244 REPORT ON THE DENEHOLE EXPLORATION
there which have been modified from time to time in such a way
as to render it impossible to ascertain their age or the purpose of
their original excavators. But all persons would unite in considering
the collections of pits at Hangman's Wood and at Stankey and
Cavey Spring, Bexley, to be deneholes, and would add to them the
isolated pits of the same kind scattered singly, or in groups of twos
and threes, in the neighbourhood of these larger collections and
elsewhere. Nor would many refuse to add to the above the various
pits of lesser depth and simpler form, also frequently found in groups
of twos and threes, as well as singly, where the chalk is at, or within
15 or 20 ft. of, the surface. Of this last class the pair of pits
examined by Mr. F. C. J. Spurrell at Crayford in Kent, which are
here figured, Fig. 6, are good examples.
It is evident that one of the most distinguishing characteristics of
both the above varieties of deneholes is the vertical entrance. This,
however, though a leading feature in the chalk counties, is not found
in the deneholes of Durham. Mr, R. O. Heslop, an active member
of the Newcastle Society of Antiquaries, pointed out to us three or
four years ago that an eminent northern antiquary, Mr. W. H. D.
Longstaffe, had mentioned these Durham deneholes in his very interest-
ing paper on "Durham before the Conquest," read at the Newcastle
meeting of the Archaeological Institute in 1852. Mr. Longstaffe, after
remarking that the name "Danes Hole" is applied to several hiding
places in the county, and that it may perhaps have had its origin in
the times of warfare between Saxon and Dane, from their use as
places of retreat from the latter, states:—"They are frequent in
Hartness, where the struggle seems to have been most bitter, and
are described as excavations in the sides of eminences, in those sides
from which the most extended views might be obtained." On the
map accompanying Mr. Longstaffe's paper, the words are seen
"Excavated halls called Danes Holes;" and they are marked as
existing on the Magnesian Limestone of South Durham chiefly in the
neighbourhood of Embleton, six or seven miles west of Hartlepool.
These Durham deneholes or Danes-holes may, of course, have
been den-holes constructed during the Danish inroads of the 8th and
9th centuries, or may be excavations of a much earlier date, put to
their last important use about that time, there being no evidence as
to their approximate age. On the other hand, in the case of one of
the Crayford pits already mentioned, Mr. Spurrell's examination
showed that it dated from the Neolithic period, and it seems likely