456 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
ON A SECOND NEW BONE CAVERN RECENTLY DISCOVERED AT 
BRIXHAM, DEVONSHIRE. * 
By W. Pengellt, F.G.S. , 
About the end of last March (1861) information was brought me of the dis- 
covery, at Brixham, of a second new cavern, rich in fossil bones. I lost no time 
in visitin» it, and, at this and several subsequent visits, made myself acquainted 
with the facts which form the subject of this paper, and which, though they 
may add but little, probably nothing, to our knowledge, it is hoped may not 
prove uninteresting to the section, more especially as the district has become 
famous in its connexion with " Bone Caverns." 
The greater part of the fishing-town of Lower Brixham, or Brixham Quay, 
as it is commonly called in the neighbourhood, but wliich I shall call Brixham, 
without any qualification, occupies a valley, running nearly east and west, 
which is separated from Torbay on the north by a limestone hill, reaching the 
height of 150 feet above the sea, and known as Furzeham Common. The 
southern boundary of the valley consists of four hills, forming a chain parallel 
to Furzeham, but extending fully a mile further eastward, where it terminates 
in the promontory of Berry Head, the southern horn of Torbay. The first, 
that is, the most westerly of these hiUs is known as Parkham Common, the 
second is Windmill Hill — in the north-western angle of which the now celebrated 
cavern was discovered in 1858; the third is Heath Hill, or Common, which 
contains, near its north-eastern corner, the well-known " Ash-Hole," partially 
explored, many years ago, by the Rev. Mr. McEnery and the Rev. Mr. Lyte ; the 
fourth, that is, the most easterly hill of the chain, is that of which Berry Head 
is the almost precipitous termination. 
Considerable limestone quarries have been worked in the Torbay slope of 
Furzeham Hill; one of these, known as Bench, but a short distance from 
Brixham harbour— indeed, it is within what is legally considered to be the 
limits of the harbour— had been all but abandoned for upwards of twenty 
years ; recently, however, quarrying operations, on a limited scale, were resumed, 
and led to the discovery just named. 
\ 
Fig. 1. 
Though the axis of the hill has an almost east and west direction, its coast- 
line at Bench runs nearly west and south, and the quarry has been worked at 
right angles to this. Fig. 1 represents a vertical east and west section of the 
