XXXVI 
Journal of Proceedings. 
circular shaft about 3 feet in diameter. As Mr. Walker says,* “They are 
entirely unguarded from the approach of the wayfarer, and incredibly 
dangerous. Wild flowers lead you on inadvertently to the sides of a 
small and inviting dell, and it is hard to stop yourself from sliding down 
the grassy crater right into the mouth of the unseen pitfall in the centre. 
Happily you perhaps hold on by a friendly root or twig, and so peer 
down the circular shaft into the dark and unknown depths below.” At 
one time many were wired over, not, however, for the safety of human 
beings, but to prevent the loss of dogs and foxes! 
Planks had been thrown over an open shaft at the entrance to the one 
on the right-hand (No. 1, on small plan on Plate II.), and a pulley slung 
from poles, the rope being worked by a windlass. At first the explorers 
stepped into a square box, and were lowered down the shaft one by one; 
but the box was soon disestablished in favour of a stout piece of wood, on 
which one after another sat astride, and were slowly lowered down the 
shaft to view the subterranean chambers. The funnel-shaped hole 
quickly contracted to about 3 feet 6 inches in diameter, and all who went 
down into the pit soon bore upon their clothes ample evidence of the 
narrowness of the duct. Back, elbows, knees, one after the other scraped 
the sides of the shaft as the rope revolved; and there was a notable 
difference between the trim appearance of a gentleman before his descent 
and that which he presented when he reappeared on the platform, 
fancifully adorned with streaks of earth and chalk! At about 58 feet 
from the surface chalk was reached, but before getting to this the visitors 
alighted upon an immense conical mound of Thanet-sand, gravel, and 
surface soil, partly debris from above, and partly formed by the falling in 
of the roof of the chamber at the bottom of the shaft. The chalk roof to 
the chambers was only 2 feet in thickness, quite insufficient to bear 
the superincumbent strata, and the heavy fall of sand had completely 
blocked up all except two chambers, if more existed. (See No. 1 Pit, 
Plate II.) “Foot-holes” were clearly traceable almost all down the 
shaft,—holes just large enough for the foot to enter, and evidently the 
means by which the makers of the pits descended and ascended, before 
denudation had widened the mouth of the shaft.f The depth of the floor 
* In his article in the ‘ Leisure Horn-,’ referred to above. The Editor gladly acknow¬ 
ledges his indebtedness to Mr. Walker’s paper, Mr. Worthington Smith’s note in 
‘ Gardeners’ Chronicle,’ and to the reports in ‘Essex Times,’ for many details. 
1 At the visit made by the Lewisham and Blackheath Scientific Association to a Dene- 
hole in Stankey Wood, Bexley, two of the visitors ascended about 20 feet, and descended 
again by means of similar foot-holes (see Proc. Geol. Assoc., vol. vii., p. 401). Mr. Spurrell 
says of the foot-holes of this Stankey pit that “ they are opposite to each other, about 
IS inches apart, and mostly 6 inches deep, some reaching 20 inches. I supposed that 
these latter were for sticks or poles to be inserted as rests, but on trying one I found 
such poles very difficult to pass, unless indeed the whole of the passage down was made 
into a kind of ladder. It is noticeable that anyone below inserting a pole across the 
shaft could easily prevent anyone descending. I he Thanet sand bears the wear and tear 
of use well, but in the lapse of years, perhaps to be counted by thousands, many of these 
pits, which were once descended by holes, have got too wide for the stride of any man.” 
(F. C. J. Spurrell, in Archseol. Journ.) 
