The History of Torquay, a town in Torbay, on the south- east coast of the county of Devon, England, starts some 450,000 years ago with early human artefacts found in Kents Cavern. There is little evidence of any permanent occupation at Torquay until the eleventh century records in the Domesday Book, though it is known that visits were made by Roman soldiers and there was a small Saxon settlement called 'Torre'. In 1196 Torre Abbey was founded here, which by the time of its dissolution in 1539, had become the richest Premonstratensian Monastery in England. The buildings were bought by Sir George Cary in 1662. The Cary family and the Briwere family between them owned much of the land now occupied by Torquay. By the 19th century, most of the land was owned by three families: the Carys, the Palks, and the Mallocks.
There was little development until the early 19th century, when Lawrence Palk, 2nd Baronet built a new harbour here. Much of the later building in the town was done by his solicitor, William Kitson, who was put in charge of the Palk estates in 1833. At this time the town started to attract visitors in ill health as a winter resort because of its fresh air and mild climate. Its population grew by over ten times in the first 50 years of the century. Later in the century, Torquay became a favoured resort for the upper classes. In 1870, Lawrence Palk, 1st Baron Haldon built another new harbour for the town which made it popular with yacht sailors. It was also extensively used for importing coal and wool from Australia.
During the First World War a number of hospitals and convalescent homes were set up in the town. Between the wars, a major advertising campaign by the Great Western Railway ensured that Torquay became a major holiday resort. In World War II, the town, with its preponderance of hotels, provided extensive training facilities for the RAF. From 1944, many American troops were also stationed here. The town was bombed several times.
In 1948 Torquay hosted the watersports events of the Olympic Games. In 1950 the European Broadcasting Union was formed here. More recently the town has become popular with foreign language students, and since the expansion of the EU in 2004, many Polish and Czech workers have settled here.
Before the Norman Conquest The area comprising modern Torquay has been inhabited since Palaeolithic times. Hand axes found in Kents Cavern date to 450,000 years ago, and a maxilla fragment known as Kents Cavern 4 may be oldest example of a modern human in Europe.
Little is known of its early history until the arrival of the Roman Empire in Britain during the Claudian invasion of 43. Roman soldiers are known to have visited Torquay at some point during this period, leaving offerings at a strange rock formation in Kents Cavern, known as 'The Face'. It is possible these soldiers could have been part of the Legio II Augusta, commanded by the future Emperor Vespasian during the invasion of Britain in 43 considering his extensive actions in the South West, during which according to the Roman historian Suetonius: "He reduced to subjection two powerful nations, more than twenty towns, and the island of Vectis".Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum (The Lives of the Twelve Caesars)
No evidence has been found of Roman settlement in the area but Roman finds have been uncovered in nearby Totnes, Newton Abbot and on Berry Head on the opposite side of Torbay existed an Iron Age fortCherry, Bridget & Pevsner, Nikolaus (1989). The Buildings of England – Devon. Harmondsworth: Penguin. p. 831. and a cache of Roman coins was discovered in 1730, including among others a coin of the Emperor ClaudiusLysons (1822) Magna Britannia; vol. 6: Devonshire, pp. CCCVI-CCCXXIII which dates the find to the same period as Vespasian's activity in the South West. Furthermore, when construction began on the Belgrave Hotel on Torquay seafront in 1840, workmen discovered evidence of a large road between fifteen and twenty feet wide "consisting of large stones placed end to end and requiring gunpowder to break it up and remove it, such was the strength with which it was built."Percy Russell, A History of Torquay and The Famous Anchorage of Torbay (Devonshire Press, Torquay, 1960) p. 21 This road was known locally as the 'calcetum' (Latin for causeway) and is mentioned in a number of Medieval and Early Modern sources as a boundary line between various estates in the town, where people would often meet. Given its size, the quality of its construction and the lack of development in this area of Torquay until the nineteenth century, it is possible these were the remains of a Roman road, as local historians J.T White and Percy Russell have suggested, although no further excavations have taken place due to the site being under Torbay Road. The existence of a Roman road leading out of Isca Dumnoniorum and towards Western Devon crossing the River Teign at Teignbridge some 14 miles north of Torquay also suggests this road could have been part of the Roman road network in the South West of Britannia.
After the departure of the Roman administration from Britain, around 410 AD, a Brythonic kingdom emerged in the West Country based on the old Roman civitas surrounding Exeter. It was called, in Latin, Dumnonia and, in the native Brythonic language, Dyfneint: pronounced "Dove-naynt" and eventually corrupted to Devon, the region in which the modern town of Torquay is situated would have been a part of this Sub-Roman kingdom.
Dumnonia was gradually taken over by the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, but the region of Torquay or Torbay received no mention during this time, and although sporadic Viking incursions occurred throughout Devon over the latter Anglo-Saxon era until the Norman Conquest, there is no evidence that the Vikings visited here.
Medieval and Renaissance era Much of the present town is situated on the ancient manor of Tor Mohun, a possession of William Brewer (died 1226). Various regions in Torquay are mentioned in the Domesday Book, including Cockington or Cochintone as it is described in the book, which was owned by an Anglo Saxon by the name of Alric in the reign of Edward the Confessor and by a Norman under the name of William de Falesia at the time of the book's creation. Maidencombe was the property of an Elmer during the Anglo-Saxon period before passing to Hamond, under William Chievre following the Norman Conquest and St Marychurch or St. Marie Cherche was owned by the Bishop of Exeter throughout the period.Lysons (1822) Magna Britannia; vol. 6: Devonshire, pp. XLIX-LXXXI
In 1196 Torre Abbey was founded as a Premonstratensian Monastery by William Brewer. The abbey owned much land in the area, and by the Dissolution was the richest monastery of its Order in England. The monastery itself was partly built with quarried stone from nearby Corbyn Head under the permission of the De Cockington family of nearby Cockington manor.Cockington, The Prettiest Village in England, Pg 2() It remained that way until February 1539 when it suffered the same fate as all other monasteries, surrendering to the ministers of Henry VIII during the dissolution of the monasteries following his split from Rome. The canons of Torre Abbey founded the nearby town of Newton Abbot in the early thirteenth century as the New Town of the Abbots.
Torquay itself developed around the Saxon hamlet of Torre (from 'tor' meaning hill or craggy peak). Water from the River Flete or Fleete (meaning stream) flowed from Barton to the sea and was used to grind corn at Fleet Mill (standing near what is now the main shopping centre at the junction of Union Street and Fleet Walk) until it was demolished in 1835. The monks of Torre Abbey are credited with building the first fishing quay, hence the name Torquay, which evolved through various spellings, including Torrequay and Torkay before settling on the almost modern day version of Tor Quay by 1765.) The settlement was originally called Fleet, after the river, but the name Torquay became standard before long.
Torre Abbey was bought by Sir George Cary in 1662 and remained with the family until 1929 when Colonel Lionel Cary died and it was bought by the Torquay Corporation. The Cary family were prominent Torquinians and also owned most of the village of Cockington from as far back as the 14th century which included the modern day areas of Shiphay, Chelston and Livermead within its boundaries. Certain evidence traces the family's ancestry to the son of the Roman Emperor Carus, who served as a general in Britannia during his life.Herald Express newspaper, 13 March 2008
Although the family lost Cockington after the English Civil War, as Henry Cary sold it to Exeter goldsmith Roger Mallock to cover the debts and heavy fines that were imposed upon the family when Henry raised an army for Charles I during the war, the Carys played a prominent role in the town's development, retaining their remaining holdings in St Marychurch via another branch of the family until Lionel Cary's death.
The Tormohun region of the town belonged to William Briwere, or Brewer, during this period. Briwere was a powerful baron in the reigns of Henry II, Richard I, John, and Henry III, until the marriage of his younger daughter and co-heiress brought the ownership of Tormohun to the Mohun family thus forming the basis for its future name of Tor Mohun. The land was given to Torre Abbey by John de Mohun in the years following the Black Death. In 1540 Tormohun was purchased by John Ridgway, whose grandson, Thomas, was created a baronet in 1612, in 1616 the Lord Ridgway and finally in 1622, Earl of Londonderry, making Tormohun the seat of the Earls of LondonderryLysons (1822) Magna Britannia; vol. 6: Devonshire, pp. 520–538 until its sale to the Palk family.
In 1521, a William Cary of the Cockington Carys married Mary Boleyn, the sister of Henry VIII's second wife Anne Boleyn and thus became the uncle of the future Queen Elizabeth I when Anne Boleyn gave birth in 1533.Cockington, The Prettiest Village in England, Pg 3()
After the failed Spanish Armada of 1588 during the Anglo-Spanish War, a medieval barn belonging to Torre Abbey was used to house 397 Spanish prisoners of war and in recognition of this the building was named the "Spanish Barn".
In 1605 a resident of the Cockington area, George Waymouth, explored the coastline of Maine and caused a sensation when he returned to Plymouth with a group of Native Americans.Cockington, The Prettiest Village in England, Pg 4()
Almost exactly 100 years after the failed armada of the King of Spain, William III landed at Brixham in Torbay on 5 November 1688 before passing through Torquay during his march to London, on his way to gain control of the country in the 'Glorious Revolution'. Rawlyn Mallock MP of the Cockington Mallocks was one of the small band of peers to greet him.
In 1785 the Keyberry Turnpike Trust opened the road from Barton to Newton Bushell (Abbot), increasing contact between the nascent towns and the regional capital of Exeter.
Napoleonic Wars and early development An early visitor to Torquay in 1794 is recorded as saying "Instead of the poor uncomfortable village we had expected, how great was our surprise at seeing a pretty range of neat new buildings, fitted up for summer visitors, visitors here can enjoy carriage rides, bathing, retirement and a most romantic situation". Another early visitor exclaimed "It is not England, but a bit of sunny Italy taken bodily from its rugged coast and placed here amid the green places and the pleasant pastoral lanes of beautiful Devon'."