TORQUAY, a watering-place on the s. coast of Devon, occupying a cove on the n. side of Tor bay, 23 m. from Exeter, and about 210 from London. The name is derived from the Celtic "tor" (q.v.), a hill, which occurs in the appellations of the neighboring peaks of Dartmore (Hey Tor, Rippon Tor, etc.), and thence is given to the bay, and to the ancient parish of Tormohun or Tormoham, in which Torquay is situate. The monas tery of Tor abbey was founded in the 12th c.; but the town of Torquay is of recent origin. The bay is noted in history as the place where William of Orange landed in 1688, and was often used as a naval rendezvous during the war with France; but till the beginning of the present century Torquay was little more than an assemblage of fisher men's huts. About that time the advantages of its climate—which are a peculiarly sheltered position, an equable temperature, and freedom from frogs—caused it to be resorted to by ennsumptive patients; and it soon attained a European celebrity, which is still almost unrivaled. The romantic hills and valleys of Tormobun and its environs are being rapidly overspread with villas, gardens, terraces, and rows of smaller dwell ings. The original parish has been divided into four, and possesses 0 (English) churches, 1 Roman Catholic, 1 Scotch Presbyterian, and numerous dissenting chapels. A stone
pier was built in 1803, and the port is resorted to by colliers and small traders. The present high-road to Newton-Ahhot was made about 1825; and the first station of the South Devon railway was opened in 1895. The geological formation consists mainly of a range of transition limestone cliffs in strata much contorted, forming an excellent building material; and in some places, as at Petit Tor, presenting beautifully-tinted marbles, wh;ch are extensively worked. The limestone gives place at some points to old red sandstone, which gives its predominating color to the soil, and to argillaceous shale in beds of considerable thickness. The scenery is of the most varied and pictur esque description. Besides the mildness of the winter, the vicinity of the sea in front, and of Dartmoor in the rear, greatly moderates the summer climate, so that while the mean winter temperature is 44', being 3' above that of Greenwich, that of the summer is only 55°, nearly 1° below that of Greenwich. The population has increased from under 1000 in 1801 to 21,657 in 1871. Kent's cavern, discovered in 1824, and the Brix ham cave, discovered in 1858, are rich in fossils, and are among the earliest places in the kingdom in which prehistoric human remains have been found.