Torpoint

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Torpoint
Torpoint War Memorial - geograph.org.uk - 72337.jpg
The Ellis Memorial in memory of James B. Ellis a Torpoint man who drowned in July 1897 trying to save two boys from the river Tamar.
Cornwall UK mainland location map.svg
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Torpoint
Location within Cornwall
Population7,444 (Parish, 2021) [1]
7,160 (Built up area, 2021) [2]
OS grid reference SX438552
Civil parish
  • Torpoint
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town TORPOINT
Postcode district PL11
Dialling code 01752
Police Devon and Cornwall
Fire Cornwall
Ambulance South Western
UK Parliament
Website http://www.torpointtowncouncil.gov.uk
List of places
UK
England
Cornwall
50°22′34″N4°12′18″W / 50.376°N 4.205°W / 50.376; -4.205

Torpoint (Cornish : Penntorr [3] ) is a town and civil parish on the Rame Peninsula in southeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated opposite the city of Plymouth across the Hamoaze which is the tidal estuary of the River Tamar. [4] At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 7,444 and the built up area had a population of 7,160.

Contents

Torpoint is linked to Plymouth (and Devonport) by the Torpoint Ferry. The three vessels that operate the service are chain ferries – that is, they are propelled across the river by pulling themselves on fixed chains which lie across the bed of the river. The journey takes about seven minutes.

Origin of name

It is said that Torpoint's name is derived from Tar Point, a name given because of the initial industry on the west bank of the Hamoaze. However this is actually a nickname given by workers, Torpoint meaning "rocky headland". [5]

History

Torpoint is an eighteenth-century planned town. The grid-based design for the town was commissioned by Reginald Pole Carew in the Parish of Antony in 1774. His family continue to have a strong influence in the area, having become the Carew Poles in the twentieth century, and still reside at their family seat, Antony House.

In 1796 Torpoint was the setting for a shooting battle between the crew of a government vessel, the Viper, and a large party of armed liquor smugglers, in which one person was killed and five people seriously wounded. [6]

Due to the presence of Devonport Dockyard, the town grew as Dockyard workers settled there. The establishment of the Royal Navy's main training facility, HMS Raleigh also increased the population of Torpoint. [7]

Parish churches

Torpoint has four parish churches known at "Maryfield Church", "Torpoint Cornerstone Church" , "Catholic Church of Saint Joan of Arc" and "St James Church"

Notable people from Torpoint

John Langdon Down ca. 1870 Portrait of John Langdon Down (c 1870) by Sydney Hodges.jpg
John Langdon Down ca. 1870

See also Category:People from Torpoint

Sport

Education

Educational institutions in Torpoint include: [10]

Governance

Council Hall, corner of York Road and Buller Road (built 1904 as United Methodist Church) York Rd - geograph.org.uk - 5186521.jpg
Council Hall, corner of York Road and Buller Road (built 1904 as United Methodist Church)

There are two tiers of local government covering Torpoint, at parish (town) and unitary authority level: Torpoint Town Council and Cornwall Council. The town council meets at the Council Hall at the corner of York Road and Buller Road and has its offices in an adjoining pair of converted houses at 1-3 Buller Road. [11]

Administrative history

Torpoint historically formed part of the ancient parish of Antony in the East Wivelshire Hundred of Cornwall. [12]

Torpoint was made a separate ecclesiastical parish from Antony in 1873, although it remained part of Antony for civil purposes until 1904. [13] When elected parish and district councils were created under the Local Government Act 1894, Antony was given a parish council and included in the St Germans Rural District. [12] The first chairman of Antony Parish Council was Joseph Shepheard of Torpoint. [14]

In 1904 Torpoint was removed from the civil parish of Antony and the St Germans Rural District to become its own urban district. [13] In 1933 Torpoint Urban District Council bought the former United Methodist Church (built 1904) at the corner of York Road and Buller Road and converted it to serve as its meeting place and a public hall, renaming it the Council Hall. [15] [16] The building was formally re-opened in its new role in November 1934. [17] The council built itself offices adjoining the Council Hall in 1937. [16]

Torpoint Urban District was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. [18] The area became part of the new Caradon district. [19] [20] A successor parish called Torpoint was created at the same time, covering the area of the abolished urban district. [21] As part of the 1974 reforms, parish councils were given the right to declare their parishes to be a town, allowing them to take the title of town council and giving the title of mayor to the council's chairperson. [22] The new parish council for Torpoint exercised this right, taking the name Torpoint Town Council. Ron Widdecombe was the first mayor. [16]

Caradon district was abolished in 2009. Cornwall County Council then took on district-level functions, making it a unitary authority, and was renamed Cornwall Council. [23] [24]

Sport and leisure

Torpoint has a non-league football club, Torpoint Athletic F.C., which plays at The Mill.

Cornish wrestling

Cornish wrestling tournaments, for prizes, were held in Torpoint in the 1700s. [25]

Twinning

Torpoint is twinned with Benodet (Benoded) in Brittany, France. [26]

Town Events and Holidays

Freedom of Torpoint march [27]

St Piran's day [28]

Armed Forces Day [29]

Commonwealth Day [30]

Day of Accession Council and Principal Proclamation [31]

Merchant Navy Day [32]

St George's Day [33]

Christmas Lights Switch On [34]

Civic Service [35]

References

  1. ↑ "2021 Census Parish Profiles". NOMIS. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 31 March 2025. (To get individual parish data, use the query function on table PP002.)
  2. ↑ "Towns and cities, characteristics of built-up areas, England and Wales: Census 2021". Census 2021. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  3. ↑ "List of Place-names agreed by the MAGA Signage Panel" (PDF). Cornish Language Partnership. May 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  4. ↑ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 201 Plymouth & Launceston ISBN   978-0-319-23146-3
  5. ↑ Mills, A. D. (1996). The Popular Dictionary of English Place-names. Parragon Book Service Ltd and Magpie Books. p. 332. ISBN   0-7525-1851-8.
  6. ↑ Codd, Daniel. Paranormal Devon (2013). Amberley Publishing. p.9-10. ISBN   9781848681668.
  7. ↑ "History of Torpoint". Torpoint Town Council. Retrieved 16 December 2011.+[ permanent dead link ]
  8. ↑ Boase, George Clement. "Condy, Nicholas"  . Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 12. p. 5.
  9. ↑ Courtney, William Prideaux. "Coulson, Walter"  . Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 12. pp. 325–326.
  10. ↑ "Education". Torpoint Town Council. Retrieved 16 December 2011.[ permanent dead link ]
  11. ↑ "Council meetings". Torpoint Town Council. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  12. 1 2 "Antony Parish". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  13. 1 2 Kelly's Directory of Cornwall. 1914. p. 343. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  14. ↑ "Antony". Western Morning News. Plymouth. 23 February 1895. p. 6. Retrieved 14 September 2025. Mr Joseph Shepheard JP... the first chairman of the Antony Parish Council...
  15. ↑ "Methodist Church as offices: Torpoint Council negotiations". Western Morning News. Plymouth. 4 February 1933. p. 10. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  16. 1 2 3 "History of Torpoint". Torpoint Town Council. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  17. ↑ "Silver key ceremony at new Council Hall". Western Morning News. Plymouth. 2 November 2025. p. 7. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  18. ↑ "Torpoint Urban District". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  19. ↑ "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 1972/2039, retrieved 3 March 2023
  20. ↑ "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 1973/551, retrieved 3 March 2023
  21. ↑ "The Local Government (Successor Parishes) Order 1973", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 1973/1110, retrieved 31 August 2025
  22. ↑ "Local Government Act 1972: Section 245", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, 1972 c. 70 (s. 245), retrieved 13 April 2024
  23. ↑ "The Cornwall (Structural Change) Order 2008", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 2008/491, retrieved 19 February 2024
  24. ↑ "The Local Government (Structural Changes) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Other Provision) Order 2009: Article 3", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 2009/837 (art. 3)
  25. ↑ Tripp, Michael: PERSISTENCE OF DIFFERENCE: A HISTORY OF CORNISH WRESTLING, University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2009, Vol I p2-217.
  26. ↑ "About Us". Torpoint & District Twinning Association. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  27. ↑ Freedom of Torpoint Parade 2023 , retrieved 22 February 2024
  28. ↑ "Torpoint Town Council - Happy St Piran's Day everyone. Proud to fly the flag at Sparrow Park. Enjoy your socially distanced pasties and scones....... don't forget jam first..... on the scones not the pasties!😂😋 ❤️ | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  29. ↑ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  30. ↑ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  31. ↑ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  32. ↑ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  33. ↑ "Torpoint Town Council - Happy St George's Day! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  34. ↑ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  35. ↑ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
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