat of crime novelist Agatha Christie, who lived in neighbouring Torquay. The cinemas and theatres in her books are all said to be based on the Torbay Picture House. It was also used as a location for the 1984 Donald Sutherland film Ordeal by Innocence and the 1981 film The French Lieutenant’s Woman (which was filmed mainly at Lyme Regis in Dorset).

The Royal Bijou Theatre is now demolished, but a blue plaque marking its former location can be found next to the Thomas Cook travel agency in Hyde Road. The Royal Bijou Theatre was the venue for the premiere of The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan on 30 December 1879. The performance was given at short notice in order to secure the copyright on the work after problems had arisen with unauthorised performances of HMS Pinafore in the USA.

The department store Rossiters was a centrepiece of the town until it closed in 2009. The store is said to have been the inspiration for the sitcom Are You Being Served?.

From 1889 to 1897 the mathematician Oliver Heaviside lived in Palace Avenue, in the building now occupied by Barclays Bank. A commemorative blue plaque can be seen on the wall. Heaviside is buried in Paignton Cemetery.

Paignton beach and the nearby Preston Sands are used for water sports including kite surfing and dinghy sailing. The reed beds found at Broadsands beach are a haunt of the rare Cirl Bunting. Hollicombe beach features a geological stratotype at its northern end, known as the “Corbyn’s Head Member” Elberry Cove is used by jetski enthusiasts, while Saltern Cove is a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to its distinctive geology.

Paignton railway station is situated close to the shops and a short walk from the beach along Torbay Road. Queen’s Park Station for the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway is adjacent to the main railway station on the beach side of the level crossing. The bus and coach station face the main entrance to the railway station.

Paignton was used as a location in several episodes of the television comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus. In Episode 23, entitled “Scott of the Antarctic”, Paignton Pier and seafront can be seen. Episode 18, “Live from the Grill-o-Mat”, was hosted by John Cleese from the fictional Grill-o-Mat snack bar in Paignton. During the location filming of these scenes in May 1970, the Python team stayed at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, which subsequently provided John Cleese with the inspiration for Fawlty Towers.

The town has also been used for filming by Spike Milligan, Little and Large and Dick Emery.

Oldway Mansion was used as a location for Isadora (1968), a film about the dancer Isadora Duncan. It was also used during the filming of Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004), as a stand-in for Buckingham Palace.

Brixham is a small fishing town and civil parish in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. Brixham is at the southern end of Torbay, across the bay from Torquay, and is a fishing port. Fishing and Tourism are its major industries.

It is thought that the name ‘Brixham’ came from Brioc’s village. ‘Brioc’ was an old English or Brythonic personal name and ‘-ham’ is an ancient term for village.

The town is hilly, and built around the harbour which remains in use as a dock for fishing trawlers. It has a focal tourist attraction in the replica of Sir Francis Drake’s ship the Golden Hind that is permanently moored there.

In summer the Cowtown carnival is held, a reminder of when Brixham was two separate communities with only a marshy lane to connect them. Cowtown was the area on top of the hill where the farmers lived, while a mile away in the harbour was Fishtown, where the seamen lived. Cowtown, the St Mary’s Square area, is on the road leaving Brixham to the south west, in the direction of Kingswear, upon which stands a church built on the site of a Saxon original. The local Royal British Legion club is also here. The main summer attraction in Cowtown is the Hap’nin in St. Mary’s Park, an annual music event, with local bands, that takes place in mid July.

Although there is evidence of Ice age inhabitants here, and probable trading in the Bronze age, the first evidence of a town comes from Saxon times. It is possible that Saxon settlement originated by sea from Hampshire in the sixth century, or overland around the year 800.

Brixham was called Briseham in the Domesday Book. Its population then was 39.

Brixham was part of the former Haytor Hundred. The population was 3,671 in 1801 and 8,092 in 1901. In 1334 the town’s value was assessed at one pound, twelve shillings and eightpence; by 1524 the valuation had risen to £24 and sixteen shillings. It is recorded as a borough from 1536, and a market is recorded from 1822.

William Prince of Orange (afterwards King William III of Great Britain & Ireland) landed in Brixham with his mainly Dutch army, on 5 November 1688, during the Glorious Revolution, and issued his famous declaration “The Liberties of England and The Protestant Religion I Will Maintain”. Many local people still have Dutch surnames, being direct descendants of soldiers in that army. A road leading from the harbour up a steep hill to where the Dutch made their camp, is still called Overgang, meaning ‘passage’ in Dutch.

The coffin house reflects Brixham humour: it is coffin-shaped and when a father was asked for the hand in marriage of his daughter, he said he would ’see her in a coffin, before she wed’. The future son-in-law bought the coffin-shaped property, called it the Coffin House, and went back to the father and said ‘Your wishes will be met, you will see your daughter in a coffin, the Coffin House’. Amazed by this, the father gave his blessing.

The street names reflect the town’s history. Pump Street is where the village pump stood. Monksbridge was a bridge built by the monks of Totnes Priory. Lichfield Drive was the route that the dead (from the Anglo-Saxon ‘lich’ meaning a corpse) were taken for burial at St Mary’s churchyard. Salutation Mews, near the church, dates from when England was Catholic, and the salutation was to the Virgin Mary. Similarly, Laywell Road recalls Our Lady’s Well. The first building seen when coming into Brixham from Paignton is the old white-boarded Toll House where all travellers had to pay a fee to keep the roads repaired.

The tower of All Saints’ Church, founded in 1815, stands guard over the town. The composer of Abide With Me, Rev. Francis Lyte was a vicar at the church. He lived at Berry Head House, now a hotel, and when he was a very sick man, near to dying, he looked out from his garden as dusk fell over Torbay, and the words of that hymn came into his mind.

The main church is St. Mary’s, about a mile from the sea. It is the third to have been on the site (which was an ancient Celtic burial ground). The original wooden Saxon church was replaced by a stone Norman church that was in its turn built over in about 1360. Many of the important townspeople are buried in the churchyard.

Brixham was served by the short Torbay and Brixham Railway from Churston. The line, opened in February 1868 to carry passengers and goods (mainly fish), was closed in May 1963 as a result of the Beeching Axe cuts. Although the former line to Brixham is deserted and overgrown, the branch line through nearby Churston is now maintained and operated as a heritage railway by a team of volunteers as the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway.

Brixham is also notable for being the town where the fishing trawler was improved in the 19th century; their distinctive sails inspired the song “Red Sails in the Sunset”, which was written aboard a Brixham sailing trawler called the Torbay Lass.

In the Middle Ages, Brixham was the largest fishing port in the south west of England. Known as the ‘Mother of Deep-Sea Fisheries’. Its boats helped to establish the fishing industries of Hull, Grimsby and Lowestoft. In the 1890s there were about 300 trawling vessels in Brixham, most individually owned. The trawlers can still be seen coming in and out of the harbour, followed by flocks of seagulls. The fish market is open to the public on two special days in the summer, when the finer points of catching and cooking fish are explained. The modern boats are diesel-driven, but several of the old sailing trawlers have been preserved.

Hundreds of ships have been wrecked on the rocks around the town. Brixham men have always known the dangers but even they were taken by surprise by a terrible storm that blew up on the night of 10 January 1866. The fishing boats only had sails then and could not get back into harbour because gale force winds and the high waves were against them. To make things worse, the beacon on the breakwater was swept away, and in the black darkness they could not determine their position. According to local legend, their wives brought everything they could carry, including furniture and bedding, to make a big bonfire on the quayside to guide their men home. Fifty vessels were wrecked and more than one hundred lives were lost in the storm; when dawn broke the wreckage stretched for nearly three miles up the coast.

Hearing of this tragedy, the citizens of Exeter gave money to set up what became the RNLI’s Torbay lifeboat, which has since rescued hundreds of people.

Since 1866, Torbay lifeboat station, located in Brixham, has operated an all-weather lifeboat. The station also has an inshore D-class lifeboat. The crews have a history of bravery, with 52 awards for gallantry. The boathouse can be visited and memorials to the brave deeds seen; on special occasions visitors can go on board the boat. Two maroons (bangs) are the signal for the lifeboat to be launched.

Smuggling was more profitable than fishing, but if the men were caught, they were hanged. There are many legends about the local gangs and how they evaded the Revenue men. One humorous poem describes how a notorious local character, Bob Elliott (“Resurrection Bob”), could not run away because he had gout and hid in a coffin. Another villain was caught in possession but evaded capture by pretending to be the Devil, rising out of the morning mists. On another occasion when there was a cholera epidemic, some Brixham smugglers drove their cargo up from the beach in a hearse, accompanied by a bevy of supposed mourners following the cortege drawn by horses with muffled hooves.

The town’s outer harbour is protected by a long breakwater, useful for sea angling. In winter this is a regular site for Purple Sandpiper birds. During the Second World War, a ramp and piers were built from which American servicemen left for the D-day landings.

To the south of Brixham, and sheltering the southern side of its harbour, lies the coastal headland of Berry Head with a lighthouse, Iron Age Fort and National Nature Reserve.

Warships have been seen in Torbay from the days of the Vikings up until 1944 when part of the D-Day fleet sailed from here. In 1588 Brixham watched Sir Francis Drake attacking the Spanish Armada after he had (so the legend goes) finished his game of bowls on Plymouth Hoe. Today in Brixham harbour there is a full-sized replica of the ship, the Golden Hind, in which Drake circumnavigated the globe; visitors can go on board.

For centuries, ships going down the English Channel have come into Torbay to seek refuge from the storms and to replenish food supplies. Sometimes these were merchants, taking cargoes to far away places and bringing back exotic goods and rare spices; sometimes they were carrying pilgrims, or gentlemen on the Grand Tour.

Since the days of Henry VIII Brixham has played a part in the defence of the nation. The headland known as Berry Head is now a National Nature Reserve, but it is also a military site where guns were once positioned to defend the naval ships that were re-victualling at Brixham. Twelve guns were put there during the War of American Independence, but were removed when peace came in 1783. Just ten years later, during a war with France, guns were again deployed around the town. The major position was at Berry Head, but this time fortifications were built to defend the gun positions. These can still be seen, and are now some of the best preserved Napoleonic forts in the country.

During the long series of wars against the French that began in 1689 and lasted until 1815, the Royal Navy came into Brixham to get supplies of fresh vegetables, beef and water. There might have been twenty or so of the big men-o’-war lying at anchor in Torbay, recovering from exploits of the sort described in the books about Hornblower, Bolitho or Jack Aubrey. On the harbourside towards the marina there is a grey stone building which today is the Coastguard headquarters; then, it was the King’s Quay where His Majesty’s vessels were provisioned. Local farmers brought vegetables to ward off scurvy, and cattle were slaughtered and their meat packed into barrels. The water came from a big reservoir situated near the crossroads in the middle of town; from there a pipeline carried it under the streets and under the harbour to the King’s Quay.

Many of the well-known Admirals of the day visited Brixham. Not only Nelson, but also Lord St. Vincent, Cornwallis, Hood, Rodney and Hawke. There was also Earl Howe, who earned the nickname of Lord Torbay because he spent so much time ashore in Brixham. A notorious visitor was Napoleon Bonaparte, who, as a prisoner on HMS Bellerophon, spent several days off Brixham waiting to be taken to exile on St. Helena.

Battery Gardens have a military history leading back to the Napoleonic wars and the time of the Spanish Armada. The emplacements and features seen here today are those of the Second World War and are of national importance. The site, listed by English Heritage, is recognised as one of the best preserved of its kind in the UK. Of the 116 ‘Emergency Coastal Defence Batteries’ set up in the UK in 1940, only seven remain intact.

Apart from fishing, most of the other local industries were connected with stone. Limestone was once quarried extensively and used to build the breakwater, for houses and roads, and was sent to Dagenham to make steel for Ford cars. It was also burnt in limekilns to reduce it to a powder which was spread on the land in other parts of Devon as an agricultural fertiliser. The old quarries and the limekilns can still be seen.

Another mineral found in Brixham is ochre. This gave the old fishing boats their “Red Sails in the Sunset”, but the purpose was to protect the canvas from sea water. It was boiled in great caldrons, together with tar, tallow and oak bark. The latter ingredient gave its name to the barking yards which were places where the hot mixture was painted on to the sails, which were then hung up to dry.

The ochre was also used to make a very special paint. This was invented in Brixham in about 1845 and was the first substance in the world that would stop cast iron from rusting. Other types of paint were made here as well, and the works were in existence until 1961.

There were iron mines at Brixham, and for a while they produced very high quality ore but the last one closed in 1925. Most of the sites have been built over and there are now no remains of this once important industry.

Brixham is home to the Brixham Archers.This is the biggest archery club in the bay and shoots at the Brixham Cricket Club. The Archery club was formed in 1969 and has been successful at county and national level competitions.

In 1874 Brixham Rugby union Football Club was founded and became one of the founder members of Devon RFU of which only 6 clubs are now left. They played Rugby on Furzeham Green until 1896 when they moved their present ground in New Gate Park (now Astley Park). the club will play their league fixtures in the Southwest 2 west division of English rugby.

Teenage footballer Dan Gosling, of Everton, was born and raised in Brixham, and is the fourth-youngest player to have ever played for Plymouth Argyle aged 16 years and 310 days.

Torquay is a town in the unitary authority area of Torbay and ceremonial county of Devon, England. It lies 16 miles (26 km) miles south of Exeter along the A380 on the north of Torbay, 38 miles (61 km) north-east of Plymouth and adjoins the neighbouring town of Paignton on the west of the bay. Torquay’s population of 63,998 during the 2001 UK Census made it the third largest settlement in Devon. If the Torbay area, of which Torquay forms a third, were to be recognised as a city, as incumbent Torbay Mayor Nicholas Bye has proposed, it would rank as the 45th largest city in the United Kingdom with a population only slightly less than that of Brighton, which was granted city status in 2000. During the peak summer season the resort’s population swells to around 200,000

The town’s economy was initially based upon fishing and agriculture as in the case of Brixham across Torbay, but in the early 19th century the town began to develop into a fashionable seaside resort, initially frequented by members of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars while the Royal Navy anchored in the bay and later by the crème de la crème of Victorian society as the town’s fame spread. Renowned for its healthful climate, the town earned the nickname of the English Riviera and favourable comparisons to Montpellier.

Torquay was the home of the writer Agatha Christie, who lived most of her life in Torquay. The town contains an “Agatha Christie Mile”, a museum dedicated to her life and work.

Torquay’s name originates in it being the quay of the ancient village of Torre. In turn, Torre takes its name from the tor, the extensively quarried remains of which can be seen by the town’s Tor Hill Road.

The area comprising modern Torquay has been inhabited since paleolithic times. Hand axes found in Kents Cavern date to, and a maxilla fragment known as Kents Cavern 4 may be the oldest example of a modern human in Europe, dating back to 37,000—40,000 years ago.

Roman soldiers are known to have visited Torquay at some point during the period when Britain was a part of the Roman Empire, leaving offerings at a curious rock formation in Kent’s Cavern, known as ‘The Face’. No evidence has been found of Roman settlement in the town.

The first major building in what was to become Torquay was Torre Abbey, a Premonstratensian monastery founded in 1196. Torquay remained a minor settlement until the Napoleonic wars, when Torbay was frequently used as a sheltered anchorage by the Channel Fleet, and relatives of officers often visited Torquay. The mild climate of Torquay attracted many visitors who considered the town a convalescence retreat where they could recover from illness away from the cold winters of more Northerly or Easterly locations. The population of Torquay grew rapidly from 838 in 1801, to 11,474 in 1851.

The second phase in the expansion of Torquay began when Torre railway station was opened on 18 December 1848. The improved transport connections resulted in the rapid growth of Torquay at the expense of nearby towns not on Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s railways.

The more central Torquay railway station was open on 2 August 1859. After the growth of the preceding decades, Torquay was granted borough status in 1872. Previously regarded as a convalescence retreat, Torquay began to encourage healthy visitors, and 1902 saw the first advertising campaign to market Torquay to summer tourists.

During World War I, military hospitals were sited in Torquay – many survivors from the Battle of Gallipoli recuperated in the town – and it was also used as a troop staging area. In September 1915 King George V and Queen Mary visited. After the war had ended, Great Western Railway launched an advertising campaign to attract tourists to Torquay, and this helped the town grow to a major South coast resort.

During World War II Torquay was regarded as safer than the towns of South East England, and played host to evacuees from the London area, the town did however suffer minor bomb damage during the war, mainly from planes dumping excess loads after participating in the Plymouth Blitz. The last air raid on Torquay took place on 29 May 1944 shortly before the D-Day landings in June and in the months leading up to D-Day thousands of US Army personnel arrived in Torquay with the 3204th Quartermaster Service Company being billeted in Chelston and Cockington. During Operation Overlord more than 23,000 men of the American 4th Infantry Division would depart Torquay for Utah Beach.

The water sport events of the 1948 Summer Olympics were held in Torquay, with the Olympic flame being brought from London to Torre Abbey Gardens. Although it will not host any Olympic events for the 2012 Summer Olympics, with the sailing taking place in Weymouth, Torbay is looking to host teams as a preparation camp.

After World War II several private high-rise apartment blocks were constructed above the rock walk and harbour, giving the area a Monte Carlo feel. In the late 1980s Fleet Street was rebuilt as the Fleetwalk shopping mall, which features street level shops and an upper level shopping deck. The long curved building, which follows the street, is magnolia coloured and in mock Victorian style. In the late 1990s and early 2000s many new pubs and night clubs opened around the harbour area, leading to an increase in binge drinking, however in recent years a better police presence and responsible drinks promotions have improved the situation.

Since World War II, the nature of tourism in the United Kingdom has changed significantly. Increasing wealth has meant that holidays abroad are now commonplace, and coastal towns are now more popular for short stays as part of a touring holiday. Recently, Torquay has seen an increase in foreign visitors, and is now a major destination for foreign exchange students.

Torquay is part of Torbay, an administrative area, created in 1968 as a Borough, from the amalgamation of the Boroughs of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham. Historically part of the county of Devon, Torbay was made a unitary authority on 1 April 1998 making it responsible for its own affairs. For local elections the district is divided into 11 wards, 7 of them in Torquay.

Torbay Council is headed by the first directly elected mayor in the South West region, Conservative candidate Nicholas Bye becoming the first mayor elected under this system in October 2005, under an electoral system which was later described as “a total failure”, Bye receiving votes from fewer than 7% of the electorate. He beat Liberal Democrat Nicholas Pannell in the second round of counting with a total of 7,096 votes to Pannell’s 5,197. After the election, Bye noted the general apathy towards the concept displayed during the election, stating: “it is quite clear from canvassing that a lot of people did not want an elected mayor.”

Torquay, (along with part of Paignton) is in the Torbay parliamentary constituency, created in 1974. The constituency elects one Member of Parliament; currently Adrian Sanders (Liberal Democrat). Torquay, the rest of South West England, and Gibraltar are in the South West England constituency of the European Parliament.

Torquay is situated on the South West coast of England, forming one third of Torbay, and is primarily on the western side of the bay. It has a mild microclimate, often receiving among the highest hours of sunlight per day in the United Kingdom, winters in the town tend to be mild and wet with above average temperatures. Cabbage trees, also nicknamed ‘Torbay Palms’ are a notable feature of the area, the trees were introduced into the area in 1820 from New Zealand and since then have flourished, There are currently thousands throughout the town and they contribute significantly to the more Mediterranean than English feel the town has.

The town is made up of a number of regions that over the years amalgamated into the town of Torquay. The town’s historic core consists of the regions of Tormohun, Wellswood, The Warberries, Upton and Ellacombe and is based upon what was once the holdings of the Palk family. In 1900 the regions of Chelston and Livermead, previously part of the Cockington estate owned by the Mallocks were annexed by the town and this was swiftly followed by the absorption of the former borough of Saint Marychuch into the town. In this period Saint Marychurch consisted of more than just present day Saint Marychurch but also the regions of Plainmoor, Watcombe and Babbacombe. Finally in 1928 the Mallocks’ last holdings in Cockington were integrated within the town borders. Torquay continued to expand throughout the century leading to the development of Shiphay, Hele Village, Barton and most recently from the 1990s until present day, The Willows giving the town its current layout.

The most exclusive areas are the Warberries located on Warberry hill, Wellswood, The Lincombes and Ilsham Marine Drive. Despite being in an uraban area, these areas have a countryside feel with a huge abundance of evergreen trees and shurbs. With the exception of the newer Ilsham Marine drive, these areas were built up by wealthy Victorians. Influenced by their travels around the Mediterranean, They built large villas with Italianate features and towers. In these areas the abundance of evergreen shrubs and trees gives the area an exotic feel even in mid winter. There are many pine trees and very many Bay Laurus nobilis bushes and trees, a variety palm trees and Phormiums. The soil type is alkaline well drained and gritty, which is ideal for Mediterranean plants and herbs. Indeed many of the villas and some streets have Italian names. There are also some high rise private apartment blocks in this area of town, but their dominance is significantly reduced by the hilly tree laden nature of the area. Ilsham Marine Drive area was built during the 1960s and 70s. The exclusive houses here have great sea views.

Torquay is also set along a coastline renowned for its beaches, having 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 main beaches of Torquay are as follows:

Maidencombe Beach
Watcombe Beach
Oddicombe Beach
Babbacombe Beach
Anstey’s Cove
Meadfoot Beach
Torre Abbey Sands
Corbyn Sands
institute beach

The town is also noticeable for being the terminus of the Sticklepath Fault line, which runs through the rocks of Devon from Barnstaple Bay to Torquay resulting in infrequent mild earthquakes, the last of which were felt in the 1990s. The fault line emerges in the cliff face which forms part of Rock Walk before going out into the bay itself. On the Rock Walk side is Devonian Limestone on which Warren Road and Fleet Street stand. The other side of the fault line which runs down Belgrave Road is the red sandstone on which Torre Abbey stands, the fault can reach widths up to 500 metres in places.

Torquay has two railway stations. Torquay railway station is situated near the sea, close to Torre Abbey Sands. Torre railway station is situated a little inland adjacent to the road leading to Newton Abbot. Not all trains stop at Torre.

Torquay is connected to the UK motorway network by the A380, which traces the outskirts of the town as Hellevoetsluis Way and Hamelin Way, leading to the A38 and then on to the M5 at Exeter. The A3022 branches from the A380, leading into Torquay as Riviera Way, to the seafront as Newton Road and then Avenue Road, and then on to Paignton as Torbay Road. The A379 runs past the harbour to the Babbacombe and St Marychurch areas of Torquay, and then north along the coast to Teignmouth. Two bus routes operated by Stagecoach Devon pass through Torquay – the ‘Bayline’ number 12 service between Newton Abbot and Brixham, and the X46 service between Exeter and Paignton – while other routes operate within the town.

Unemployment in Torquay is high at 6.8% – this compares with 3.9% for Devon, and 5.0% for England as a whole.
Many locals were employed in the Pontins holiday centre before it was sold off.
Torquay is also the home of Beverage Brands, the owners of the popular and controversial alcoholic brand, WKD, and was the home of Suttons Seeds until it relocated to the neighbouring town of Paignton in 1998.

Torquay has numerous tourist attractions, including Kents Cavern, Britain’s most important Stone Age site, which was home to early man for some 700,000 years. The floor is composed of several strata, with remains indicating the prehistoric coexistence there of humans and now-extinct animals. The Rev. J. McEnery explored the cave between 1825 and 1829 and put forth the coexistence theory. The cave was extensively explored from 1865 to 1880 by William Pengelly, who found evidence to support McEnery’s hypothesis. The caves have attracted many famous people, among them Agatha Christie,[15] Beatrix Potter, King George V and Haile Selassie who was so impressed with his visit that he gave his guide, Leslie Powe a gold sovereign.

Torquay HarbourLiving Coasts, another popular 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 stone arches of this public bath can still be seen today and have been 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 in response to a call from Torbay 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.

Other attractions are the Babbacombe Model Village, which opened in 1963; the Princess Theatre and a large tethered balloon offering aerial views of the town.

Torbay Council operates Torbay Arts Base, a forum for the discussion of the arts. Local artists and residents interested in the arts can join the group by registering on the Torbay Arts Database, which also provides access to arts publications The Lighthouse and Torbay Arts Directory. In the early years of British cinema, Torquay was home to two production companies, Cairns Torquay Films and Torquay And Paignton Photoplay Productions, who in 1920 produced a total of three films between them.

Recently, Devon Films, based in Torquay, has established itself as the Bay’s latest film production company. The company financed and produced Stepdad in 2007, starring Ricky Tomlinson and Chris Bisson among others; it was entered into the Cannes Film Festival. A new film Snappers set in Torquay itself and shot on location, starred Caroline Quentin, Bruce Jones and other prominent British television actors, is in pre-production and is due to be released in March 2009.

The Torquay Natural History Society was founded in 1844, and in 1845 opened Torquay Museum, the oldest museum in Devon. In addition to artifacts from Kents Cavern, other local archaeology, information about Agatha Christie, and a replica old farmhouse interior, the museum has galleries dedicated to such diverse topics as ancient Egypt and world jewellery.

The Princess Theatre, which is by the side of the harbour, is owned by Torbay Council and operated by Live Nation. It is Torquay’s largest theatre with approximately 1,500 seats and plays host to touring independent production companies. TOADS Theatre Company operates the Little Theatre in Meadfoot in the converted St Mark’s Church, hosting both the company’s own productions and those of visiting societies. Babbacombe Theatre is located on Babbacombe Downs and describes itself as having the longest running summer season in the country, which lasts nine months.

Torquay as the centre of local government in the Torbay region, is served by two radio stations both with their offices in the town, the oldest is Gemini FM Torbay, part of GCap Media’s network of local radio stations, which transmits from the harbourside of the town. The station operates the Gemini Radio Charitable Trust, a registered charity that awards grants to community organisations in the station’s broadcast area – a total of more than £529,000 since 1995. Torquay is also served by Palm 105.5FM, owned by the London Media Company and launched in Torbay and the surrounding area in 2006. The station had a difficult start with multiple on air personality changes, has since established itself after widespread local promotion.

BBC Radio Devon is the radio station covering the whole of Devon including Torbay. Local television news is broadcast by ITV Westcountry which also makes some local documentaries. BBC Spotlight provides BBC news. Both TV stations cover both Devon and Cornwall, with ITV Westcountry providing a news read for Exeter and East Devon, which includes any Torbay news.

The town’s local newspaper is called the Herald Express and has been published since 1925 after a merger of two papers. Its catchment area includes towns outside the Bay itself including Newton Abbot and Dartmouth, and there is also a weekly free newspaper known as The Weekender. Former newspapers include the Torquay and Tor General Advertisor and Director, founded in 1839, which in 1853 became The Torquay Directory and South Devon Journal until 1949, finally becoming The South Devon Journal, which closed in 1973.

Torquay has a long history of holding sailing events and regattas due to the favourable easterly facing nature of the bay and its popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries; this tradition reached its height in 1948 when the water sport events of the 1948 Summer Olympics were held in Torquay, with the Olympic flame being transferred from London to Torre Abbey Gardens to reside throughout the event. Outside of naval events, Torquay is represented in the English Football League Football League by Torquay United F.C.. The team plays their home matches at Plainmoor and have never progressed beyond the third tier of the English leagues. Torquay United were promoted from the Conference National after winning the play-off final at Wembley in June 2009. Two years earlier in 2007 they were relegated from the Football League after 80 years of membership and spent two years playing in the Conference National; this downfall came just three years after promotion from the league’s basement division and ultimately led to a change in ownership of the club to a consortium of local businessmen and fans. Notable former managers of the club include Frank O’Farrell who’d later go on to manage Leicester City and Manchester United, David Webb, Cyril Knowles, Neil Warnock and Roy McFarland. Notable former players include Lee Sharpe, Neville Southall, Garry Nelson and Eddie Kelly. The club won a Wembley final in 1991, defeating Blackpool on penalties in the Fourth Division play-off final to win promotion to the Third Division. In doing so, they became the first Football League team to win promotion on penalties.

The town also houses three major football teams from the local non-league scene, including Hele Rovers, Kingskerswell & Chelston and Upton Athletic, all of whom compete in the South Devon League.

Torquay is represented in the sport of rugby by Torquay Athletic Rugby Football Club, who compete in the South West Division Two rugby league, which is five leagues below the Guinness Premiership.

For athletics Torre Valley North sports field is the summer training base for Torbay Athletic club and Torbay Triathlon Club. Torre Valley North has a 400m grass running track in summer, it also provides a long jump pit and concrete shot put circle, with a pavilion. A variety of track and field sports take place at Torre Valley North including hurdles and high jump. In winter months the Torbay Athletic and Torbay Triathlon club uses the English Riviera Centre. The club organises the annual Torbay Half Marathon which starts in Paignton and the Torbay 10K road race from Torquay to Paignton.

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 Palace Hotel also hosted the World Snooker Championship Qualifiers. Recently the resort has become popular among the Powerboat community and has held various national championships in various classes over the past few years.

A number of sketches for the Monty Python’s Flying Circus television show (1969–73) were filmed on location in and around both Torquay and neighbouring Paignton. It was while staying in Torquay at the Gleneagles Hotel with the Python team in 1971, that John Cleese found inspiration for Fawlty Towers (1975,1979), a popular sitcom. 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.

In 1979 the town was again the site of filming, when the Ray Winstone, BAFTA nominated drama That Summer was both set in and filmed around the town.

In addition to its association with the Pythons, Torquay is also the setting for the 2003 movie Blackball starring Paul Kaye and Vince Vaughn. The movie is about Cliff Starkey who is the Bad Boy of Lawn Bowls.

Torquay has a strong literary tradition with two classic pieces of English literature Oscar Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles reputed to have been written while their authors were staying in Torquay.

The town also has an unusual history of providing models for the Glamour and Erotic industries with Glamour Model Lauren Pope, Popular Lad’s mag pin up Natasha Mealey who has appeared in publications such as FHM and Zoo, and erotic actress Layla Jade all having being born in the town and lived in it for varying degrees of time.

Torquay is also the home of the co-presenter of popular Sky Sports One program Soccer AM Helen Chamberlain. Los Angeles radio personality Richard Blade is originally from Torquay. International catwalk model Lily Cole was born in Torquay but grew up in the British capital city of London.

Torquay, as one of the three main towns of Torbay, is run by Torbay Council which has its town hall at the top of the Torquay high street. Currently the Conservative Party is the party in power, with the Liberal Democrats in second place and Independent candidates, a very distant third.

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 1997 and 2001 moved back and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), whose candidate 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.

There are five 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 Hereand also Cuthbert Mayne.

Torquay’s other two state secondary schools are more selective. They are 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 Stoodley 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 that fully opened in January 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.

Torbay is an east-facing bay and natural harbour, at the western most end of Lyme Bay in the south-west of England, situated roughly midway between the cities of Exeter and Plymouth. Part of the ceremonial county of Devon, Torbay was made a unitary authority on April 1, 1998. Tourist authorities call it the English Riviera on account of its beaches and mild climate; it is a popular area with holiday makers.

There are three main towns around the bay: Torquay in the north, Paignton in the centre, and Brixham in the south, which have become connected over the years, swallowing up villages and towns such as St Marychurch, Cockington, Marldon, Churston Ferrers and Galmpton.

The County Borough of Torbay was created in 1968 by the amalgamation of the Municipal Borough of Torquay, Urban District of Paignton and Urban District of Brixham, also taking in parts of the civil parishes of Coffinswell and Kerswells from Newton Abbot Rural District and Churston Ferrers and Marldon from Totnes Rural District. The County Borough became the Borough of Torbay under local government reorganisation in 1974. In October 2005 Torbay became the first area of the South West to have an elected Mayor with Nick Bye being the successful candidate.

The southern limit of Torbay is Berry Head, and the northern limit is Hopes Nose, although Torquay itself stretches further north into Babbacombe Bay, where the beaches at Oddicombe and Babbacombe can be found; these are noted for their interesting Breccia cliffs.

Torbay is bordered by the South Hams to the south and west, and by Teignbridge to the north. Nearby towns include Totnes and Dartmouth in the South Hams Newton Abbot and Teignmouth in Teignbridge.

Because of the mild climate, Torbay palm trees are a common sight along the coast. However, this ‘palm’ is in fact a cabbage tree (Cordyline australis), originating from New Zealand. These trees flourish elsewhere in the UK. It is suggested that the popularity of cabbage trees in Torbay is attributable to their first being introduced to the UK in that region.

The area has a large number of European students learning English.

The fishing port of Brixham is home to one of England and Wales’s most successful fishing fleets and regularly lands more value than any UK port outside of Scotland.

Torbay’s many geological features have led to the establishment of the English Riviera Geopark, one of 53 geoparks worldwide; as of July 2008, this is the sole urban geopark.

Torbay has three stations on the National Rail network:

Torre railway station is inland on the road from Torquay to Newton Abbot, Torquay railway station is close to Torre Abbey Sands. Paignton railway station serves that town and links with the heritage railway via the Dart ferry to Kingswear.
These stations are now operated by First Great Western, as are some of the journeys that operates through them since Wessex trains was taken over by the company in 2006.

Torbay lacks direct motorway links and is served by the A380 road from Exeter. This road route into Torbay from Newton Abbot is congested in summer and during commuter hours. There are plans to remedy the situation though no clear alternative have been found as the road passes by areas of outstanding natural beauty. [2] A bypass has been planned since as early as the 1930s and has come close on a few occasions to being built, however the latest plan was halted in autumn 2008 [3] so the long term future is uncertain. It is most likely alternative schemes such as traffic calming and alterations to the existing A380 road will be implemented instead.

The bus franchise is largely operated by Stagecoach South West of the similarly named group, that operates a large share of the market in Torbay and the neighbouring towns of South Devon.

Famous former residents of Torbay include authors Agatha Christie (who set many of her novels in a thinly disguised version of the borough), Charles Kingsley, Edmund Gosse and Rudyard Kipling. Peter Cook, comic, (half of a famous comedy team with Dudley Moore; the great industrialist and architect of the nearby Atmospheric railway, Isambard Kingdom Brunel; Prog-rock band Wishbone Ash, supermodel Lily Cole and astrologer Russell Grant also originate from the area.

The Westbank is a lovely Elegant Victorian Guest House in torquay, Family run with a warm friendly atmosphere. We are situated in a quiet tree lined avenue with a peaceful outlook. The Westbank is close to the town and Riviera Centre. Just a few minutes stroll through Torre Abbey Gardens will bring you to the Seafront and Beaches.

The Westbank has a tranquil atmosphere, and is the ideal place to relax and unwind whether you are on holiday or on business in Torquay, being only a short level walk from the town centre, seafront and conference centre.

Upon your arrival you will be welcomed into our comfy lounge for a choice of complimentary Tea and Coffee with biscuits giving you the ideal chance to ask questions about your stay with us and the about the surrounding areas of interest.







Our aim is to give you that extra special holiday with excellent traditional cuisine, all fresh, home made and locally produced offering only the highest of quality and standards.

The Westbank is renowned for our full English Breakfasts and our optional 4 course Evening Meal. We use only locally grown fresh ingredients on the day.

       


Telephone Torquay: 01803 295271
The Westbank 54 Bampfylde Road Torquay Devon TQ2 5AY