OLD SEA-BEACHES AT TEIGIfMOUTH. 99 



and a sewer is carried along Wellington Street to Eegent Place ; 

 these are the chief places that will be noticed. Spring-tides rise 

 13 feet above low water. 



In Somerset Place the surface is 15 feet above sea-level at low 



water ; the cutting was 9 feet deep, and many sheUs, mostly much 



worn, occurred at the bottom in dark loamy sand ; these were overlain 



by brown sandy gravel 2 feet, hght brown sand 18 inches, brown 



sandy gravel with smaU stones at the top 2 feet, and above clay 



and earth ; a similar deposit was found at the south-western end 



of Bank Street. The shells found were Bucciniim undatum, 



Turritella terehra, ^^assa reticulata, Purpura lapillus, Patella vulgata, 



Ostrea eclulis, the same with Earnacles, Solen siliqua, Mactra 



stultorum, Gardium tuhercidatum, C. edule, Scroh'wularia piperata. 



This deposit is apparently confined to the south-west of the Tame 



rivulet. I had not an opportunity of seeing where this deposit 



ceases and the following gravels begin ; but the distance is very 



short. A few shells were found in the sand at the depth of 7 feet at 



the junction of Brunswick Street and Carlton Place ; but the well of 



the Club, a few yards to the east of this place, passes through 15 feet 



of fine gravel without shells. The cuttings in Den Street and at 



the back of the Queen's Hotel are through sand without shells ; 



but at the southern angle of the Triangle a few bivalves occurred in 



sand at the depth of 8 feet. At the meeting of Den Street, Orchard 



Gardens, and Bank Street the cutting was through 7 feet of gravel 



without sheUs. In Wellington Street, the continuation of Bank 



Street, a few shells were found, and a little further to the north-east 



they were found in Triangle Place, and thence through Eegent 



Street to the sea-wall. The following shells were found in these 



cuttings : — Littorina litorea, Patella vulgata, Mactra stultorum, 



Scrohicularia piperata, Lutraria elliptica, Ostrea edidis (one of these 



shells contained a pearl), Cardium edule, Mytilus eclulis. The 



Littorina litorea was only found in two places. 



The line of cutting shows three deposits of sand and gravel. The 

 first extends from the mouth of the Tame nearly, if not quite, to the 

 Trias in Orchard Gardens, and consists of a bed of rolled sheUs in 

 compact loamy sand overlain by beds of sand and gravel ; the second 

 is of fine sand hke sea-sand, and reaches to the Triangle ; the third 

 extends to the sea-wall, and contains shells which, with one excep- 

 tion, are delicate bivalves ; these occur near the bottom of the cutting, 

 and the sand did not appear to be divided into beds or layers. 



The recent superficial changes will be noticed hereafter. A 

 deposit of fine sand similar to that cut through in Den Street seems 

 to have covered most of the district here mentioned, except Somerset 

 Place ; it occurs in the Triangle-cuttings, at the Club, in the found- 

 ations of the Baths and Market, and elsewhere. It is probable that 

 the deposit in Somerset Place, which must have been gradually 

 formed, was part of the oldest sea-board with which we are here 

 acquainted, and that this had been partly carried away by some 

 storm in days long ago ; that the light sands in the Triangle, with 

 shells, were deposited at a later date ; and these shells are so very 

 perfect and tender that this must have taken place in a calm sea. 



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