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BRIXHAM

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 619 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BRIXHAM , a seaport and See also:

market See also:town in the See also:Torquay See also:parliamentary See also:division of See also:Devonshire, See also:England, 33 M. S. of See also:Exeter, on a See also:branch of the See also:Great Western railway. Pop. of See also:urban See also:district (1901) 8092. The town is irregularly built on the cliffs to the See also:south of Torbay, and its See also:harbour is sheltered by a See also:breakwater. See also:Early in the 19th See also:century it was an important military See also:post, with fortified See also:barracks on See also:Berry See also:Head. It is the headquarters of the Devonshire See also:sea-See also:fisheries, having also a large See also:coasting See also:trade. See also:Shipbuilding and the manufacture of See also:ropes, paint and sails are See also:industries. There is excellent bathing, and Brixham is in favour as a seaside resort. St See also:Mary's, the ancit See also:parish See also:church, has an elaborate 14th-century See also:font and some nonuments of See also:interest. At the See also:British See also:Seamen's Orphans' See also:home boys are fed, clothed and trained as apprentices for the See also:merchant service. A statue commemorates the landing, in 1680, of See also:William of See also:Orange. Brixham See also:Cave, called also See also:Windmill See also:Hill Cavern, is a well-known ossiferous cave situated near Brixham, on the brow of a hill composed of Devonian See also:limestone.

It was discovered by See also:

chance in 1858, having been until then hermetically sealed by a See also:mass of limestone See also:breccia. Dr See also:Hugh See also:Falconer with the assistance of a See also:committee of geologists excavated it. The See also:succession of beds in descending See also:order is as follows:—(1) See also:Shingle consisting of pebbles of limestone, See also:slate and other See also:local rocks, with fragments of stalagmite and containing a few bones and worked flints. The thickness varies from five to sixteen feet. (2) Red cave See also:earth with angular fragments of limestone, bones and worked flints, and having a thickness of 3 to 4 ft. (3) Remnants (in situ) of an old stalagmitic See also:floor about nine inches thick. (4) See also:Black peaty See also:soil varying in thickness, the maximum being about a See also:foot. (5) Angular debris fallen from above varying in thickness from one to ten feet. (o) Stalagmite with a few bones and antlers of See also:reindeer, the thickness varying from one to fifteen inches. Of particular interest is the presence of patches or ledges of an old stalagmitic floor, three to four feet above the See also:present floor. On the under-See also:side, there are found attached fragments of See also:lime-See also:stone and See also:quartz, showing that the shingle See also:bed once extended up to it, and that it then formed the See also:original floor. The shingle therefore stood some feet higher than it does now, and it is supposed that a See also:shock or See also:jar, such as that of an See also:earthquake, See also:broke up the stalagmite, and the pebbles and See also:sand composing the shingle sunk deeper into the fissures in the limestone.

This addition to the See also:

size of the cave was partially filled up by the cave earth. At a later See also:period the fall of angular fragments at the entrance finally closed the cave, and it ceased to be accessible except to a few burrowing animals, whose remains are found above the second and newer stalagmite floor. The See also:fauna of Brixham cavern closely resembles that of See also:Kent's Hole. The bones of the See also:bear, See also:horse, See also:rhinoceros, See also:lion, See also:elephant, See also:hyena and of many birds and small rodents were unearthed. Altogether 1621 bones, nearly all broken and gnawed, were found; of these 691 belonged to birds and small rodents of more See also:recent times. The implements are of a roughly-chipped type resembling those of the See also:Mousterian period. From these structural and palaeontological evidences, geologists suppose that the formation of the cave was carried on simultaneously with the excavation of the valley; that the small streams, flowing down the upper ramifications of the valley, entered the western opening of the cave, and traversing the fissures in the limestone, escaped by the See also:lower openings in the See also:chief valley; and that the rounded pebbles found in the shingle bed were carried in by these streams. It would be only at times of drought that the cave was frequented by animals, a theory which explains the small quantity of See also:animal remains in the shingle. The implements of See also:man are relatively more See also:common, seventeen chipped flints having been found. As the excavation of the valley proceeded, the level of the stream was lowered and its course diverted; the cave consequently became drier and was far more frequently inhabited by predatory animals. It was now essentially an animal den, the occasional visits of man being indicated by the rare occurrence of See also:flint-implements. Finally, the cave became a resort of bears; the remains of 354 specimens, in all stages of growth, including even sucking cubs, being discovered.

See See also:

Sir See also:Joseph See also:Prestwich, See also:Geology (1888); Sir See also:John See also:Evans, See also:Ancient Stone Implements of Great See also:Britain, p. 512; See also:Report on the Cave, Phil. Trans. (Royal Society, 1873).

End of Article: BRIXHAM

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