South Devonshire Research Articles

The Relief of Poverty in Mid Nineteenth-Century Colyton

The welfare state emerged in 1948 when the National Assistance Act finally abolished the New Poor Law Forty-two years later, as politicians and bureaucrats struggle to keep increasing expenditure within bounds, the existence of the welfare state in its present form is under threat. Just over 150 years ago, the Old Poor Law was presenting parish ratepayers with a similar problem of rising costs, leading in 1834 to a fundamental reorganisation into the New Poor Law It may therefore be profitable to see how effective in practice the New Poor Law was when it replaced a system widely regarded as profligate, and to consider the extent to which benefits payable through the welfare state were available a hundred years or more ago.This study examines in detail how the New Poor Law, and other forms of relief, affected the whole population of the rural parish of Colyton, in south Devonshire, during the thirty years from 1851 to 1881. It will first describe the sources from which a poor person in Colyton in the mid nineteenth century could look for relief; next discuss how widespread poverty was and who the poor were; then look at what kinds of relief were available, under what conditions; and finally assess the comparative importance to the poor of the different agencies providing assistance.

New and interesting microfungi from Slapton, South Devonshire: Ascomycotina III

New and interesting microfungi from Slapton, South Devonshire: Ascomycotina III

New and interesting microfungi from slapton, south devonshire: Ascomycotina II

New and interesting microfungi from slapton, south devonshire: Ascomycotina II

New and interesting microfungi from Slapton, South Devonshire: Deuteromycotina III

New and interesting microfungi from Slapton, South Devonshire: Deuteromycotina III

New and interesting microfungi from Slapton, South Devonshire: Ascomycotina

New and interesting microfungi from Slapton, South Devonshire: Ascomycotina

Age of the New Red Sandstone in South Devonshire

RADIOMETRIC dating of the Exeter Volcanic Series (the Exeter Traps) recently gave ages of 279 ± 6 m.y. and 281 ± 11 m.y. for the Killerton mica-lamprophyre (minette)1 and the Dunchideock basalt2 respectively. These and other extruded masses of the Series are interbedded with breccias and sandstones of the New Red Sandstone both north and south of Exeter, and as far west as Hatherleigh; new evidence is thus provided of the age of the strata. The main intrusive event of the Dartmoor granite is dated at 295 m.y. (ref. 3), the paroxysmal phase of the Variscan Orogeny being regarded as preceding this by only a short time4. Smith5 puts the Permo-Carboniferous boundary at 280 m.y.

Sedimentary Structures and Paleocurrents in the Lower New Red Sandstone, Devonshire, England: ABSTRACT

Permo-Triassic redbeds, consisting of mainly breccias and sandstones exceeding 6,000 feet in thickness, are well exposed in coastal cliffs in South Devonshire. They are disposed in semi-circular or elongate basins or cuvettes, margined by ridges of metamorphic rocks which supplied the bulk of the detritus. The breccias show typical torrential bedding features. Low-angle cross-bedding units, festooned perpendicular to the direction of derivation, are interwoven with generally flat but lenticular beds of breccia and sandstone. Shallow channeling is common, deeper where sandstone is predominant. Mapping of pebble imbrication shows a basically centripetal transportation pattern in the cuvettes, consistent with derivations indicated by cross-bedding, channeling, and fragment composition. Roundness measurements of limestone fragments in the same rocks reveal sub-circular roundness contours increasing in value towards the cuvette centers, and approximately perpendicular to imbrication directions. All features indicate deposition on sub-montane alluvial fans in a semi-arid climate, with converg ng directions of sediment transport in semi-confined cuvettes. Sandstones in the upper part of the sequence show clear eolian cross-bedding, with wedge-shaped units and some festoon cross-beds. Attitude measurement indicates deposition by a uni-directional wind from the SSW. Interbedded breccias show truncation and channeling of dune surfaces. Quicksand injection structures occur in fine-grained silty breccias interbedded with sandstones (distal fan deposits). A saturated sand layer, sealed under an impermeable silty breccia, was mobilized and injected upward through desiccation cracks or other weak spots, forming sand dikes with elongate particles aligned parallel with the walls. Sun-cracked silt layers may show strongly upturned edges on desiccation polygons due to injection (extrusion) of quicksand, which may also be fragmented and dislocated. Annelid burrows occur in some basal breccias, mostly fine-grained. Where elongate fragments constitute the breccia, the burrow filling shows a distinct internal fabric or particle arrangement. Commonly up to one inch in diameter with circular cross section, in coarser breccias they are ovoid and up to 7 inches wide. These large burrows branch, ascend through strata, and avoid large fragments; together with the consistent meniscus fabric, these features indicate organic origin. End_of_Article - Last_Page 535------------

XXIII.—The Life Histories and Ecology of Two Species ofPetrobiusLeach,P. brevistylisandP. maritimus

SynopsisThe life history ofPetrobius brevistylisCarpenter is described from material reared in the laboratory and captured in the field (south Devonshire). A method of identifying the first eight instars is discussed and their diagnostic morphological characters described. Fecundity and time of oviposition are considered at some length. The effects of climate on various phases of the life history are considered as well as the faunas found associated withP. brevistylis. A brief description of the life history ofP. maritimus(Leach) is included.

The Origin of Red Sandstones and Conglomerates

Comments on red beds, and discusses in particular those of south Devonshire, England, previously described in an article by J. B. Scrivenor, concluding that they were deposited as alluvial fans.

The New Red Sandstone of South Devonshire

The objects of this paper are to supplement previous descriptions of the coast sections of the New Red Sandstone from Exmouth to Oddicombe, and to discuss views of the origin of the rocks as stated in the following quotation from the revised Torquay Memoir (Ussher-LIoyd, 1933, p. 105): “It is generally accepted that the lower New Red Sandstone breccias result from continental conditions, in which the extremes of temperature and recurring torrential rainfall operated on the bare slopes of a mountainous region, to produce diluvial fans, similar to those now being formed in the mountain valleys of Kashmir and Persia, The Dartmoor granite no doubt once formed an elevated dome and from this high ground, much higher and more extensive than at present, torrents flowing in a general easterly direction would produce gravelly accumulations, composed largely of the angular debris of formations then exposed. These accumulations may in part have been swept into a lake and there mixed with, or alternated with, beds of sand deposited under normal conditions; wind-borne sand may also have been blown from the desert into this lake or inland sea.” The term “diluvial fans” was introduced by Lloyd into the revised memoir, obviously without any reference to Pleistocene glacial deposits or the Deluge of Noah, as might be suspected from the use of this old word “diluvial”. “Alluvial fans” is preferred here and no evidence has been found of glacial action at any time.

Pair-Formation in Birds

Journal Article Pair-Formation in Birds Get access David Lack David Lack Totnes, South Devonshire, England Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Condor, Volume 42, Issue 6, 1 November 1940, Pages 269–286, https://doi.org/10.2307/1364160 Published: 01 November 1940

Variation in the Introduced English Sparrow

Variation in the Introduced English Sparrow Get access David Lack David Lack Totnes, South Devonshire, England Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Condor, Volume 42, Issue 5, 1 September 1940, Pages 239–241, https://doi.org/10.2307/1364483 Published: 01 September 1940

The Start-Dodman-Lizard Boundary-Zone in Relation to the Alpine Structure of Cornwall

Previous opinion sums up in favour of the continuity of the three boundaries, the entire line being one of dislocation in the east, dislocation and intrusion in the west. Previous opinion also favours the view that, inside the boundary-zone, not only are the Start-Lizard schists continuous, but they have features comparable with some of the Alpine “Schistes lustrés”, with recumbent folding at the Lizard.The boundary-zone is defined as a belt of variolite (ophiolite), exotic blocks, and serpentine intrusive in, and contemporaneous with, a great thrust.Recent work by the writer has shown that some of the beds outside the boundary-zone are a “facies flysch”. Younger beds come in towards the west, in association with the westerly pitch visible in the older beds in South Devonshire; geanticlines occur in the Lower and Middle Devonian respectively, of South Devon and South Cornwall. In an area further north some of the beds show an accumulation of folds comparable with those of the “autochthonous sedimentary” in front of some of the great Alpine nappes; recumbent folding is prevalent in both Devon and Cornwall. The Cornish Flysch was deposited under conditions such as might have preceded a great nappe movement; it is described in relation to the exotic blocks and serpentine in the fracture.The much younger Alpine Flysch also includes ophiolites and exotic blocks, with serpentine intrusive in the fractures upon which the great nappes advanced. According to some authors, the nappes arose from recumbent folds based on geanticlines.The similar direction of both the Cornish (Variscan) and the Alpine movements makes possible a comparison in certain effects as, for instance, the southward increase in albitization and metamorphism, between the great Alps and the similar but older, comparatively tiny, flattened, and denuded relic in south-west England.These cases are also strikingly paralleled by a zone of basic igneous rocks and exotic blocks which overlies the Himalayas.The evidence appears sufficient basis for the suggestion that the Start-Dodman-Lizard boundary-zone may be the relic of a great Variscan nappe, associated with the fan-structure of Cornwall.

On the Coral Genera Endophyllum Edwards and Haime and Spongophyllum Edwards and Haime

The genera Endophyllum and Spongophyllum were founded by H. M. Edwards and J. Haime (1851 p. 393 and p. 425),2 upon Devonian Corals from South Devonshire. Their descriptions of these (1851, pp. 394 and 425; 1853, pp. 233 and 242), though clear as far as they go, nevertheless leave room for further details, and their figures (1853, p1. lii, fig. 6; pl. liii, fig. 1; and p1. lvi, figs. 2, 2a–e) unfortunately do not include longitudinal sections of either of their two species of Endophyllum. Later workers on Devonian corals—C. Schlüter (1889, p. 50) and F. Frech (1885, p. 74; 1886, p. 87) have differed widely from the authors in their interpretation of the genera, and therefore a revision of the type-species is desirable.

The Devonian Rocks of South Devon

§I. I ntroduction “ In South Devonshire the rocks are greatly disturbed, broken by faults, standing at various angles, folded, and distorted ; eruptive rocks frequently cut through them, and beds of volcanic ash are interstratified with them, Hence has arisen great dispute and uncertainty as to the true order of succession of deposits, although their fossils were referred to the Devonian age nearly fifty years ago. It will be seen without comment that the South Devonshire sections, from which most of the Middle- and Lower-Devonian fossils have been obtained, are valueless for determining the order of sequence of the faunas. There are many places (I saw such near Newton-Abbot) where limestones, appearing very similar in colour and structure, and within a stone's throw of each other, hold distinct faunas. In fact, the interpretation of the order of the beds is a matter of the greatest difficulty, even when occasional fossils appear.” Here is the geology of South Devon as epitomized by Professor H. S. Williams, of Ithaca, N.Y., in a paper read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science as lately as Aug. 30, 1889. Explorations in the rocks of Devonshire gave rise to the Devonian System; explorations in France, Belgium, Germany, Russia, and North America have made us acquainted with the succession of the Devonian faunas, and the extraordinary persistence of homotaxcous horizons, such as those characterized by Stringocephalus , Rhynchonella cuboides , and Goniatites , at the same time presenting us with the varied evidences of stratigraphical succession. The

The Devonian system of North and South Devonshire [and comparison with the Devonian of the Appalachian basin

The Devonian system of North and South Devonshire [and comparison with the Devonian of the Appalachian basin

Scientific Serials

American Journal of Science, January.—Measurement of the Peruvian arc, by E. D. Preston. In this paper, which was read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science at Toronto, August 1889, the author reviews the whole question of the relative lengths of the earth's axes, dealing in detail with Bouguer's expedition to Peru in 1735, and arguing that the amplitude of his Peruvian arc may be in error by many seconds. Hence he contends that the geodetic science of to-day demands the remeasurement of this arc.—Neutralization of induction, by John Trowbridge and Samuel Sheldon. A system of neutralization for inductive disturbances is here described, which might be adopted where it is impossible to employ entire metallic circuits in which the earth plays no part.—Divergent evolution and the Darwinian theory, by Rev. John T. Gulick. The author discusses Darwin's apparently contradictory views on the causes of natural selection on the one hand, and on the other on the causes of diversity of natural selection. He concludes that, though Darwin has not recognized segregation as a necessary condition of divergence of species, he has indicated one process (geographical or local separation under different environments) by which segregation is produced in nature, adding, however, that this is not the only cause of segregation and consequent divergence.—The Devonian system of North and South Devonshire, by H. S. Williams. During a recent visit to England the author studied this system both on the spot and in the geological collections in London and elsewhere. He dwells especially, (1) on the close resemblance of the English Devonian species to those of the New York Devonian, though mostly passing under different names, and (2) on the character of the North and South Devonian rocks, which in appearance, composition, and order are as different as two distinct systems well can be.—The zinciferous clays of South-West Missouri, and a theory as to the growth of the calamine of that section, by W. H. Seamon. Full analyses are given of the so-called “tallow” and “joint” clays occurring associated and sometimes intermixed in every calamine digging in South-West Missouri. These analyses show a large percentage, often from 50 to 56, of zinc oxide, and it is inferred that at one time all the massive calamine probably existed in “tallow clays” precipitated from solutions.—On the spectrum of ζ Ursæ Majoris, by Edward C. Pickering.—Origin of normal faults, by T. Mellard Reade. Some critical remarks are offered on Prof. Le Conte's recent explanation of the origin of normal faults, which is not new, and presents many insuperable difficulties.—Papers were submitted by J. Dawson Hawkins, on a specimen of minium from Leadville; by William P. Blake, on some minerals from Arizona; by F. A. Genth, on a new occurrence of corundum in Patrick County, Virginia; by Alfred C. Lane, on the estimation of the optical angle of observations in parallel light; by L. G. Eakins, on a new stone meteorite from Texas; by Edward S. Dana, on the barium sulphate from Perkin's Mill, Templeton, Province of Quebec; and by O. C. Marsh, on some new Dinosaurian reptiles recently discovered in Wyoming, Colorado, and Dakota.

Review of the Classification of the Palæozoic Formations adopted by M. Dumont for the Geological Map of Belgium, with Reference to its Applicability to this Country

The division of the palaeozoic series adopted by M. Dumont for the beautiful Geological Map of Belgium, which he has just completed by order of the Belgian Government, must necessarily produce a change in many of the views of English geologists; since he has now worked out, by the strict evidence of superposition, the order of the formations lying between the old unfossiliferous slates of the Ardennes and the Carboniferous series, while the unconnected position of those formations in England has prevented us from ascertaining their relative ages with certainty. Having had the advantage, in company with several of our colleagues, of discussing with M. Dumont the value of his divisions and of inspecting the fossils collected from them, I hasten to bring the matter to the notice of the Society, that the valuable results of M. Dumont's labours may be made known and applied here. The following extract from M. Dumont's “Tableau des Terrains de la Belgique” contains the description of the older stratified rocks, from the Coal-measures down to the unfossiliferous slates of the Ardennes:— In the above table there are two important alterations of the views published by M. Dumont in 1830 in the well-known Memoir on the Province of Liege, which have an important bearing on our English classification. In the memoir of 1830 the Systeme quartzo-schisteux inferieur , following next below the limestone since identified with that of the Eifel and of South Devonshire, was divided into an upper division of red sandstone with conglomerate, and

XLVI. Notes on the Age of the Limestones of South Devonshire.

The reasons which induced me to assume on zoological evidence, that the limestones of Southern Devon, between Dartmoor and the coast, would prove to be of the age of the old red sandstone, not having been placed on record in a separate form, Mr. Murchison has begged me to lay before the Society a distinct notice of my claim to having been the first to propose the classification recently put forth by Professor Sedgwick and himself; and in consequence of an extension of those views to Belgium and the Boulonnais, Dr. Fitton has urged me to comply with the request. In the memoirs† in which Professor Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison announced the change in their classification of the older sedimentary strata of Devonshire and Cornwall, the clearest and amplest acknowledgements are made of my share in promoting the alteration; but as it is possible that some mistake may hereafter arise, relative to the nature and limits of my suggestion, I conceive it is a duty to others as well as to myself to comply with the above request. I regret, however, that I cannot make this notice as satisfactory as I could wish, from the whole of the data not being accessible ; and I regret that my official duties have prevented me from bestowing upon it that time and thought and research which ought to be evident in the shortest communications read to this Society. Before I state the nature of my claim, I consider myself called upon to