
Down the Treacle Mine
"‘Once upon a time there were three little sisters,’ the Dormouse began in a great hurry; ‘and they lived at the bottom of a well . . .’ ‘What did they live on?’ said Alice, who always took a great in…
Kevin Dixon went to Audley Park – now Torquay Academy – and South Devon College when it was at Torre. After studying at Birmingham City University, he returned home because there’s nowhere else quite like Torquay. He then became involved in community and adult education, completed a PhD at Exeter University , and started writing about the weird and unknown side of town. He now Chairs Healthwatch Torbay and is involved in health and social care in the Bay.
"‘Once upon a time there were three little sisters,’ the Dormouse began in a great hurry; ‘and they lived at the bottom of a well . . .’ ‘What did they live on?’ said Alice, who always took a great in…
This is the story of how two gigantic Torquay paintings ended up in a Pittsburg museum with the assistance of Andrew Lloyd Weber. St. John’s church started in 1823 as a chapel-of-ease to the parish…
For centuries folk wandering the Bay's beaches have been discovering unusual bones and stone tools; while, more recently, trawlers have been dragging up the remains of extinct beasts in their ne…
So when and why did Torquay's 'Golden Age' come to an end? We begin with the nostalgia for the post-war holiday, reinforced by those railway advertisements describing the leisure and luxury that aw…
Paignton has a pier; Teignmouth has a pier. But does Torquay? If we define a pier as a structure that water passes beneath, supported by poles or pillars, then what Torquay has is a breakwater, a s…
Are you are an unpaid Carer in Torbay, and would you like to have a break from your caring role by staying in a hotel?Torbay Carers have agreements with approximately 240 hotels nationwide to offer…
During the mid nineteenth century Torquay was beginning to lose its image of being a substitute inland spa, to becoming a holiday resort. Instead of the cultivation of good health, the town was changi…
Around four thousand years ago the inhabitants of Torbay died out- and we don't know why.This near extinction took place over several hundred years but we know from DNA evidence that they did disappea…
On 2 January 1873, 'The Wallace', a ship from Boston, was taking a cargo of petroleum to Antwerp and returning to New Orleans, when winds drove her into the Bay.A fire was discovered on board and the …
Little is known about Torquay author W Grove except that he was born Reginald Colebrooke Reade in 1853. He was the son of Alfred Reade of Datchet, Buckinghamshire, and attended Eton and King's College…
In November 1997 an English writer discovered a long-forgotten 200-year old book in a palazzo in Italy. To her delight, she had found the original of ‘Maurice, or the Fisher’s Cot’. This was the onl…
One Thursday in April of 1866 a sick 16 year old man wrote a letter to his parents from his lodgings at 2 Sulyarde Terrace, Torquay - the house would in 1897 become part of the Torbay Hotel.The young…
Jane Marchese Robinson's book 'Seeking Sanctuary a History of Refugees in Britain' tells the story of people fleeing persecution and war who have found refuge in Britain. Starting in the sixteenth cen…
What if you were a well-off family motoring to Torquay for a holiday in an expensive hotel, and your first experience of the resort was driving through an encampment of undesirables on the outskirts o…