History of Torquay - Medieval and Renaissance Era

Medieval and Renaissance Era

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.

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. 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.

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.

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 Londonderry 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.

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 Weymouth, explored the coastline of Maine and caused a sensation when he returned to Plymouth with a group of Native Americans.

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.