346 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
level of mean tide, and from 60 to 70 feet above the bottom of the 
valley in the same vertical plane. 
Nothing is known about the discovery of the Cavern, or the origin 
of its name; but it seems to have been well known early in the 
eighteenth century, for according to a map of the property in 
which it is situate, executed in 1769, and belonging to Messrs, 
Kitson of Torquay, a portion of the Manor of Torwood was 
termed Kent’s Hole Field. In 1778 the following mention of it 
was made in the eighth edition of ‘“‘ A Tour through the Island of 
Great Britain,” to which my attention has been recently directed 
by Sir W. C. Trevelyan, Bart., r.¢.s., one of the earliest workers 
in the Cavern:—-‘‘In the parish of Tor, is a very remarkable 
place, called “ent’s Hole, not mentioned, as I can find, by the 
writers on this county [ Devonshire |, though perhaps the greatest 
natural curiosity therein,’* The work just quoted was originally 
begun by the celebrated Daniel de Foe, and was first published in 
1714. Ihave recently consulted the Ist, 2nd, and 7th editions— 
the latter published in 1769, and edited by Richardson the novelist 
—but neither of them contains any mention of Kent’s Hole. 
Judging from the articles found in the loose mould which formed 
the uppermost of the deposits it was at least occasionally visited 
throughout the entire period from pre-Roman times to the present 
day. 
The Cavern consists of two parallel ‘‘ Divisions’””—an eastern and 
a western—each containing a series of Chambers and Passages, 
and throwing off lateral branches, some of which are of consider- 
able length and very tortuous. The Divisions are united near 
their northern and at their southern ends. The connecting passage 
at the latter extremity is completely filled with various deposits, 
whilst the northern appears to have always been a comparatively 
lofty open Chamber. The Eastern Division, into which the two 
apertures or entrances directly open, and which has been completely 
explored by the Committee, is 285 feet long, 90 in greatest breadth, 
and, when measured from the bottom of the excavation made by 
the explorers, 22 feet in maximum height. The Western Division 
is probably of greater length, but its exploration is by no means 
completed. Throughout the greater part of its extent it is at a 
considerably lower level than the Eastern. 
* Op. evt., vol. i. p. 347. 
