Tor Mohun

Tor Mohun (formerly Tor Brewer) is an historic manor and parish on the south coast of Devon, now superseded by the Victorian sea-side resort of Torquay and known as Tormohun, an area within that town. In 1876 the Local Board of Health obtained the sanction of Government to alter the name of the district from Tormoham (sic) to Torquay. Although from the 19th century onwards many churches have been built in the expanding modern town of Torquay, the ancient Church of St Saviour, the parish church of Tor Mohun, survives, situated on Tor Church Road, but today serving as the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Andrew. It contains several monuments, most notably to Thomas Ridgeway (1543–1598) of Torwood House, lord of the manor of Tor Mohun, and of the Cary families of Torre Abbey, situated a few hundred yards south-west of the church, and of Cockington Court, situated 1 1/4 miles west of the church, both within the parish.

The manor of TORRE is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as held in-chief and in demesne by Willelmus Hostiarius ("William the Usher"), a servant of King William the Conqueror and one of the minor Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of that king. He also held from the king in Devon the manors of Taw Green, Raddon, Bolham, Ilsham and Mariansleigh.

The manor subsequently became known as Tor Brewer when held by William Brewer, 1st Baron Brewer (died 1226). In 1196 he gave part of the manor's land for the founding of Torre Abbey, a monastery for Premonstratensian canons. The partially-ruined Abbey buildings, with Georgian mansion house attached, survive a few hundred yards to the south-west of St Saviour's Church, on the seafront of Tor Bay, today the Riviera of Torquay. The two estates of Tor Mohun and Torre Abbey remained apart until shortly after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century and were once again parted in the 17th century (see below). Both parts were finally redeveloped in unison by their several owners to create the Victorian seaside town and resort of Torquay. Since Brewer's only surviving son died childless, his eventual heirs became his daughters, the fourth of whom, Alice married (as her first husband) Reginald de Mohun (1185–1213)feudal baron of Dunster, of Dunster Castle in Somerset. She brought him a great estate, and "is set down among the benefactors to the new Cathedral Church of Salisbury, having contributed thereto all the marble necessary for the building thereof for twelve years."

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