The
Society's Homepages for the
CATTEDOWN BONE CAVES,
Cattedown,
Plymouth, Devon, England, U.K.
|
The
Devon Karst Research Society.
Section
2.0. THE CAVE EXCAVATIONS OF R.N. WORTH AND R. BURNARD,
1886-1887 AT "WORTH'S CATTEDOWN BONE CAVE".
Section
2. Link Page for
ARCHIVE
LOCATIONAL IMAGES OF WORTH'S CATTEDOWN BONE CAVE AND OF THE CATTEDOWN MIDDLE
QUARRY.
Text
Revised 17 March 2006.
Images
2.1., 2.2. and 2.3. provided below have been copied in electronic form
and supplied by the Torquay Museum, from Worth's original photographic
glass plates.
The
Society wishes to express its gratitude to the Staff of the Torquay Museum
for digitally processing and supplying those images below which specifically
contain
the
Copyright mark of the Torquay Museum.
|
| Section
2.0. Link Page Contents :
Section
LP1...The Torquay
Museum Photographic Archive, (opposite);
Section
LP2...R.N.
Worth's Contemporary Images of the Cattedown Bone Cave;
Section
LP3...Other
Archive Locational Images of the Cattedown Middle Quarry.
Click
on the underlined Links above to move down to the Sections quickly. |
LP1. THE
TORQUAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY AND THE TORQUAY MUSEUM PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE
SOURCE.
R.N. Worth's
9 photographic glass plates relating to the Cattedown Cave discovery in
1886-1887 are currently curated as part of the R. HANSFORD WORTH BEQUEST
held by the Torquay Museum in their premises at Babbacombe
Road, Torquay, South Devon. Using the Torquay Museum Accession Numbers
for each item, these important photographic glass plates contain the following
information:-
.....Plate
No. 1099. [shown below on this Webpage and in the main page
of Section 2.], contains a view of "Worth's Cattedown Bone Cave", looking
in at the North Chamber;
.....Plate
No. 1100. [shown below on this Webpage], contains a view
of the North Chamber of "Worth's Cattedown Bone Cave" in the context of
the Quarry surroundings, (with lens distortion);
.....Plate
No. 1101. [shown below on this Webpage], contains a detailed
view of the stalagmitic-breccia on the West Wall of the North Chamber;
.....Plate
No. 1102. [shown in the main page of Section 2.], contains
a view of Hominin Mandibles from "Worth's Cattedown Bone Cave";
.....Plate
No. 1103. [shown in the main page of Section 2.], contains
a view of Hominin Mandibles from "Worth's Cattedown Bone Cave";
.....Plate
No. 1104. [shown in the main page of Section 2.], contains
a view of Hominin Skulls from "Worth's Cattedown Bone Cave";
.....Plate
No. 1105. [shown in the main page of Section 2.], contains
a view of Hominin Skulls from "Worth's Cattedown Bone Cave";
.....Plate
No. 1106. [shown in the main page of Section 2.], contains
a view of a Hominin Skull from "Worth's Cattedown Bone Cave";
.....Plate
No. 1107. [shown in the main page of Section 2.], contains
a view of a Hominin Skull from "Worth's Cattedown Bone Cave";
The
unique original photographs were recorded by R N Worth's photographer
Mr
David Roy and as such they form the only photographic record of
this spectacular and scientifically important discovery. The 3½ inch x
3½ inch photographic glass plates are now 118 years old but are in remarkably
good condition considering their age. All 9 of the images on the photographic
glass plates are displayed in one or other of the Webpages of Section
2.
The
originals
can be viewed only by prior arrangement with the Torquay Museum.
Further details about the Torquay Museum can be found in
their Website address :-..http://www.torquaymuseum.org
The Society also holds high-resolution
scanned copies of the originals in its Archives for research purposes.
Photocopies of the relevant Torquay Natural History Society Museum*.Accession
Cards are also kept by the Society in its Cattedown Archive File.
[.*
as of 2004, this is now the Torquay Museum Society.] |
LP2.1.
R.N. WORTH'S MAIN LOCATIONAL IMAGE OF THE CATTEDOWN BONE CAVE,
CATTEDOWN
MIDDLE QUARRY :
[Archive
Note : The Cattedown Quarry has also been known in the past as Cattedown
Middle Quarry, being situated between the more westerly Deadman's Bay Quarries
and the more easterly Prince Rock Quarry.]
The
existence of the cave was first revealed when the pre-1886 quarry floor
level was being lowered in the Autumn of 1886. However, it was then dramatically
broken into on its eastern side at the south end of the North Chamber in
April 1887, soon after which the Image 2.1. below was recorded.
A
visual analysis of this photograph reveals the neo-vertical fissure of
Worth's
Cattedown Bone Cave - North Chamber, located in the lower-left
part of the View. Worth describes this as being aligned north-south.
Clearly seen is the cave's undercut East Wall on the right
side of the fissure and the opposing West Wall on the left
side of the fissure. The fissure comes up to the surface at the pre-1886
quarry floor level, which in the photograph runs horizontally right across
the middle of the View from left to right. This fissure was obviously not
recognized as being present in the old quarry floor, probably being obscured
by quarry debris. The cave passage would have been naturally plugged with
stalagmitic-breccia, further obscuring its presence. At and above this
pre-1886 quarry floor are other features which act as important positioning
locators for the cave.
We
shall now move on to look in greater detail at these features and their
positions in the quarry. These important cave positioning locators
should also be seen in a wider context by comparison of the image above
with Image 3.1. below.
1...The
most obvious background feature is the building, which was a house constructed
on the old pre-1886 quarry floor level by Benjamin Sparrow Snr. The quarry
house has distinctive chimney tops.
2...Another
obvious background feature is the lower part of a substantial wall built
into the quarry face and seen in the top-centre of the view. It has a distinct
shape and a prominent corner.
3...The
two obvious features which are missing are the Cattedown Railway Tunnel
and the railway cutting approach to its west portal, insofar as they had
not yet been created.
The house shown above and
in Image 3.1. below eventually had to be demolished to allow
for the construction of the railway cutting bringing the railway out from
the west portal of the Cattedown Tunnel. We have yet to determine the exact
year this was undertaken.
4...The
geological feature represented by the slope and direction of the limestone
bedding in the old quarry face behind the house and in the new lower quarry
face in the foreground are pertinent to the site interpretation.
[Return
to the Top of the page.] |
LP2.
R.N. WORTH'S CONTEMPORARY IMAGES OF THE CATTEDOWN BONE CAVE
PHOTOGRAPHED FOR
Mr. R N WORTH BY Mr. DAVID ROY, 1886-1887.
Explanation and
visual analysis of the views to establish the exact location of the Cattedown
Bone Cave with a comparative analysis of later images.
IMAGE
2.1....R.N.
Worth's Glass Photographic Plate No. 1100., with lens distortion on the
4 corners. (Reproduced by kind permission of the Torquay Museum.)
(Photo
: Mr David Roy for R.N. Worth, 1887.)
|
LP2.2.
R.N. WORTH'S MAIN IMAGE OF THE PARTLY EXCAVATED CATTEDOWN BONE CAVE
(NORTH
CHAMBER) :
A
visual analysis of Image 2.2. opposite (left-side image)
shows a great deal of stalagmite and stalagmitic-breccia hanging on the
West Wall of the North Chamber of "Worth's Cattedown
Bone Cave". The view is taken at the new, lower quarry floor level, looking
in from where the main breach was made along the East Wall
at the south end of the North Chamber.
The
prominent bedding plane in the extreme right of the view sloping down towards
the photographer is situated at the north end of the breach where it broke
into the East Wall. This latter feature survives and is still
visible and recognisable today.
The
West
Wall taking up the bulk of the view facing the camera, is now completely
destroyed down to the modern quarry-floor level, below which it remains
extant.
LP2.3.
R.N. WORTH'S DETAILED IMAGE OF THE OSSIFEROUS STALAGMITIC BRECCIA IN THE
CATTEDOWN BONE CAVE (NORTH CHAMBER) :
A
visual analysis of Image 2.3. opposite (right side image)
shows a more detailed view of one area of hanging stalagmitic breccia low
down on the West Wall of the North Chamber.
It
has been suggested that the top of a cranium can be seen in the left corner
of the dark corner in the right of the view.
[Return
to the Top of the page.] |

IMAGE
2.2. (above-left)....R.N.
Worth's Glass Photographic Plate No. 1099. (Reproduced by kind permission
of the Torquay Museum.)
IMAGE
2.3. (above-right)....R.N.
Worth's Glass Photographic Plate No. 1101. (Reproduced by kind permission
of the Torquay Museum.)
(Photos
: Mr David Roy for R.N. Worth, 1887.) |
LP3.1.
POST 1887 IMAGES OF THE CATTEDOWN MIDDLE QUARRY :
The
Image 3.1. opposite is the only one so far found which indicates
in a wider context some of the salient features in the background of Worth's
Image
2.1. above.
Image
3.1. ca.
1888.
1...The
quarry house is specifically in view together with its characteristic chimneys.
Worth's
photograph in Image 2.1. above clearly show part of the south-side
elevation of this house. In the image opposite, the quarry house is clearly
constructed on the higher, pre-1886 quarry floor.
2...The
chimney stack and its masonry pedestal and the massive foundations below
with their characteristic profile are clearly seen.
3...Note
the small quarry face to the right of and below the house at the rear of
the Chemical Works. Was this the quarry face as left by Burnard &
Alger after the site was levelled, or is this the north side of the
railway cutting? We think it is the former.
4...Note
also the Sulphuric Acid Works of Burnard, Lack & Alger's Chemical Works
industrial complex. This building in which this abhorrent process was undertaken
is located below and to the right of the base of the chimney stack. It
is almost at the same level as the quarry house insofar as they were both
built on the pre-1887 quarry floor level. The Sulphuric Acid Works has
a large flue pipe coming out of its left side and is then run up the quarry
face into the south-facing side of the chimney-stack support pedestal.
Slightly above the Sulphuric Acid building is another dark diagonal feature
ascending to the top of the old quarry face. This was an access walkway
cut into the quarry face with a handrail, leading from the building up
to a water tank or reservoir at the top. The Sulphuric Acid Plant would
have required large volumes of fresh water for manufacturing the chemical.
The
clearly visible water reservoir feature has long disappeared but the walkway
and its rusting handrail still survive. The effects of the corrosive chemical
can be seen today on the surviving quarry face.
Image
3.2. ca.
1890.
In
Image 3.2. opposite, we see the four essential elements of the
Chimney stack; the quarry house; the railway cutting and the railway tunnel
all in place in this idealised, fanciful view of the Cattedown Middle Quarry
site, forming an illustration in an advertisement for the Burnard &
Alger Chemical Works.
Image
3.3. 1905.
In
Image 3.3. opposite, some of the salient locational features of
the Cattedown Middle Quarry that help us to locate Worth's Cattedown Bone
Cave, are just about visible.
The
old Quarry House can clearly be seen to the left of the chimney stack on
the house in the right-side foreground, which also coincidentally partly
obscures the chimney stack of Burnard, Lack & Alger's Sulphuric Acid
Works.
The
very eastern end of Sparrow's Carpenter Rock Quarry can be seen in the
extreme left of the view.
Immediately
to the right of this at the point where the road at the top of this quarry
face descends to the level of the quayside, there appears to be a bridge
structure conveying the road over the Cattewater Railway Branch Line to
the left of the light-coloured Public House facing the Cattewater Quayside.
Image
3.4. ca.
1945.
In
Image 3.4. immediately below, we see that the four essential elements
of the original scenario are now either missing or obscured. We do not
yet know when the Brick Chimney Stack beside the Higher Cattedown Road
above the quarry was demolished. The image above indicates the limestone
masonry pedestal on which the chimney was built, still surviving but with
an Ordnance Survey Triangulation Pillar on its top. This was put in place
in June 1945, so the view clearly post-dates the chimney-demolition event.
Most of the
Burnard & Alger Chemical Works infrastructure has
gone but the Railway infrastructure survives. The Cattedown Reindeer Rift
Cave is immediately behind the inconveniently-placed crane jib in the extreme
centre-right of the view, on the bright quarry face. The top part of this
rift cave can just be discerned.
IMAGE
3.4....A
post-World War 2. view of the Cattedown Quarry, Cattedown Wharves
and Fison's Fertilizer Works,
with
the Cattedown Goods Railway Station in the centre.
(Photo
: unknown - circa 1960.)
Image
3.5. January
1965.
In
the composite Image 3.5. opposite is a view of the south-east
part of the Cattedown Middle Quarry taken from the balcony surrounding
the Ordnance Survey Triangulation Pillar beside the Higher Cattedown Road
and overlooking the site. The square corner of land protruding out into
the oil terminal floor with the railway sidings at its foot, is the original
foundation of the building containing Burnard, Lack and Alger's Sulphuric
Acid Works in their original 19th Century Chemical Factory. The factory
used the "Lead Chamber Process" and must have given rise to the most appalling
pollution in the area. The main Sulphuric Acid building is featured in
Image
3.1. above.
This
very interesting photographic record reveals the layout of the oil industry
infrastructure on the ground at the time, together with an indication of
the prevailing ground conditions. This will greatly assist the Society
when the time comes to uncover this level from beneath the modern oil terminal
floor. We believe that the two-branched railway siding is also extant beneath
the concrete of the modern oil terminal floor.
The
photograph also indicates widespread hydrocarbon contamination of the oil
terminal's old lower floor area.
IMAGE
3.6....Another
view of the oil terminal infrastructure in the S.E. corner of the Middle
Quarry.
(Photo
: unknown - January 1965.)
[Return
to the Top of the page.] |
LP3.
OTHER ARCHIVE LOCATIONAL IMAGES OF THE CATTEDOWN MIDDLE QUARRY.
IMAGE
3.1....The
Cattedown Quarry, Cattedown Wharves and Burnard Lack & Alger's Chemical
Works, as viewed from Turnchapel on the opposite bank of the Cattewater.
(Photo
: unknown photographer - circa 1888.)
IMAGE
3.2....An
artist's idealised drawing of the Cattedown Middle Quarry, Cattedown
Wharves and Burnard & Alger's Fertilizer and Acid Works,
as
part of an advertisement for the Company in the Commercial Directory of
the 1890's.
(Artist
: unknown - circa 1890 onwards.)
IMAGE
3.3....The
Cattedown Quarry, Cattedown Wharves and Burnard & Alger's Chemical
Works, as viewed from Turnchapel on the opposite bank of the Cattewater.
(Photo
: unknown photographer - 1905.)
IMAGE
3.5....A
view of the S.E. corner of the Cattedown Middle Quarry with the
back of the Cattedown Wharves visible behind the Shell Mex & B.P. Oil
Terminal infrastructure.
(Photo
: unknown - January 1965.) |
Image
3.7.
1980.
In
Image 3.7. opposite, we are shown almost a complete panorama of
the east-west width of the Cattedown Karst Peninsula where it juts out
into the Cattewater. The silos on the far western side (left) are situated
on the Victoria Wharves fronting Sparrow's Carpenter Rock Quarry, part
of the Catttedown West Quarries. The red-coloured hull of the ship in the
middle is moored at the Cattedown Wharves fronting the Cattedown Middle
Quarry. The red brick buildings of the redundant Plymouth "B" Power Station,
seen here in the right of the view, were situated in the large Cattedown
East Quarry or Prince Rock Quarry. The Power Generating Station has since
been demolished to make way for a water and sewage treatment works.
[Return
to the Top of the page.] |
IMAGE
3.7....A
photo-montage view of the Cattedown Quarries and Cattedown Wharves,
with an extensive cliff-stabilization project underway in the No. 2. Site
of the Shell UK Oil Terminal, (right).
(Photo
: unknown for Rendel. Palmer & Tritton, Consulting Engineers
- 13 February 1980. Size: 714kB.) |
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