Surname Index

to

The Literature of Kent's Cavern: Part V

by

W. Pengelly, FRS, FGS, etc.

Trans. Devon. Assoc., 1884, Vol XVI, pp. 189-434.

Index prepared by Michael Steer

Kent’s Cavern is a cave system in Torquay. It is notable for its archaeological and geological features. The cave system is open to the public and has been a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest since 1952 and a Scheduled Ancient Monument since 1957. Kents Cavern is first recorded as Kents Hole Close on a 1659 deed when the land was leased to John Black. The earliest evidence of exploration of the caves in historic times is two inscriptions, "William Petre 1571" and "Robert Hedges 1688" engraved on stalagmites. The first recorded excavation was that of Thomas Northmore in 1824. Northmore's work attracted the attention of William Buckland, the first Reader in Geology at the University of Oxford, who sent a party including John MacEnery to explore the caves in an attempt to find 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 MacEnery 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 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 examined. This 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 fifteen years.] It was Pengelly's party that 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 Literature of Kent's Cavern, Parts I. to IV, the last of which was printed in 1878 (Trans. Devon. Assoc, il 469-522, iii. 191-482, iv. 467-490, and x. 141-181), included all that had been written on the Cavern before 28th March, 1865, when a new chapter in its history was begun. The present, Part (V.) of The Literature of the Cavern consists of sixteen Reports that have been revised and abridged throughout. The article, 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.