See also Torquay, Victoria, in Australia

Part of the Torquay seafront at high tide.

Torquay is a town on the south coast of England in the county of Devon which has extended along the coast of Torbay to the extent that it is now inextricably intermingled with the neighbouring town of Paignton. In the 19th century it became a fashionable seaside resort, renowned for its healthy climate.

The town was the birthplace of the crime novelist Agatha Christie.

Numerous tourist attractions vie for a share of the resort's visitors including Britain's most important Stone Age site, Kents Cavern which was home to early man for some 700,000 years and where tourists can visit this subterranean wonderland.

It is represented in the Football League One by Torquay United F.C..

It is the setting of Fawlty Towers, a famous sitcom made in the 1970s, although it is claimed that location filming for the show was actually done in Cambridge, Berkshire & Bedfordshire. However, in the episode "Gourmet Night" there is film footage of Basil in a shopping area where shopfronts show Torquay addresses and phone numbers.

Torquay is popular for self catering accommodation and English Riviera Holidays.

Although it has been suggested that Torquay roughly signifies "Thor's Harbor" (cognate to Tórshavn, Faroe Islands and Þórshöfn , Iceland), a more likely root is the Devonian word 'Tor', a hill or outcrop, especially common in placenames on nearby Dartmoor.

External links

• More information about Torquay
• Torquay (DMOZ.org)