REPORT ON THE EXPLORATION OE BRIXHAM CAVE. 
483 
III. Mr. Pexgelly’s Report on the Structure and Contents of the Cave. 
Character and Extent of the Cavern. — On the termination of the work the cavern 
was found to be comprised within a space measuring 135 feet from north to south and 
100 from east to west, to consist of a series of galleries with two small chambers, and 
to have four external entrances, one in the northern and the remaining three in the 
western slope of the hill (see Plate XLII.). 
The northern (original) entrance is that which from the beginning to the end of 
the work was used as the working entrance. It was commonly called the “Dyer’s* 
Entrance.” The photograph was taken the day before the work began (Plate XLI. 
fig. l)f. 
The galleries, which measure from 6 to 8 feet in greatest width and from 10 to 14 
feet in height, resolve themselves into two sets or systems, having strictly the same 
bearings as the joints of the Devonian rocks of the district. 
It is not intended to imply that the absolute dimensions of the cavern have been 
ascertained. Narrow ramifications probably extend very far into the hill J, and there 
is reason to believe that the cavern as it now exists is but a fragment of what it 
once was. 
Principal Branches of the Cavern. — It was found convenient to give names to the 
various divisions of the cave ; and though some of them may be considered somewhat 
fanciful, they are retained here in order to prevent confusion. 
The Reindeer Gallery (that proceeding southward from the north entrance) is 135 feet 
in length, and is divided into a northern and a southern branch by a narrow passage 15 
feet long, and varying from 15 to 18 inches wide. This part of the gallery was known 
as the Crystal Gorge, because when discovered its northern end was completely filled with 
stalactitic matter. 
The Steep Slide Hole descends somewhat spirally (from the Reindeer Gallery) at an 
angle of upwards of 40°. It gradually diminishes in width, and at the depth 40 feet 
is too narrow for working. 
Kelly s Gallery (which also branches from the same part of the Reindeer Gallery) 
is several feet wide at the entrance, contracts somewhat rapidly towards the inner end, 
and ultimately becomes a small almost vertical flue, which probably reaches the surface 
of the hill. 
* This name was given to this entrance from the circumstance that the owner of the quarry was a dyer of 
the name of Philp. We have changed this to “road” or “north” entrance as better indicating its position. 
f Hr. Pengellt says that “ the distances in the Reindeer Gallery, including those in Tables I. and IT., 
were all measured from the point where the foot of the hill met the road, i. e. the actual commencement of the 
cavern as we first knew it, i. e. the “ Dyer’s Entrance.” The photograph of the Cave represents the Reindeer 
Gallery about 22 feet south of the Dyer’s Entrance, i. e. the road.” 
t “ Some of the galleries certainly extend beyoud the points reached by the workmen, but they had become 
so very narrow as to render the work extremely toilsome ; in no instance, however, was the excavation abandoned 
until long after it had ceased to yield fossils or other objects of interest.” 
