memory was honoured in the dedication, and who hitherto has been presumed to be, on the strength of the name alone, one of three Italian bishops in the calendar of the Roman saints, who appear to have been martyred and canonized between the 4th and 5th centuries; but what connection, historical or legendary, existed between either of these and this distant locality in Britain does not appear. In fact, no satisfaction upon this point can be obtained, if the search for knowledge be restricted to the orthodox roll of saints; but it is very different when we come to examine the records of the early British, or, rather Irish, church, and compare names, places, and circumstances in a remote antiquity with the eloquent remains we are privileged to inspect to-day, and several local appellations around, which have preserved in a traditional nomenclature a memory of the first circumstances that led to the establishment of a religious community and chapel here; the little seed that in the town of Barnstaple has developed into a goodly tree. The beautiful seal of Pilton Priory is a record of an interesting historical fact that Athelstan, the grand-son of Alfred the Great, and educated in his court, was a considerable benefactor, if not properly to be considered the first Christian founder of what had very probably been previously a Druidical monastic institution, or of whatever native religion was intended by that name. From recorded history we further learn that this king made a complete tour of his western provinces of Devon and Cornwall, including even a visit to the then remote island of Scilly. He was accustomed during this journey, under circumstances of exposure, to vow lands to certain tutelary saints, and several religious houses in the two counties owe their origin to his pious liberality. According to a return made in the 17th year of the reign of Edward III. to a writ of inquisition issued by the king's chancellor, it was by a charter of Athelstan, of famous memory, the burgesses of Barnstaple claimed certain privileges withheld from them; and at the present day writers on the Constitution of England rely upon the results of the enquiry then made for the interesting fact of a representative instituion of the Commons having formed, at that early period, part of the general government of the country. But previously to this there is no reason to doubt that there was in this locality a resident community known to the surrounding country as Barr, the firebear, or Barum in old monkish Latin; and the significance of this word as indicating a signal light, together with the situation, conveys to us positive knowledge that some public provision was here

made to guide travellers, by means of a beacon, across the river at low water during the night. It is also well known that, at a period when an austere acetism was considered the most convincing proof of sincere devotion, many religious enthusiasts devoted themselves to a truly enlightened practical humanity, by stationing themselves in exposed situations where local knowledge and prepared appliances enabled them to be of daily service in aiding their fellow-mortals, who otherwise but for their assistance might fall and perish on their way. Such are the objects and the frequent duties of the monks of St. Bernard at the present day, who in a dangerous pass across the Alps provide shelter, refreshments, and guides to those compelled to traverse that inclement region during winter. On the other side of our river, just beyond Anchor wood (another most significant designation), is a farm called Hele, of which there is abundant evidence, if I had only time to enter upon the subject, to show that in the earliest ages of British history a counterpart of the hospital of St. Bernard here existed, and was intended for very similar purposes. As I have just remarked, the significant word anchor suggests immediately the particular agents who employed themselves in works of benevolence, especially connected in this situation. with the guidance of travellers across the river. Anchor, originally signifying a recluse, alluded more to the dangerously exposed situation, selected as the field of the labours of the devotee, than to the total withdrawing of all communion with his fellow-mortals which characterized the anchorite or hermit of later days. Roads through forests and across lonely moors were the localities, of course, where useful benevolence could best be exercised, and would be most needed, and devotion to a life in such situations required for its salt, that opportunities of doing good to others should be constantly occurring. On this side of the river, it would appear, the convenience of a light was maintained by the same agency, and the name of the narrow street leading from an old inn in Green-lane, still called the Bear, to the churchyard across the present market-place, preserves in the name of Anchor-lane, a memory of the original occupiers of the spot, and of the particular duties imposed upon them.

To contract this paper, however, within prescribed limits, I must proceed at once to my identification of the St. Sabinus, commemorated in the name of this chapel, with a certain anchorite, as he is described in The Annals of Ulster, an old Irish chronicle, named Suibine, and whose death is recorded in the year 891; and be it also observed, whom

Florence of Worcester, in his chronicle of corresponding date, calls "the most skilful of all the Scots," A representation of his inscribed tombstone, on which will be found his name and a most elaborately-carved cross, is represented at page 323, Petrie's Round Towers of Ireland, where also in the text the important fact is recorded that he was one of three Irishmen who visited Alfred the Great. The remarkable coincidence of finding an anchorite of the name of Suibine, the Latin form of which would be Sabinus, associated with the court of Alfred, where Athelstan, who incorporated Barnstaple, was brought up and educated, immediately led me to infer a more probable dedication of the old chapel in our churchyard to an active Christian teacher, who must, at all events, have been in this neighbourhood on his journey from Ireland to the West Saxons, than with any Continental bishop who had no historical connection with the place, either spiritual or otherwise; in fact, nothing but the similarity of name and the fact of canonization, to afford colourable reason to the supposition that thus assigned the honour to the Italian St. Sabinus. In looking for further evidence upon this point, I was greatly struck with the picture of devotion and courage displayed in such enterprises as Suibine engaged in, by a few lines in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which, under the date of his death, also describes the contemporaneous arrival of three fellow-labourers of this early missionary. It is as follows:-" And three Scots came to King Alfred in a boat, without any oars, from Ireland, whence they had stolen away, because they desired for the love of God to be in a state of pilgrimage, they recked not where. The boat in which they came was made of two hides and a half, and they took with them provisions for seven days, and then about the seventh day they came on shore in Cornwall, and soon after went to King Alfred." And of such a nature, an idea of which I think will be readily conveyed by this quaint recital, there can be little doubt was the motive which induced Suibine to seek here a field of missionary labour. There is also every reason to suppose that at this time the lingering interests of a superstition, rapidly dying out, but tolerated for its convenience in this situation, still held possession of a monopoly in the pecuniary advantages of a long established ford over the river at Pottington; to conduct towards which a raised causeway in the direction of Pilton still exists. Suibine may have been moved by compassion at witnessing the disregard to pauper claims for assistance at the wealthy institution long established at

Longstone, and, perhaps, found a congenial habitat, where he could correct the evil, and acquire an influence among the natives, in the low scrubby coppice that then covered a spur of high land projecting into the river, and which at high tide was extensively surrounded by water, so as to look like a little peninsula cut off from the rest of the world. Here, accordingly, he seems to have established, with the aid of some disciples, a convenient porterage over the river; to assist in which, as I have before mentioned, a beacon light, Barum was erected; the saint perhaps comforted and encouraged by the apt similarity of name, purpose, and type it exhibited to the Barea of the Apostles, where the light was first shewn to the Gentiles. This view of the chapel, being dedicated to a friend and counsellor of Alfred the Great, is also strongly supported by the patronage subsequently accorded to the growing Christian community by his grandson Athelstan. Besides, circumstances in the general history of the country were fast combining to forward, as with a Divine blessing, the material interests and prospects of the rising town of Barnstaple. The silting up of the river constantly going on, in the course of time, had materially affected the capabilities of the town of Bishop's Tawton as the port of the district; whilst the increased size of the war-galleys, which the wise and energetic policy of Alfred had constructed, to check the piratical invasions of the Northmen, and which was, in fact, the beginning, in a national sense, of the British fleet, required greater facilities for docking and provision for defence, than could be obtained higher up the river than the site of Barnstaple. Here, therefore, were found all the circumstances favourable to successful naval engineering in those early days, and its capabilities would no doubt be brought prominently before the notice of King Athelstan, during his visits to this part of his dominions, and led ultimately to the incorporation of Barnstaple as a royal borough. In this manner I have sought to recover an ancient and honoured memory, from an obscurity that had completely hidden the history of the founder of Barum, and given the honour to an entire stranger to the place. At the same time the age and original character of an interesting memorial of the past, closely connected with the first introduction of Christianity into this neighbourhood, have, I trust, been sufficiently established, if not by any argument I may have used, yet still by the demonstrative remains that speak for themselves, and claim, I think, a no less antiquity than that to which, in these few remarks, I have accordingly referred them.

NOTES ON THE CARBONIFEROUS BEDS ADJOINING THE NORTHERN EDGE OF THE GRANITE OF DARTMOOR.

BY G. WAREING ORMEROD, M.A., F.G.S.

THE granite district, known in general terms as Dartmoor, is bordered on the southerly part, from near Walliford down on the east, to the south of the Tavy river at Cock's Tor, on the west by the Devonian rocks; the remaining part adjoins the Carboniferous. The beds that form the carboniferous strata vary in character, from a friable slate to a compact cherty rock. No coal or culm has, I believe, been found in the district to which these observations are confined; and the only places where vegetable remains occur therein are, as far as my own knowledge extends, at Drewsteignton and Dunsford, where calamites, filices, and a few other plants, are occasionally found.

The animal remains, I believe, are confined to the Posidonia, not unfrequently found in the limestone quarry at Drewsteignton, and, I believe, occasionally in that at South Tawton. Many trials for lime have been made in this district, but the above are the only places where lime has been worked. At South Tawton lime has been got many years, but the great extension of the quarries took place in 1800. The quarries at Dewsteignton were worked extensively before the commencement of the last century. The present area of the largest quarry at Drewsteignton is about one acre and ten perches; the greatest depth is about 224 feet. Near the top there are nine beds of lime rock, averaging about 18 inches in thickness, with yellow shales between the beds. Below these are beds varying from one to five feet in thickness, occupying a depth of about 20 feet, and these contain oneseventh part of lime. The next division consists of beds averaging about 30 inches in thickness, occupying a depth of about 100 feet, and these contain two-fifths of lime. In one of the lower beds, about 200 feet from the surface, the Posidonia is found. Trials showed that below these beds the per centage of lime diminished. These beds are confined to

small districts at South Tawton and Drewsteignton. lime at both places is very similar in character; it is good for