154 Henry Deivey — Raised Beach of North Devon. 



III. — The Raised Beach of ]^orth Devon: its relation to others 

 AND TO Paleolithic Man. 



" By Henry Dewey, F.G.S., H.M. Geological Survey. 



WHILE mapping the Upper Devonian and Carboniferous Rocks in 

 North Devon I took the opportunity of examining the raised 

 beach of Barnstaple Bay and the deposits resting upon it. As a result 

 of my observations I found that the sequence of these deposits is 

 identical bed for bed with that of Cornwall, South Wales, and 

 Southern Ireland, except that in place of the Boulder-clay there is in 

 North Devon a bed of clay with striated stones which may not be of 

 glacial origin. The position of the Boulder-clay over the ancient head, 

 however, corresponds with the position of the bed of glaciated stones 

 and indicates the infra-Glacial age of the ' head '. The fact that the 

 'head' is contemporaneous with ' Coorabe Rock' has been held by 

 all geologists familiar with the subject. It is a fact of first-class 

 importance with regard to the relationship of man to the Glacial 

 period, for it proves that man existed before these Boulder-clays 

 were deposited. The evidence is inferential and supplied by the 

 occurrence of Palaeolithic implements of Le Moustier type in the 

 Coombe Rock of Southern England and France. Granting, then, that 

 the Le Moustier period is infra-Glacial, it remains to be seen to what 

 Palaeolithic period the raised beach belongs. We will proceed to 

 consider the evidence available up to date, commencing with a brief 

 account of the raised beach of North Devon. 



North Devon. 



From Morthoe to AVestward Ho the raised beach can be recognized, 

 intermittently notching the cliffs and forming a shelf some ten to 

 fifteen feet above sea- level. It also extends inland as a ilat terrace 

 to Croyde village, and up the valley of the Taw towards Barnstaple. 

 It has formed the subject of many contributions to geological literature, 

 and a detailed account is therefore not required. A few localities 

 will be selected where the sequence of deposits is well exposed, and 

 short accounts of these will be given. 



Between Croyde Sand and Sauntou Down it is especially clear. In 

 a road cutting and cliff sections in front of Down End House the 

 sequence is readily recognized. The raised beach lies on a shelf and 

 is covered by a variable thickness of current-bedded sand. Lying on 

 this sand is a deposit of ' head ' with a bed of large rounded stones 

 resting on it, the top of this bed being 65 feet above O.D. The sands 

 consist of alternate layers of hard and soft rock, the hard rock 

 forming cornices with hollows beneath whence the soft sand has been 

 eroded. The sand is shelly, containing numerous flakes and fragments 

 and some whole tests of moUusca. Prestwich collected the following 

 species ' : Helix virgata, Da Costa, H. cantiana, Mont., Bulimus 

 ventricosus, Drap., and quotes Gwyn Jeffreys, who remarks, " The 

 Balimns is a South European species, its most northern habitat being 

 the south-west coast of France. The Helices are of species still 

 living in the district." The fauna is warm temperate. The raised 



' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xlviii, p. 284, 1892. 



