MORTIMEK: J3HIT1SM HA131TATI0NS ON DANBY NORTH MOOR. 411 
being able to find them. On July 4th, 1894, in company with 
Mr. C. H. Read, of the British Museum, and Mr. T. Boynton, 
of Bridlington Quay, T was more fortunate. We found these 
pits to be very uniform in size and arrangement, considering 
that they were much encroached upon and partially filled in by 
the growth of peat. From external appearances their age 
seemed uncertain. Though my two colleagues thought they 
might not date back more than two or three centuries, I am 
inclined to think that they are much older. 
After our return, I informed Canon Atkinson of our visit, 
and expressed my surprise that some antiquary interested in 
those pits had not during the last twenty years attempted to 
settle their origin by carefully cleaning out two or three of 
them. I received the following reply : — 
"The pits you refer to were dug into by and in the 
presence of a large body of wise men of Whitby, some fifty 
years ago, and a long leport of the exploration of the pits, and 
of the adjacent howes, drawn up and presented to the then Lord 
of the Manor, and by his son, the Lord Downe, was handed 
over to me. I have it still, and I can say of it that it is 
ahmlutely valueless. Many years ago I did something towards 
an investigation, and soon convinced myself that these wiseacres 
had not reached the bottom, as they said they had. I proposed 
to Mr. Greenwell (as he was then) to come over and join me 
in a thorough examination of their nature. Circumstances at 
the time intervened to prevent the scheme, and I need not tell 
you, who have seen them with the water standing in them, that 
it is not every year, if any, that investigation is easy, or indeed 
possible. I chose a dry year ; yet not more than three or four 
permitted deeper digging than 1^ to 2 feet. When that depth 
was reached, water began to stand in them. I do not seem to 
think that they would have been very comfortable or healthy 
i-esidences under such circumstances." 
Believing that nothing less than a further and careful appli- 
cation of the pick and shovel in the hands of an experienced 
workman would give any certain clue to their age and purpose and 
