Torpoint
| Torpoint | |||
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| Coordinates | 50 ° 23 ′ N , 4 ° 12 ′ W | ||
| OS National Grid | SX438552 | ||
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| Residents | 8364 (as of 2011) | ||
| surface | 7.99 km² (3.08 mi² ) | ||
| Population density | 1046.8 inhabitants / km² | ||
| administration | |||
| Post town | TORPOINT | ||
| ZIP code section | PL11 | ||
| prefix | 01752 | ||
| Part of the country | England | ||
| region | South West England | ||
| Ceremonial county | Cornwall | ||
| Unitary authority | Cornwall Council | ||
| British Parliament | South East Cornwall | ||
| Website: torpointtowncouncil.gov.uk | |||
Torpoint is a town in south east Cornwall in Great Britain .
geography
The city is located in the east of the Rame peninsula and is the largest city on the peninsula. It lies on the banks of the Hamoaze -called estuary of the Tamar , opposite the Devonport naval base . In the north the city borders on the mouth of the Lynher , to the south of the city lies St John's Lake , a bay of the Hamoaze, which falls dry at low tide and is an important habitat for waders and a stopover for migratory birds . To the west, the city is bordered by the parishes of Antony and Millbrook at the mouth of Millbrook Creek .
history
The Torpoint area belonged to the municipality of Antony until the 19th century. The name is first mentioned on a map in 1734 as Tarr Point . In 1745 the church books of Antony mention craftsmen from Torpoint who made repairs to the church. The settlement grew into a small settlement for workers from the nearby naval shipyard, as housing was scarce in Devonport itself and the city of Plymouth was also only accessible from Devonport by boat or ship at that time. In 1760 the settlement was connected to Liskeard by a toll road and was therefore also accessible from Cornwall. From the 1770s, Reginald Pole-Carew , who had inherited the nearby Antony House in 1771 , began planning a new town with its own small shipyard, dock and warehouse. A map from 1774 shows lime kilns , a rope factory, shops and a spinning mill. Over the next few years Torpoint developed into a small port for eastern Cornwall. However, this development was finally stopped by the customs administration, which could not or did not want to control the port.
From 1791 there was a regular ferry service to Devonport, the second ferry across the Tamar in addition to the ferry between Stonehouse and Cremyll, which had existed since the Middle Ages . With the expansion of the naval shipyard, Torpoint continued to grow and became independent from Antony in 1872 as a municipality . With the further expansion of the naval shipyard, the population increased from 2144 (1811) to 4953 (1911). In 1904 the city received the status of an urban district .
The Royal Navy’s Yonderberry fuel depot was built north of the city in 1920 . From 1940, the naval training facilities HMS Raleigh and HMS Fisgard were built next to the fuel store . This caused further population growth, but because of these naval facilities and because of its proximity to Devonport, the city was targeted by German air raids in 1941 and suffered severe damage. In 2009, the Urban Districts in Cornwall were dissolved, so that Torpoint is now directly subordinate to the Cornwall Unitary Authority .
economy
Because of its location on St John's Lake and Plymouth Sound , Torpoint has a marina popular with amateur sailors and windsurfers , but tourism hardly plays a role in the city. The ferry was the main connection between Plymouth and Cornwall until the opening of the railway bridge over the Tamar near Saltash in 1859, for vehicles it remained the only direct connection from Plymouth to Cornwall until the construction of the motorway bridge over the Tamar in 1964. The downsizing of the Royal Navy's fleet since the 1960s led to a decline in the importance of the Devonport naval base and thus to a loss of jobs. In 1983 the HMS Fisgard training facility was merged with HMS Raleigh. Torpoint continued to be the location of the HMS Raleigh training facility and the Royal Navy band, but the importance of the Navy as an employer has declined significantly.
traffic
The ferry connection over the Tamar, 450 m wide at Torpoint, to Devonport has existed since 1791. Originally, the ferry traffic was carried out with sailing or rowing boats. In 1834, a steam-powered chain ferry was installed by James Rendell , which is now the longest chain ferry in the world. The ferry, along with the Tamar motorway bridge, is operated by The Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee , a joint operation of the City of Plymouth and the County of Cornwall. The current three ferry boats Tamar II, Plym II and Lynher II have been in operation since 2005/2006 and can transport cars and pedestrians as well as trucks and buses weighing up to 20 t.
Besides the A 374, which follows the course of the old toll road to Liskeard, only Trevol Road leads via HMS Raleigh to Torpoint.
Attractions
The church of St James in the town center was built in 1819 in neo-Gothic style and has been a parish church since 1873.
sons and daughters of the town
- John Langdon-Down (1828-1896), British physician and neurologist
- Jack Stephens (* 1994), English soccer player
Web links
- City administration website
- Cornwall Guide: Torpoint Information, History, Accommodation and more
- Cornwall & Scilly Urban Survey - Historic characterization for regeneration: Torpoint (PDF; 2.8 MB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ GENUKI: Torpoint. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 27, 2011 ; Retrieved June 2, 2013 .
- ^ Torpoint Town Council: Around Torpoint. Retrieved June 2, 2013 .
- ^ Tamar Crossings. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on June 17, 2013 ; Retrieved June 2, 2013 .
- ↑ Cornish Parish Churches: Torpoint ( Memento from June 19, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )