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the Devonian limestones were moved into their present pattern by flat-lying faults, and
this was then followed by the intrusion of the Dartmoor granite, which may help to ex-
plain why the New Red valleys here were shorter than those preserved as the Crediton
( d6 ) and Tiverton basins.
FIG 77. Reconstruction of the Permian topography and drainage, looking southwards to-
wards the location of present-day Torquay (Fig. 66, d1 ). The current coastline is indic-
ated purely for reference; there is no evidence for a sea in Permian times where the sea
now is.
I have already described the importance of the Devonian limestones in creating
topography in the Torquay area ( d1 ) and around Torbay generally. This material is an
important part of the bedrock in its own right, and has been quarried widely as a build-
ing stone. It was a popular stone for ornaments and furniture, particularly in Victorian
times, when cut and polished fossil corals featured in many of the washstands that were
produced in the period.
In Torquay the Kent's Cavern complex of caves, formed by solution of Devonian
limestones, is an important archeological site, preserving evidence of Heidelberg and
Neanderthal man from deposits about 450,000 years old. These were deposited during
the Anglian cold phase of the Ice Age, when ice sheets spread across East Anglia and
into the Thames valley, though not into the Southwest. The remains of cave bears, hy-
enas and sabre-tooth cats have also been found in the cave complex, as well as those of
modern humans.
The Haldon Hills ( d7 ), about 10 km south of Exeter, are clearly erosional relicts
of the young valley systems of the Rivers Exe and Teign. Their higher ground retains
fragments of the Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary bedrock record and provides
information about the history and environments in this key area. The Haldon Hills
formed the boundary between the high ground that existed at the time in most of Corn-
wall and Devon, and the areas of thicker sedimentation that developed since Permian
times to the east (Areas 4 to 7). To an extent, the presence of the Late Cretaceous and
Early Tertiary material has provided a resistant cap to the Haldon Hills.
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