How Torquay Votes
During the nineteenth century a few families transformed a collection of rural hamlets into the richest town in England. By the early twentieth century, however, the political and economic authority…
Kevin Dixon(Author)
Torbay welcomes back the Street Pastors
Torbay's hospitality industry has suffered due to the pandemic but now venues are about to open on June 21st and a very busy summer is expected.A familiar and much missed pre-Covid presence on our s…
Torbay’s Guerrilla Golf
Torquay has Jungle Journey Adventure Golf, Paignton has Pirates Bay Adventure Golf, and there's Crazy Golf at Goodrington. And, at one time, many hotels boasted a synthesis of concrete and felt whic…
Torquay: “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”
"Lo! time shall come, when on yon throng’d paradeShall groups assemble, swains and many a maid,And elder dames and sires, in converse gay,Breathing sweet health fresh-wafted from the bayAnd yonder h…
What was Torquay’s St Michael’s Chapel actually for?
What was Torquay's St Michael's Chapel actually for? Over the years it has been described as: a sea mark; a light house; a place for lighting a warning fire beacon; the abode of a hermit; a place o…
Torquay, “an imposter, a delusion and a snare”
By 1870 there were 48 places classified as seaside resorts in a halo around Britain; but not all were the same. Torquay, along with Eastbourne, Bexhill and Frinton, wanted to preserve the image of a…
Torquay’s Rifle Volunteers March Out
On January 14th, 1858, the French Emperor Napoleon III was attacked in his capital by a gang of assassins who hurled three small bombs at his carriage. The Emperor escaped unharmed but eight imperia…
Blackball: Torquay’s Bowling movie
The growing challenge to Torquay's status as an elite tourist destination was becoming evident from the mid-1960s onward, with the far-sighted recognising the overseas package holiday as an existent…
Torquay’s Victorian Plant Nurseries
During the nineteenth century Torquay's population increased from around 800 to almost 34,000. The town became a place for the wealthy to buy holiday homes, the retired to reside, and the sick to ho…
The Natural History of the Torbay Grockle
“Most holidaymakers are grockles. But the real ones you can spot a mile off. Usually they wear shorts, woollen socks and black leather shoes, with their shirt undone all the way down the front so yo…
The Grand Tour and the English Riviera
In 1862 Charles Dickens wrote, "Torquay is a pretty place... a mixture of Hastings and Tunbridge Wells and little bits of the hills about Naples". Ruskin would carry on the theme and call Torquay,…
St Michael’s Chapel- a secret place of worship?
It has been said that Catholic Torquay came to an end in 1539 when Torre Abbey surrendered to Henry VIII's commissioners at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. This led to a wide scale demolition of…
The Torquay War of 1888
This is the story of the 'Torquay War' of 1888.During that year Torquay experienced a sustained challenge to established authority which became an important issue for the entire country.This struggle …
Studying History and English at Torbay’s University Centre South Devon
If you enjoy and are passionate about History, local Heritage, literature and culture, then why not seize the opportunity to study History with English at University Centre South Devon (UCSD). COVID…