Babbicombe, from Petit Tor. ([1861])
George Townsend
| Repository | Library | Shelf |
|---|---|---|
| Devon | West Country Studies | S SC3063 |
| Devon | TOR | I/S |
Illustration Reference
SC3063
Location
CD 47 DVD 7
Publication Details
Scope and Content
Gosse, Edmund. The life of Philip Henry Gosse. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1890. pp. 237-8.[In this passage Edmund Gosse describes his father arriving in St. Marychurch from London in January 1852, and immediately rushing down to the beach to explore.]Descending at Babbicombe, and climbing along the beautiful arc of alternate rock and shingle to the further extremity of the beach at Oddicombe, he discovered on that first afternoon a feature of extraordinary charm, a natural basin in the face of the rock, a veritable little bath where one might conceive the Nereids indolently collecting to gossip at high noon as they plashed the water with their feet. [
] This tidal basin became of the most constant of his haunts, and he nourished a jealous and almost whimsical affection for it, suffering from a constant fear that its crystal beauty might be profaned. Every day the high tide renewed its freshess, and then, retreating, left the basin to settle into glassy calm. [
] At last, one day when my father climbed up to look into it, behold! Some thrice-wretched vandal had chiselled a channel on the seaward side, not very deep indeed, but enough to destroy its unique regularity of form. He never went to it again.[Text may be taken from a different source or edition than that listed as the source by Somers Cocks.]
Format
Steel l.engr vign
Dimensions
69x104mm
Note
No. 157
Aspects
>From Petit Tor
Counties
Subjects
Dates
1861