CAPSTONE HILL. 159 



CAPSTONE HILL. 



The favorite promenade of visitors to Ilfracombe is 

 on the side of Capstone Hill. The little town is 

 built in a valley, that runs for awhile parallel to the 

 sea, a range of hills rising like a w^all between it and 

 the rocky coast, and thus sheltering it from the fierce 

 cold breezes from the north and north-west, that pre- 

 vail so greatly here, especially in winter. The newer 

 parts of the town are arranged on the landward slope 

 of the valley, forming handsome terraces on its steep 

 side, and commanding those fine views of the sea that 

 are so much admired over the seaward range of hills. 



In this range there is but one interruption, but one 

 natural way of access to the shore. For the hills, 

 though they present inviting verdant slopes on the 

 valley side, are externally the most abrupt and rugged 

 precipices, being cut down, as it w^ere, perpendicularly 

 from their very summits to the w^ash of the tide. At 

 one point, however, there is an exception to the con- 

 tinuity, where a little brook, finding its way to the 

 sea, forms a narrow cove. 



The bounding hill-range, which on the left of the 

 cove attains no great elevation, rises on the right into 

 a large, somewhat conical hill, known as the Cap- 

 stone. It is an enormous mass of shale, in some 

 parts very friable and rotten ; in others more com- 

 pact, wdth occasional narrow veins of wdiite quartz 

 running through it. The upper and inner portions 

 are covered with turf, and afi*ord pasturage for a few 

 sure-footed sheep that hang and climb with uncon- 



