196 KINGSBRIDGE 



has given rise to the well-known saying of the neigh- 

 bourhood, 



' Brave every shock 

 Like Thurlestone's Rock.' "* 



The noise made by the wind rushing through the archway 

 is sometimes heard many miles away, and when it is 

 perceptible at Kingsbridge it is regarded as the fore-runner 

 of storms of rain. 



" An eminent geological authority considers that the sea, 

 in the course of many centuries, has effected strange changes 

 here, and that there are manifest proofs that there was 

 once a forest where Thurlestone Sands are now. There 

 is perhaps no healthier locality in the kingdom than 

 this, owing to its enjoyment of the full, pure, bracing, 

 though comparatively warm, breeze that from the Atlantic 

 accompanies the course of the Gulf Stream, a portion of 

 which appears from the character of the shells and 

 debris frequently cast into the little bays, to flow straight 

 in here, more particularly than elsewhere, before making 

 its bend more directly eastward. 



At the mouth of the Avon, which bounds this parish 

 westward, stands Burrow Island (or Burr Island) where 

 the waves in a storm appear so grandly wild, that it is 

 reported to have been the spot chosen by the celebrated 

 marine artist, Turner, as the best he could select for the 

 study of such a scene.f 



Doubtless when modern facilities for approaching it render 

 this neighbourhood, with its picturesque valley of Buckland, 

 its fine sands and cliffs, beautiful coast scenery, its bathing 



* Morris's " Devonshire." 



f Mr. Cyrus Redding describes Turner at a pic-nic on Burr Island, watch- 

 ing the long dark Bolt, under the varying changes of a stormy day. 



