488 Mr. Austen on the 



Stoke on the north coast of the county ; and all the streams are thrown off on each 

 side of the line. The high inclination of the limestone of Torquay and Chapel Hill 

 is owing to this disturbance. The same direction is repeated in many places, in- 

 cluding the boundary-line of the granite, from near Oakhampton to Botter, which 

 runs parallel with it. The most striking line of depression apparently belonging to 

 this system of disturbances, crosses the county from Barnstaple on the north to the 

 broad estuary of the Exe on the south. The coast section, near the Tor Abbey 

 Sands, shows that by this disturbance beds of new red sandstone were thrown into 

 a vertical position. 



Again, before the commencement of the new red sandstone period, these older 

 strata experienced disturbances which produced an irregular outline of surface, and 

 which, even in this limited district, have a very striking parallelism. The line of 

 limestone cliff against which the new red conglomerate terminates, from Whiddon 

 to Kingskerswell, ranges due east and west, as does the ridge of highly inclined 

 limestone which protrudes through the new red conglomerate between Kingskers- 

 well and Barton, and which was evidently thrown into its present position before 

 the conglomerate strata were formed around it. The other protruding masses, as at 

 Compton, Gallowsgate, and above Stanton, indicate the very unconformable con- 

 dition of the two formations. Masses of limestone in places skirt the north and 

 south edges of the red sandstone areas, as from BuUey Barton to Bowhill, and from 

 Marldon to Wickaborough ; and the whole of this portion of the new red sandstone 

 area from Tor Moham to Bow Bridge*, as also that from Paignton to Blagdon, 

 extend from the coast inland from east to west. The horizontal or slightly inclined 

 position of these beds on the edges of the older red slates and sandstones may be 

 observed in coast-sections in Torbay. 



Further, the metamorphic rocks from the Start Point to the Bolt Head have 

 been elevated along a line due east and west, and this disturbance apparently ex- 

 tends westward to the Eddystone rock, which is mineralogically the same with that 

 at the Prawle Point. A valley corresponds to this line of crystalline rocks on the 

 north, running from Start Bay to Bigbury Bay on the west, and at both openings 

 of this valley with the sea, beds of new red conglomerate occur. 



In the north of Devon and the adjoining parts of Somerset the older strata were 

 also raised along an east and west line about the close of that period. In Morte Bay, 

 where so many curious facts are to be observed, large blocks of igneous rocks are 

 scattered over the beach, precisely at the place where the cliffs show that the strata 

 have been greatly disturbed and altered. Lundy Island is placed on a line pro- 

 longed due west from this point, and as granite here throws up similar beds, it is 



* The relative positions of the slate rocks and new red sandstone beds at this place, as seen in the load- 

 section, require an east and west fault of considerable amount. 



