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Summary

Windmill Hill Cavern, Brixham. A Palaeolithic cave and rockshelter containing animal bones and also Middle Palaeolithicand post-Palaeolithic flints. Discovered in the mid-19C with houses of that period built above.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1008681: Windmill Hill Cave, Brixham

Other References/Statuses

• Torbay HER: MTO15242

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CAVE (Middle Palaeolithic to Mesolithic - 40000 BC to 7001 BC)

Full description

Torbay HER record (SMR record). SDV361984.

Windmill Hill Cavern, Brixham - Bone Cavern on the First Edition OS County Series 1862 - was popularly known as Brixham Cavern when it operated as a tourist attraction; it has been unused since the late 1990s.. It is a series of galleries and smaller chambers, oriented NW-SE and extending some 40m into the Devonian limestone outcrop on Windmill Hill. The main entrance lies below 107 Mount Pleasant Road with subsidiary west entrances beneath Nos. 95 & 97. That below No. 107 is the only legal entrance.The galleries, of which there are 5 major ones, are up to 4.5m high; the series measures 40.5m n-s and 30m w-e.

The cave was discovered in 1858 and investigations revealed rich faunal remains associated with palaeolithic flint implements. The discovery of flint implements and extinct faunal remains in a cave earth deposit sealed beneath a stalagmite floor provided the first scientifically accepted proof of contemporaneity between humans and various extinct animal species in Britain. Over 1600 bones, some apparently split for marrow, others gnawed by animals, and 32 flints were found in the 19C excavations by Pengelly. Flints of middle Palaeolithic and post-Palaeolithic type have since been identified in the collection. The palaeolithic finds are believed to come from gravels beneath the cave earth and also from within the cave earth itself. Undisturbed deposits of the cave earth remain in both the galleries and the chambers. The Scheduled Ancient Monument includes the whole of the interior of the cave and its deposits but excludes the houses and gardens above the cave. Soil levels overlying the bedrock are also excluded although the fissures within the bedrock are included..

Systematic exploration in 1858 revealed a bed of cave-breccia with bones of extinct and recent animals together with worked flints; this deposit having been brought in by a small engulfed river at a time when the adjacent valleys were about 30m less deep than at the present time. [1] [2]

Pengelly's major report was published in 1874 which described the series of galleries and two small chambers with their five external entrances; the layers accumulated; and the numerous animal bones including bear, horse, ox, mammoth, reindeer, rhinoceros, lion, fox, hyena, roebuck and red deer totalled 1621. A list of 36 flints and where they were found is given with descriptions of some of them; also of a quartzite pebble believed to be a hammer stone. [3]

Further articles were written to clarify some misconceptions by others relating to the exploration. [4][5]

There is a general discusion in the 1906 VCH [6]; while in modern times Roe discusses the artefacts and the stratigraphy of the deposits: one "archaic looking bifacial implement" is described as possibly lower palaeolithic, and a middle palaeolithic "bout-coupe" hand axe is described and illustrated. [7] A guidebook c.1950s was produced by Eric Delderfield. [8] The collection of material from the 1874 excavation in the British Museum includes a mesolithic pick, J J Wymer's Gazetteer of Mesolithic Sites [9]. The best survey plan remains that compiled by Bristow & Bovey in Philosophical Transactions MDCCCLXXXIII [10]. An engineeing geological survey was undertaken in 1997 to ascertain the short and long-term stability.[11]

<1> Pengelly, W., 1865, Transactions of the Devonshire Association, p.30-42 (Article in Serial). SDV362535.

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<2> Pengelly, W., 1867, Transactions of the Devonshire Association, p.129 (Article in Serial). SDV362539.

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<3> Pengelly, W., 1874, Transactions of the Devonshire Association, p.775-856 (Article in Serial). SDV362536.

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<4> Pengelly, W., 1875, Transactions of the Devonshire Association, p.279-282 (Article in Serial). SDV362537.

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<5> Pengelly, W., 1876, Transactions of the Devonshire Association, p.148-167 (Article in Serial). SDV362538.

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<6> Burnard, R., 1906, Victoria County History, p.341-3 (Monograph). SDV362540.

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<7> Roe, D., 1981, The Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Periods in Britain, pp. 103, 242-3, 255 (Monograph). SDV362541.

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<8> Delderfield, E., nd, The Story of Brixham Cavern (Pamphlet). SDV362542.

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<9> Wymer, J.J., 1977, Gazeteer of Mesolithic Sites, p.65 (Monograph). SDV362434.

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<10> Bristow, H W & Bovey, W, 1873, Philosophical Transactions MDCCCLXXIII, Plate XI (Report - Survey). SDV362334.

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<11> Frederick Sherrell Limited, 1997, An Engineering Geological report on Philip's cavern, Mount Pleasant Road, Brixham (* Torbay Report - Interim/Research/Specialist). SDV362343.

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Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7845 - Excavations by the Geological Society - 1858-59
• EDV7902 - An Engineering Geological Report on Philip's Cavern, Mount Pleasant Road, Brixham (Ref: 1718)

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