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English Riviera
Torbay is a borough and unitary authority in Devon, south west England. It is governed by Torbay Council and consists of of land, including the resort towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, located on east-facing Tor Bay, part of Lyme Bay on the English Channel. A popular tourist destination, Torbay's sandy beaches, mild climate and recreational and leisure attractions have given rise to its nickname of the "English Riviera". History Human bones and tools found in Kents Cavern in Torquay show that people have inhabited the Torbay area since Paleolithic times. A maxilla fragment known as Kents Cavern 4 may be the oldest example of a modern human in Europe, dating back to 37,000–40,000 years ago. Roman soldiers are known to have visited Torquay during the period when Britannia formed a part of the Roman Empire; they left offerings at a curious rock formation in Kent's Cavern, known as "The Face". A Roman burial was discovered in 1993 in Paignton. Both Brixham and ...
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Borough Status In The United Kingdom
Borough status is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the council or inhabitants of the district. In Scotland, similarly chartered communities were known as royal burghs, although the status is no longer granted. Origins of borough status Until the local government reforms of 1973 and 1974, boroughs were towns possessing charters of incorporation conferring considerable powers, and were governed by a municipal corporation headed by a mayor. The corporations had been reformed by legislation beginning in 1835 (1840 in Ireland). By the time of their abolition there were three types: *County boroughs * Municipal or non-county boroughs * Rural boroughs Many of the older boroughs could trace their origin to medieval charters or were boroughs by prescription, with Saxon origins. Most of the boroughs created after 1835 were new industrial, resort ...
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Unitary Authority
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national government. Typically unitary authorities cover towns or cities which are large enough to function independently of a council or other authority. An authority can be a unit of a county or combined authority. Canada In Canada, each province creates its own system of local government, so terminology varies substantially. In certain provinces (e.g. Alberta, Nova Scotia) there is ''only'' one level of local government in that province, so no special term is used to describe the situation. British Columbia has only one such municipality, Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, which was established in 2009. In Ontario the term single-tier municipalities is used, for a similar concept. Their character varies, and while most function as cities wit ...
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Paleolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός '' palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehistoric technology. It extends from the earliest known use of stone tools by hominins,  3.3 million years ago, to the end of the Pleistocene,  11,650 cal BP. The Paleolithic Age in Europe preceded the Mesolithic Age, although the date of the transition varies geographically by several thousand years. During the Paleolithic Age, hominins grouped together in small societies such as bands and subsisted by gathering plants, fishing, and hunting or scavenging wild animals. The Paleolithic Age is characterized by the use of knapped stone tools, although at the time humans also used wood and bone tools. Other organic commodities were adapted for use as tools, incl ...
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Kents Cavern
Kents Cavern is a cave system in Torquay, Devon, England. It is notable for its archaeological and geological features. The cave system is open to the public and has been a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest since 1952 and a Scheduled Ancient Monument since 1957. Prehistory The caverns and passages were formed in the early Pleistocene period by water action, and have been occupied by one of at least eight separate, discontinuous native populations to have inhabited the British Isles. The other key paleolithic sites in the UK are Happisburgh, Pakefield, Boxgrove, Swanscombe, Pontnewydd, Paviland, Creswell Crags and Gough's Cave. Kents Cavern 4 A prehistoric upper jawbone (maxilla) fragment was discovered in the cavern during a 1927 excavation by the Torquay Natural History Society, and named ''Kents Cavern 4.'' The specimen is on display at the Torquay Museum. In 1989 the fragment was radiocarbon dated to 36,400–34,700 years BP, but a 2011 study that dated fo ...
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English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kanaal, "The Channel"; german: Ärmelkanal, "Sleeve Channel" ( French: ''la Manche;'' also called the British Channel or simply the Channel) is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busiest shipping area in the world. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to at its narrowest in the Strait of Dover."English Channel". ''The Columbia Encyclopedia'', 2004. It is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some . The Channel was a key factor in Britain becoming a naval superpower and has been utilised by Britain as a natural ...
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Lyme Bay
Lyme Bay is an area of the English Channel off the south coast of England. The south western counties of Devon and Dorset front onto the bay. The exact definitions of the bay vary. The eastern boundary is usually taken to be Portland Bill on the Isle of Portland, but there is no consensus over the western boundary. The broadest definition places the boundary at Start Point, and therefore includes Tor Bay and Start Bay as areas within Lyme Bay. A narrow definition gives the eastern boundary as Hope's Nose headland, excluding Tor Bay and Start Bay, used for example by the Water Framework Directive definitions of waterbodies. Other definitions place the boundary somewhere between these two points, including at Dartmouth (used by the Lyme Bay West Marine Character Area) and Berry Head. Geology The east of the bay is part of a World Heritage Site, the Dorset and East Devon Coast, which is also known as the Jurassic Coast, named for its Jurassic geology. History Many of the ear ...
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Tor Bay
Tor Bay (sometimes written as Torbay) is a bay on the south-east coast of the county of Devon, England. Facing east into the English Channel, it is about wide from north to south. The settlements of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, which lie along its coastline, are known collectively as Torbay. Geology Tor Bay is bounded by outcrops of Devonian limestone forming its northern limit at Hope's Nose and its southern at Berry Head. The geology of the area is varied and complex, recognised by the 2007 designation of the English Riviera Geopark which includes all of Tor Bay's coastline. During the last glacial period, when sea level was much lower, Tor Bay was dry land, as is shown by the existence of a submerged forest in the bay. It was overwhelmed during the Flandrian transgression which started about 10,000 years ago. History Because it is sheltered from the prevailing south-westerly winds, Tor Bay has long been one of the safest refuges for shipping between Land's End and the ...
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Brixham
Brixham is a coastal town and civil parish, the smallest and southernmost of the three main population centres (the others being Paignton and Torquay) on the coast of Torbay in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. Commercial fishing and tourism are the two main industries. As of 2020 Brixham had an estimated population of 16,823. It is believed that the name Brixham originates from the personal name of an early resident, Brioc, followed by the Old English suffix, ''ham'' meaning home. The town, which is predominantly hilly, is built around a picturesque natural harbour, which in addition to leisure craft, provides anchorage for what is now one of England’s (but not the UK’s) largest remaining commercial fishing fleets. A conspicuous local tourist attraction is the permanently moored replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship ''Golden Hind''. Historically Brixham was made up of two separate communities connected only by a marshy lane. In Fishtown, in the immediate v ...
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Paignton
Paignton ( ) is a seaside town on the coast of Tor Bay in Devon, England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the borough of Torbay which was created in 1998. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paignton's population in the United Kingdom Census of 2011 was 49,021. (Word document) It has origins as a Celtic settlement and was first mentioned in 1086. It grew as a small fishing village and a new harbour was built in 1847. A railway line was opened to passengers in 1859 creating links to Torquay and London. As its population increased, it merged with the villages of Goodrington and Preston. Paignton is around north east of Plymouth and south of Exeter, and has the fourth largest population in Devon. History A Roman burial was discovered in 1993 on the Hookhills estate by a householder digging a patio. At first thought to be Neolithic, it was later radiocarbon dated to be between 230 and 390 CE. The burial is of a young woman ...
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Resort Town
A resort town, often called a resort city or resort destination, is an urban area where tourism or vacationing is the primary component of the local culture and economy. A typical resort town has one or more actual resorts in the surrounding area. Sometimes the term ''resort town'' is used simply for a locale popular among tourists. One task force in British Columbia used the definition of an incorporated or unincorporated contiguous area where the ratio of transient rooms, measured in bed units, is greater than 60% of the permanent population. Generally, tourism is the main export in a resort town economy, with most residents of the area working in the tourism or resort industry. Shops and luxury boutiques selling locally themed souvenirs, motels, and unique restaurants often proliferate the downtown areas of a resort town. In the case of the United States, resort towns were created around the late 1800s and early 1900s with the development of early town-making.Crewe, Ka ...
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South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and large towns in the region include Bath, Bristol, Bournemouth, Cheltenham, Exeter, Gloucester, Plymouth and Swindon. It is geographically the largest of the nine regions of England covering , but the third-least populous, with approximately five million residents. The region includes the West Country and much of the ancient kingdom of Wessex. It includes two entire national parks, Dartmoor and Exmoor (a small part of the New Forest is also within the region); and four World Heritage Sites: Stonehenge, the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, the Jurassic Coast and the City of Bath. The northern part of Gloucestershire, near Chipping Campden, is as close to the Scottish border as it is to the tip of Cornwall. The regi ...
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TQ Postcode Area
The TQ postcode area, also known as the Torquay postcode area,Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) is a group of fourteen postcode districts in South West England, within eleven post towns. These cover much of south Devon, including Torquay, Paignton, Newton Abbot, Brixham, Ashburton, Buckfastleigh, Dartmouth, Kingsbridge, Salcombe, South Brent, Teignmouth and Totnes. __TOC__ Coverage The approximate coverage of the postcode districts: , - ! TQ1 , TORQUAY , Torquay (centre), St Marychurch , Torbay , - ! TQ2 , TORQUAY , Torquay (west, north) , Torbay , - ! TQ3 , PAIGNTON , Paignton (north, Preston area) , Torbay , - ! TQ4 , PAIGNTON , Paignton (centre), Goodrington , Torbay , - ! TQ5 , BRIXHAM , Brixham , Torbay , - ! TQ6 , DARTMOUTH , Dartmouth , South Hams , - ! TQ7 , KINGSBRIDGE , Kingsbridge , South Hams , - ! TQ8 , SALCOMBE , Salcombe , South Hams , - ! TQ9 , TOTNES , Totnes, Dartington , South Hams , - ! TQ9 , SOUTH BRENT ...
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