Entrance to Kent's Cavern (1846)
J. HarwoodRepository | Library | Shelf |
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Devon | West Country Studies | sB/TOR 7/1848/TOR |
SC3330
CD 49 DVD 8
Publication Details
Chope, R. Pearse (ed.). Early tours in Devon and Cornwall. Exeter: James G. Commin, 1918. p. 241. Observations on the western counties of England by W. G. Maton 1794-6.A singular cavern, called Kent's hole, is considered as the greatest curiosity in this part of the county. It is about a mile distant from Torquay. Two women, whose usual business it is, conducted us to the spot, provided with candles, tinder-boxes, and other necessaries for the expedition. After pursuing rather an intricate track, we arrived at the mouth of the cavern, and soon saw there was some occasion for the assistance of guides, who presented each of us with a candle stuck in a piece of slitted stick. The aperture was just large enough to admit us. As we advanced, our guides fixed candles on the sides of the cavern, in order to give us as much light as possible, and to provide against the consequences of an extinction of those we held in our hands. The chill we received after having entered is inconceivable, and our clothes were moistened by the continual dropping of water from the roof. The lights, when viewed at a distance, gleaming through the gloomy vaults, and reflected by the pendant crystals, had a most singular effect. We began to fancy ourselves in the abode of some magician, or (as our companions were two ancient females, and not the most comely of their years) in the clutches of some mischievous old witches, [
][Text may be taken from a different source or edition than that listed as the source by Somers Cocks.]
Steel l.engr vign
88x113mm
Entrance
1846