An account of the topography, climate, and present state of the town of Torquay (Devonshire), with reference, particularly, to its suitableness as a place of residence for invalids / [John Coldstream].

  • John Coldstream
Date:
[1833]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of the topography, climate, and present state of the town of Torquay (Devonshire), with reference, particularly, to its suitableness as a place of residence for invalids / [John Coldstream]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ' 9 Berry-Head, the shores of the bay are formed by low hills of various elevations (none exceeding 500 feet), for the most part cultivated to their summits, and adorned with orchards and hedge-rows, presenting a scene of singular beauty and rich¬ ness. Landwards, from the same point of view, the horizon is bounded by the heights immediately surrounding the cove of Torquay. These heights are three in number, nearly equal in elevation, (180 to 200 feet) and similar in general features. Between them run two tortuous valleys, one towards the east, the other towards the north. It is on the shores of the cove, along the slopes of the hills, and in the gorges of the valleys, that the town is built. The three small hills rising from the sides of the cove are, in some places, steep, almost precipitous; in other places their declivities are gentle. Their summits are crowned with woods of fir, from twenty to sixty years old. That which bounds the head of the cove (Braddon Hill) is the western extremity of a great mass of high land, the highest in the neighbourhood, whose general axis lies nearly east and west, running on towards the sea-cliffs of Babbicombe and Petit Tor, between two and three miles from Torquay. The highest point of this land, (which is not more than a quarter of a mile from the shore of the cove) I guess to be elevated about 250 feet. It is under cultivation. All the hills are composed of limestone. In se¬ veral places the strata are well exposed by artificial sections. From these it appears that the general dip of the strata is to the south-west, at an angle of about 40°; but on the sea-shore the strata are almost vertical. They contain, in common with most of the limestones in this quarter, abundance of the fossil remains of madreporites, astreites, encrinites, and several shells. Immediately to the south-west of Waldon Hill, (which rises on the northwest side of the cove) a considerable extent of the shores of the bay is formed by new red sandstone, in nearly ho¬ rizontal strata; and at Meadfoot Bay, (one mile east from the cove) the limestone rests upon an argillaceous slate and old red sandstone, dipping to the south. The valleys are narrow, somewhat tortuous, and rise with a gradual ascent from the shores of the cove. That to the east terminates in an elevation of about 140 feet, nearly a mile from Torquay. The water-courses are small. There is very little marshy ground in either valley ; and, perhaps, not more than twenty acres of arable land in both. A few large trees grow in that to the east, and shelter some houses that would otherwise be much exposed to the east wind. The soil almost every where around the cove is a rich clayey loam, of the same reddish colour as that of other parts of South
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