Proceedings. xlvii 
others followed the road round through the plantation underneath 
the summit. The rhododendrons were well out in flower, and 
several yellow azaleas were seen. After mounting the hill to 
the foot of the tower and having lunch, the route through the 
wood to Friday Street was taken; and on the way several shallow 
pits, dug to obtain the hard silicious bands of stone for road 
mending, were seen. The road led through Friday Street, along 
by the artificially maintained stream to Wotton, where, by kind 
permission of Mr. John Evelyn, a visit was paid to the picture 
gallery and museum containing the MS. of the famous Diary 
and Evelyn’s ‘ Sylvia’; also to the Rose Garden and Temple. 
From Wotton the road was taken to Dorking through Westcott, 
where tea was had. The route covered one of the most picturesque 
and varied parts of Surrey. 
June 4th.—Grays, Essex, and Deneholes Conductor, Dr. 
H. C. Male, B.Sc. 
On June 4th a visit was made to these well-known deneholes. 
The day was fortunately fine, and fourteen members joined the 
excursion. 
On arriving at Grays Station, a walk of a mile and a half 
north-east brought the party to Hangman’s Wood, where, in the 
space of a few acres, some seventy of these ancient pits are to 
be found. ‘ 
Mr. Jonathan Seabrooke, of Grays, had kindly made all 
arrangements for our visit, and had provided men, windlass, 
ropes, candles, &c., to allow of our descending and seeing the 
its. 
The bottom of the pits is about eighty feet from the surface. 
They are excavated in the chalk, which is here covered by about 
fifty feet of Thanet sand, and above this by some six feet of 
gravel, equivalent to that of Dartford Heath. 
Most of the shafts leading to these pits have now fallen in, 
only some four or five remaining open, the most accessible being 
selected for our descent. 
Each complete denehole consists of a central chamber some 
sixteen to eighteen feet in height, which branches out into six 
other chambers, arranged in a double trefoil manner, the floor 
from end to end in some instances attaining seventy feet in 
length. Though originally distinct, each denehole communicating 
with the surface by a separate shaft, the partitions between 
neighbouring deneholes have in many cases been opened up, so 
that a number of adjoining chambers-can be visited from the 
one shaft. 
Mr. T. V. Holmes, a former President of the Essex Field Club, 
who with Mr. W. Cole made an extensive exploration of these pits 
in 1884, and again in 1887, was kind enough to accompany the 
