Surname Index

to

The Literature of Kent's Cavern, Torquay, Prior to 1859.

by

W. Pengelly, FRS, FGS, etc.

Trans. Devon. Assoc., vol. II, Part II, (1868), pp. 469-522.

Index prepared by Michael Steer

The Paper was presented at the Association’s July 1868 Honiton meeting. This very readable paper is the first, and foundation for a five part series. Kent’s Cavern (aka Kent’s Hole) is notable for its archaeological and geological features. It is currently open to the public and has been designated a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest since 1952 and a Scheduled Ancient Monument since 1957. The Cavern is first recorded as Kents Hole Close on a 1659 deed when the land was leased to John Black. The earliest evidence of its exploration in historic times are two inscriptions, "William Petre 1571" and "Robert Hedges 1688" engraved on stalagmites. Thomas Northmore made the first recorded excavation in 1824. His work attracted the attention of William Buckland, the first Reader in Geology at Oxford University, who sent a party including Rev Mr John MacEnery to explore the caves, searching for evidence that Mithras was once worshipped in the area. MacEnery, the Roman Catholic chaplain at Torre Abbey, conducted systematic excavations between 1824 and 1829. When he reported to the British Association the discovery of flint tools below the stalagmites on the cave floor, his work was derided as contrary to Bishop James Ussher's Biblical chronology dating the Creation to 4004 BC. In September 1845 the recently created Torquay Natural History Society requested permission from Sir Lawrence Palk the property owner, to explore the caves to obtain fossils and artefacts for the planned Torquay Museum, and as a result Edward Vivian and William Pengelly were allowed to conduct excavations between 1846 and 1858. Vivian reported to the Geological Society in 1847, but at the time, it was generally believed that early humans had entered the caves long after the formation of the cave structures they examined. This belief changed when in the Autumn of 1859, following the work of Pengelly at the Brixham Cavern and of Jacques de Perthes in France, the Royal Society, the Society of Antiquaries, and the British Association agreed that the excavations had established the antiquity of humanity. In 1865 the British Association created a committee, led by Pengelly, to fully explore the cave system over the course of 15 years. Pengelly's party discovered Robert Hedges' stalagmite inscription, and from the stalagmite's growth since that time deduced that human-created artefacts found under the formation could be half a million years old. Pengelly plotted the position of every bone, flint, and other artefact he discovered during the excavations, and afterward continued working with the Torquay Natural History Society until his death in 1892 at his home less than 2 km from the caves. The present Paper, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.