Shiphay

Shiphay is a district in the north of Torquay. It has population of about 6,000 and is the location of two grammar schools, the District Hospital, also of Torquay’s fire station. Being mostly built-up there is little to attract the tourist, though Cockington and other attractions are within easy reach.

The name is said to be a corruption of Sheep Hedge, the original hamlet being at the boundary of the sheep rearing lands of Torre Abbey. Until after WW1 it was a small hamlet, so small that it did not even rate a mention in the Topographical Dictionary of England, 1831.

The oldest properties in the district are the thatched cottages in Water Lane, several of which had connections with smugglers. Shiphay Manor, seat of the Kitson family is described in a separate article.

One of the most poverty stricken areas of Torquay along with Chelston, Hele and Barton. Torquay makes up part of the top 10% of poverty stricken areas in the UK along with parts of Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and London.