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The Geology of Buckfastleigh Hill

The Geology of Buckfastleigh Hill

Nigel Trewin, David Jean and John Wilmut (2007)

The origins of Buckfastleigh Hill go back 350 million years and its story embraces tropical seas, volcanoes, coral reefs and the building of a massive mountain chain. Caves in the hill’s limestone provide evidence of ice age erosion and of warm periods when lion, elephant, hippopotamus and other animals roamed the Dart valley. This illustrated booklet provides a detailed description of the geological history of the hill.

£3.50 including delivery

Exploring the Limestones of South Devon

Exploring the Limestones of South Devon

John Wilmut, Chris Proctor and David Jean (2014)

Created when Britain lay south of the equator, Devon’s limestones are as exciting and interesting as any rocks in Britain, as are the caves which have been formed by the action of water over thousands of years. Research in the last two centuries has yielded much information about our past climates and about the people, animals and plants that once inhabited this area. The walks are described in great detail and the book can be used to combine the walks in ways to suit the walker

£7.00 including delivery

Caves in Buckfastleigh Quarries

Caves in Buckfastleigh Quarries

Edited by John Wilmut (2012)

This booklet has been produced by the Trust as an updated and extended replacement for two of its earlier publications. It includes descriptions of the history, geology and exploration of the caves that will be of interest to anyone who has visited the area and particularly for those who have seen some of the caves at the Centre.

£5.50 including delivery

Kents Cavern- A Field Guide to the Natural History

Kents Cavern: A Field Guide to the Natural History

Joyce Lundberg and Donald A McFarlane (2008).

Over more than 150 years researchers at Kents Cavern have discovered a sequence of deposits that cover a half-million year history, making this cave one of the most important cave sites in the world. Here the authors show how the cave first formed and developed and they describe the excavations by William Pengelly. The Guide then takes the visitor on a tour of the show cave. At each stop the authors describe the evidence on which our understanding of its development is built.

£4.50 including delivery

A Self-Guided Walk on Buckfastleigh Hill

A Self-Guided Walk on Buckfastleigh Hill

John Wilmut, David Jean and Sheila Phillips (2004)

This is one of two guides for use at the Centre. Over 14 pages it describes a self-guided route that starts at the Centre and introduces the walker to the principal features, structure and geology of the hill and its caves. It is well illustrated, has a map and is a valuable summary of the more detailed information in other Trust publications and in the Centre museum.

£2.50 including delivery

A Walk through Higher Kiln Quarry and Joint Mitnor Cave

A Walk through Higher Kiln Quarry and Joint Mitnor Cave

John Wilmut, David Jean and Sheila Phillips (2004)

This is the second of two guides for use at the Centre. Over 12 pages it provides a summary of the principal features that visitors see in the guided walk through the quarry, in Joint Mitnor Cave (the bone cave) and in the Centre museum. It forms a companion guide to the self-guided walk, limekilns and geological garden publications.

£2.50 including delivery

The Limekilns

The Limekilns

Wilfred Joint and John Wilmut (2005)

This is a 4-page supplement to the information boards at the Centre. There are four main quarries in Buckfastleigh Hill and all are in the coral limestone. Much of the stone taken from these quarries was burned for making lime in the kilns at Higher Kiln Quarry. This factsheet describes the kilns and the traditional lime-making process that was used at Buckfastleigh.

£0.50 including delivery

The Geological Garden

The Geological Garden

Bob Symes, Sheila Phillips and John Wilmut (2007)

This is another supplementary 4-page leaflet. In the courtyard of the Centre there is a group of rocks from the local area, set out as a geological garden. They give some idea of the range of rocks that visitors see on and close to Dartmoor. The leaflet gives detailed information about the rocks and where they came from.

£0.50 including delivery