Twillingate / Notre Dame Bay / Twillingate Islands /
Town

Phone : (709) 884-2438
Your Host(s) : Municipality

Twillingate, NL (Nearby: Crow Head, Summerford, Cottlesville, Comfort Cove-Newstead, Baytona)

  • Notre Dame Bay

P.O. Box 220
Twillingate, A0G 4M0


Newfoundland Tourism Region : Central


NOTRE DAME BAY: The following from the ENL, gives an apt description of the enormity of this bay, particularly in terms of is width: Notre Dame Bay is a broad bay of the northeast coast, its shoreline deeply indented and the most irregular of any of Newfoundland's major bays.

While the Bay's inner reaches (many of them also designated bays) are well-sheltered and thickly forested its headland and island fishing communities are exposed to the North Atlantic.

The northwestern headland of the Bay is Cape St. John (locally Cape John), but there is no general agreement as to which headland forms the eastern extremity of the Bay.

While in some usages the Bay extends east to Cape Freels, other common usages regard the eastern extremity to be either Long Point (Twillingate) or Fogo Head delineations which put Fogo Island, Sir Charles Hamilton Sound [see Hamilton Sound below] and the Straight Shore outside the Bay.

The Sailing Directions: Newfoundland (1956) also excludes these areas from Notre Dame Bay, which is defined as lying between Cape St. John and Farewell Head at the tip of the Port Albert Peninsula.

The most westerly part of the Bay is Green Bay. The next major inlet to the east is Little Bay, with Little Bay Islands lying offshore. Next is Halls Bay, with a cluster of large islands off its eastern headland, including Sunday Cove Island, Pilley's Island, Long Island and Triton Island.

South of these islands there are two small bays, which were uninhabited in 1992: Badger Bay and Seal Bay; then a series of arms collectively known as New Bay.

The other major "inner" bay is the Bay of Exploits, in which there are numerous islands and which extends far inland to the mouth of Newfoundland's longest river, the Exploits.....

Some historians suggest that Portuguese explorer Gaspar Corte-Real was the European "discoverer" of Notre Dame Bay and that it was he who applied the name Green Bay (baia verde) to all of what was later known as Notre Dame Bay.

The French were the first European nation systematically to exploit the cod fishery of the outer Bay.

In 1534 Jacques Cartier visited Fogo and crossed the Bay, marking the beginning of a French migratory fishery centred on the harbours of Fogo and "Toulinguet".... While Notre Dame Bay was included within the French Shore from 1713 to 1783, the French did not effectively enforce their monopoly south of Cape St. John during this time.

It is notable that despite the French name ("bay of our Lady") of the Bay there are fewer toponyms of French origin in "Noter Dame" Bay than anywhere else along the Newfoundland coastline, the most notable exception being Twillingate.

It was Twillingate Harbour (and, to a lesser extent, Fogo) that was the base for the expansion of the English West Country fishery, and eventually settlement, into Notre Dame Bay.

Despite the Bay's coming within the boundaries of the French Shore in 1713, by 1732 there were English migratory fishermen frequenting Twillingate and it was estimated that there were 143 English wintering there in 1738.

Not only is the bay wide (55 miles or 90 km in width), it also as mentioned above very indented. From west to east the following are some of the larger bays (i.c., within the bay): Green Bay. Little Bay, Halls Bay, Badger Bay, Seal Bay, New Bay and the Bay of Exploits.

As well, there are a myriad of towns, several of which have already mentioned or will be mentioned in upcoming chapters, particularly in reference to the derivation of their place names, and so will not be repeated.

There are also as many as 350 islands, many so small they do not appear on maps of today, however, some of the major ones include (from west to east) Little Bay Islands, Pilley's Island, New World Island, and Fogo Island.

It has been estimated that the total area of the bay is 6, 000 km2 or 2,316.6 mi2.

TWILLINGATE ISLANDS: The Twillingate Islands consist primarily of two islands, North Twillingate Island and South Twillingate Island, however there are a number of smaller islands which lie in close proximity to those, the largest of those is Burnt Island which are included in the "set".

The southern island is connected to New World Island via a causeway.

The northern island is connected to the southern island by Tickle Bridge, which runs along Main Street in the town.

The actual town of Twillingate is located on both islands. Twillingate Islands (North and South Twillingate Islands) and the community of Twillingate, without a doubt, derived their names from couple of landmarks, the Pointe du Toulinguet and the Toulinguet Islands, both near Brest, France.

According to lore, the name was chosen by French fishermen, as far back as the late 1500s or early 1600s because of the "striking resemblance" to the area in France from which they came.

Often referred to as "the Capital of the North" (and more recently the "Iceberg Capital of the World"), the town was historically important as it was, according to ENL contributors, the "major mercantile and service centre" for much of the north shore of Newfoundland and an "important centre for the northern migratory fisheries on the French shore and the Labrador Coast".

In the early 1700s, the Toulinquet came under English control and the town name was "anglicized" by English settlers, who were unable to speak or read the French language. Most of them were believed to have come from the West Country in England, hence Toulinguet became Twillingate!

Twillingate: According to the town's website, the Town was incorporated on September 30, 1965 and according to Wikipedia contributors, it now includes the communities of Back Harbour, Bayview, Durrell, Gillard's Cove, Jenkins Cove, Manuel's Cove, Northside, Southside, Robin's Cove, and Wild Cove.

The most recent census (2016) showed that there were 2196 residents in the census "subdivision" of Twillingate (which includes all the communities listed above), a slight decrease (3.2%) from the 2011 high of 2,269.

Finding out "why" the area in Newfoundland became known as "Toulinguel' or "Toulinquer" was easy to find out, but "why" the area in France was given the name "Toulinguet" was much more difficult.

It is known that the area was given that name far back as the mid 17th century (or before) and that a fort was built on the promontory on the Pointe du Toulinguet in 1695 and that in 1812 Napoléon 1" built a tower there.

David Clarke's article in The Telegram, dated Oct. 4, 2018, entitled "David Clarke: What's in a name?" provided the first source of information that had some relevancy.

Referring specifically to the town of Twillingate he wrote: "While it is known to have derived from the word, Toulinguet, the exact origin of the term is debated".

Citing work of the well-respected Archbishop Michael Howley, he suggested that Howley "discounted an old theory that the term meant "all tongued," in reference to many points of land sticking out into its harbour".

Rather, it was his theory was that "Toulinguet was a well-known Breton, or Basque, surname".

The possibility of it meaning "all tongued" was the first reference to a possible "translation" of the French word, even though many sources were inspected to find the word being used in French for any other reason that the name of the island/promontory in France.

Similarly, the reference to it being a "Basque surname" was a first, even though a number of "ancestry" website has been examined for clues to its origin.

In fact, the only reference at all to a person by the name of "Toulinguet" or "Toulinquet" was on the Canadian Friends of Hydrography website where the following notation was included: 1877-81 as a Nav. Lt., survey C. St. John-Toulinguet - under Maxwell (chart BA 285).

All attempts to follow-up on this "link" proved to be futile.

Used with permission from "Uncovering the Origin of 1001 Unique Place Names in Newfoundland and Labrador" 2021 Jennifer Leigh Hill

Address of this page: http://nl.ruralroutes.com/Twillingate



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  • Georgina Ann Stirling (1867 - 1935)

  • One of Twillingate's most famous citizens was Georgina Ann Stirling (1867 - 1935).

    She was a world famous opera singer (Newfoundland's first) who went by the stage name of Marie Toulinquet and became a world-renowned Prima donna soprano that played in opera houses throughout Europe, the United States as well as a number of venues in Canada, including Methodist College Hall and Roman Catholic Cathedral, in St John's.

    Over time, as her fame spread, she was given the nickname of the "Nightingale of the North". According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, vocal problems cut short her career and her last professional appearance was at St. John's in 1904.

    Twenty-nine years after her death a monument was placed over her previously unmarked grave in the Anglican Cemetery in Twillingate.


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