Vol. 6$.~] ORIGIN OF THE PLATEAUS AROUND TORQUAY. 107 



than Pengelly supposed ; and it is true that on the southern slope of 

 the hill there are certain indentations or shelves between the contours 

 of 200 and 300 feet, but I believe these to be of an entirely local 

 and artificial nature. 



In the first place, they are confined to that portion of the hill 

 which faces south-east, and they consist of a succession of terraces 

 oach backed by a nearly vertical cliff of rock ; for a short distance 

 there are three such terraces, but, when traced to the north-east, one 

 merges into the other, and all of them merge into a steep slope 

 below an escarpment. Finally, at the eastern end of the hill this 

 feature also dies out, and no terraces occur on the northern or 

 western sides of the hill. 



On the Ordnance-map the word ' Entrenchments ' is engraved 

 against these terraces ; but this seems to have been a mere guess, 

 for what would be the use of cutting platforms out of solid rock on 

 a steep slope to defend a strong natural position at the top of it, 

 while leaving easy access to the plateau on the eastern flank ? It 

 seems much more likely that these steps are excavations whence 

 stone was obtained for building Daison House and Farm ; and 

 Dr. H. Humphreys, who has recently examined the locality, concurs 

 in this opinion. Daison House was built about 70 years ago, 

 before Torquay existed as a town, and when few quarries were 

 open. 



It must be remembered that, when Pengelly wrote, the sea was 

 credited with a much larger share in shaping the features of the 

 land than is admitted by modern scientific opinion. He refers, in 

 fact, approvingly to Sobert Chambers's '.Ancient Sea-Margins,' a 

 book which no modern geologist would accept as a safe guide to the 

 explanation of such features. Pengelly's own theory of the origin of 

 the perforations in the limestone also failed to find acceptance, and 

 thus his differentiation of the plateaus into three distinct levels or 

 terraces entirely breaks down. 



It is evident, therefore, that we may recur to the view which, 

 unless there was evidence to the contrary, Pengelly admitted to be 

 the most simple and natural of any, namely, that the various 

 platforms which are at rather different levels in dif- 

 ferent places are really parts of one inclined plane, 

 and were consequently formed at one and the same 

 time. In what follows I shall assume that this was the case. 



Description of the Plateaus. 



Before proceeding further, it is necessary that I should indicate 

 the hills and plateaus which seem to have been parts of this 

 originally continuous plain, and it will be convenient to begin with 

 the northern part of the area. 



The northern limit of what may be called ' the Torquay district' 

 is the range of hills which runs through Watcombe Park. From 

 the foot of this we find a platform stretching out on each side of 



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