A HISTORY OF DEVONSHIRE 



Remains of extinct mammalia have been found in the osseous 

 fissures of Oreston ;' above a raised beach on Plymouth Hoe, 35 feet 

 above high water, perhaps washed down from fissures in the limestone ;" 

 in Cattedown Quarry, in caverns with a connecting passage, the entrance 

 to which seems to have been from above; in the Yealm Bridge Cavern,^ 

 proved to have been an hya2na den ; in Windmill Hill Cavern, Kent's 

 Cavern and Chudleigh Cave. 



Windmill Hill Cavern, Brixham (discovered in 1858), consists of a 

 series of north and south galleries, in the direction of the jointing of the 

 limestone, with an entrance about half way up the hill, at 94 feet above 

 high-water mark. The deposits in descending order consisted of : — 



Stalagmite not always present, up to over a foot in thickness. 



Reddish Cave-earth, averaging 2 to 4 feet thick, with limestone fragments and 



occasional pieces of stalagmite, probably remains of an old floor. 

 For about 40 feet from the entrance a thin peaty layer rested on the Cave-earth. 



Animal remains occurred sparingly in the stalagmites ; abundantly in the 



Cave-earth. 

 Waterworn shingle of pebbles of limestone, quartz, greenstone, grit and shale, 



2 to 6 feet thick. 



The formation of the cave is thought to have been carried on 

 simultaneously with the excavation of the valley.* 



In Kent's Cavern,^ near the entrances (which overlook the valley 

 between Anstey's Cove and Meadfoot beach) were found a layer of 

 black leaf mould, from 3 inches to i foot thick, granular stalagmite up 

 to 5 feet in thickness and below, a black band of 4 inches of charred 

 wood. Under the above. Cave-earth with angular limestone fragments 

 occurs, probably to a thickness of over 1 2 feet in places. 



An older stalagmite floor, called the crystalline stalagmite, is found 

 in parts of the cave, in places 12 feet thick and containing bones of 

 bears. Beneath this is the oldest deposit — a breccia composed of sub- 

 angular and rounded pieces of dark red grit, some quartz pebbles, and 

 very rarely small angular limestone fragments with stalagmitic coating, 

 in a sandy paste. 



Happaway and Anstey's Cove and Buckfastleigh Caves call for no 

 special reference. 



Boulders, etc. — The evidences put forward in support of the pre- 

 valence of glacial conditions prior to the formation of the raised beaches 

 are : The clay with flints on the cretaceous plain' ; the stony clays on 

 sides or bottom of submerged rock valleys ; and the occurrence on high 

 land of large boulders considered to have come from a distance. The 



^ Worth, 'The Geology of Plymouth,' Trans. Plymouth Inst. 1875, and 'The Bone Caves of 

 the Plymouth District,' ibid. 1879 > 'The Cattedown Bone Cave,' ibid. 1887-8. 



* Dr. Moore., Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1841 ; Trans, of Sects, p. 62. 

 ^ De la Beche, Report, etc. p. 414. 



* Report on the Exploration of Brixham Cave, Pnc. Roy. Soc. No. 137 (1872), and PiU. Trans 

 J873, pp. 471-572- 



« From papers by Pengelly, Joum. Plymouth Inst. 1875 ; Trans. Devon Assoc. 1882, p. 691. 

 ° Ussher, Quart. Joum. Geol. Soc. 1878, pp. 453, 456. 



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