History

Here at WASD we love a bit of local weirdness so here’s a clip from the 2001 London Weekend Television...

While it was the visiting wives and relatives of naval officers that initiated Torquay as a tourist town, it was...

This is the story of Saul, one of those Torquay characters that we seem to have so many of. You’ve...

In 1954 the author Nancy Mitford wrote an essay, ‘The English Aristocracy’ for the magazine Encounter. She provided a list...

A railway station serving Torquay was opened on 18 December 1848, but this station was far from the harbour at...

On September 18, 1961, Torquay was the proud host of the Second European Postal and Telecommunications (CEPT) Conference. Fair enough,...

Here in Torquay we like to think of ourselves as being welcoming to tourists. However, this wasn’t always so. For...

Here at WASD we like to remember Torquay folk who have made their mark on the world. This time it’s...

“Deep night, dark night, the silence of the night, spirits walk, and ghosts break up their graves”, William Shakespeare Night-time...

  On October 8th 1834 the darkness was banished from Torquay. Forty gas lamps were installed in our main thoroughfares...

“I resent Mrs Langtry, she has no right to be intelligent, daring and independent, as well as lovely”, Torquay resident...

  In 1973 Trevor Ravenscroft (pictured), who would later live in Torquay, wrote a book called ‘The Spear of Destiny’....

Continuing our WASD theme of South Devon’s weird landscape, let’s turn our attention to our haunted coastal route - the...

Continuing the WASD theme of South Devon’s weird landscape, here’s the story of Kingskerswell’s Creeping Coffin. During the mid eighteenth...

For centuries the main way out of Torquay to our nearest town was the Newton Road – the route to...

Now the new road between Torquay and Newton Abbot is open there’s a far quicker way to get to Plymouth....

“There’s something in the trees!” Here at WASD we like movies made locally in places we can recognise. It’s therefore...

Here at WASD we recently ran an article - Big in Berlin - about how Torquay was a favoured location...

Here at WASD we like to remember past residents of Torquay. We also have a fondness for books that feature...