Brixham is a small town in Devon, at the southern end of Torbay, across the bay from Torquay, and is a fishing port.

The town is hilly, and built around the harbour which remains in use as a dock for fishing trawlers; in addition, it has a focal tourist attraction in the replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship the Golden Hind that is permanently moored there. In summer the Cowtown carnival is held, a reminder of when Brixham was two separate communities with only a marshy lane to connect them. Cowtown was the area on top of the hill where the farmers lived, while a mile away in the harbour was Fishtown, where the seamen lived.

Brixham is where William III of Orange landed with his Dutch army, on 5th November, 1688, during the Glorious Revolution, and many local people still have Dutch surnames, being direct descendants of soldiers in that army. A road leading from the harbour up a steep hill to where the Dutch made their camp, is still called Overgang, meaning 'transition' in Dutch.

Over the centuries the harbour has played in a part in many of conflicts that have taken place.