Journal of Proceedings. 
lvii 
This “ Dene ” proved to be a very fine specimen, and well worth the 
trouble taken to effect an entrance. The strata exposed in the section of 
the shaft were in this descending order:—Gravel, 5 ft. ; Thanet sands, 
53 ft. ; beyond which the secondary strata of Upper Chalk were penetrated 
to a further depth of 22 ft., making the total depth of the entrance shaft 
80 ft. Its diameter was about 3 ft., but its form was funnel-shaped at the 
upper part by the falling in of the sands from around the orifice at the 
surface, where originally the shaft was probably of no greater diameter 
than below. It differed from the two shafts examined on June 17th in 
wanting “ foot-holes.” At the bottom of the shaft was the usual conical 
mound of Thanet sand, &c., which had fallen in and trickled away in all 
directions. On each side were three chambers,—six in all,—arranged in 
a double-trefoil fashion (see Plate II., No. 3 Pit) and excavated in the 
white chalk, the exact horizon of the strata being clearly indicated by the 
thin lines of black tabular flints so well known to geologists. The 
chambers were tolerably uniform in length, height, and width,—height 
about 18 ft. and breadth about 12 or 14 ft.,—the walls perpendicular, and 
the roofs nicely arched and evidently made with care. In the north-west 
and south-east direction the extreme length from the end of the one 
chamber to the end of the other was about 70 ft. ; in the other direction 
the two sets of parallel chambers were severally in similar extreme length 
about 46 ft. This symmetry in the arrangement and the similarity in the 
arched form of all the chambers is adverse to the theory which has been 
propounded of them having been ancient marl-pits for the application of 
the excavated chalk to the cultivation of the soil. The abundance of 
“pick-marks” (queer e , stone, bronze, or non) were very noticeable, the 
diagonal positions of which, from proper right to left on the surface, 
would accord with the blows of a pick, and it was suggested that the 
“ Dene ” might belong to a comparatively late period, or at least had been 
enlarged subsequent to its first construction. The floors of the chambers 
were covered to some little depth by a black humus, commingled with which 
were numerous fragments of soft rotten wood. Mr. Mackie pointed out 
that the humus was such as might well have been produced in the lapse 
of ages by the decay of corn or other grain, and was very like the dark 
soil produced by the decay of refuse malt from brewhouses. No exami¬ 
nation of the mound of earth was possible, of course ; it was estimated 
that a gang of men would take a week to clear it out in the careful way 
that must be adopted if a proper scientific examination was to be made 
by the Club. Only one piece of evidence was got from it, the Eev. W. 
Linton Wilson being fortunate enough to unearth from the lowest part of 
the heap a partly-worked flint. A few semi-recent bones of dog and 
sheep, with the gelatine still remaining in them, were turned up from the 
superficial sand, being those of animals which had fallen in through the 
open entrance. 
Time did not allow of other pits being entered, and, after careful 
measurements had been taken by Mr. Holmes, the party walked back to 
