On July 5 1703 a great fleet appeared in Torbay. This were the combined English and Dutch squadrons under the command of Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell (1650-1707). There were 40 English ships, along…

The Scottish poet Robert Burns famously wrote, "O would some power the giftie gie us to see ourselves as others see us." Of course, few people below the Roman Wall understood what he was on about so i…

Is having an interest in the history of our Torbay just a bit of fun?Local history is certainly enjoyable - but it is also crucial in understanding who we are, how we got here, and where we're going.N…

Torre Abbey Museum’s Open Air Cinema Festival returns in August, with 9 nights of alfresco screenings under the stars and amongst the romantic ruins. There’s something for everyone, with highligh…

When the antiquary John Leland visited Torre Abbey in the sixteenth century he described "three fair gate houses‟. One of these was the Mohun gatehouse (pictured below) while the main north gatehouse …

On August 6, 1945, the world watched as the United States bombed Japan. 80,000 people perished in Hiroshima, followed by another 70,000 victims three days later in Nagasaki. The US government then …

Overlooking the sea at Babbacombe Bay is Walls Hill. It's the site of a prehistoric field system which dates from the Bronze Age (2000-700 BC) to the end of the fifth century AD.This is a collection o…

Today Torre Abbey is a place of peace and tranquillity. It wasn't always like that. The medieval Abbey was a very rich and powerful place and so it attracted the attention of those with less spiritua…

In July of 1667 Torquay was attacked by two Dutch warships.In a letter a dated July 19 1667 it was recorded that:"Hear that the Dutch have made an attempt at Torbay: they fired two small barques (a sh…

It's fairly well known that Britain exported its criminals to Australia. What is less known is that over 52,000 British prisoners were shipped off to colonial America -almost 10 percent of migrants to…

Funding is now available for small community-led Torbay schemes to improve people’s health and wellbeing. This could be to helping people get more active, look after themselves better, or become more …

Torquay in the year 2053 is a sun-bleached gangland nightmare in local writer Adam Nevill's novel Lost Girl. The Guardian has called Adam, "Britain's answer to Stephen King" and, this time, it's not …

Back in 1964 a young Mick Jagger observed, “Torquay’s a great town. But I shouldn’t think there’s much to do in the winter’.In their early days the Stones needed a centre for their regional tour of th…

Local history can tell us how we got here. A knowledge of the past can also suggest ways to tackle the problems we now have and can expect in the future. Indeed, we may have faced similar challenges i…