100 Miscellaneous Notes on Deneholes.
those which had become useless from their excessive liability
to tumble in.
On the other hand, the supposition that these chalk-wells
are simply Deneholes of the older and simpler type satis-
factorily explains their position on the hill-top, close to the
heads of the valleys which furrow the dip-slope of the Chalk,
and descend towards the north-east. And both their plan of
construction and their irregular distribution here and there
in twos and threes are intelligible on that hypothesis. On
Pl. II. of Mr. Spurrell's paper, Nos. 6, 7, 8, and 9 belong to
the Lenham type of Denehole, and in 7 and 8 especially we
have a pair in that close proximity to each other of which we
have seen so many examples at Lenham, and which is so
common among Deneholes generally. But in the heap of
sandy clay at the bottom of No. 7 flint flakes and worked
scrapers were found below Roman and other remains. The
Lenham pits may be either of earlier or later date, but we
may fairly infer that they are, in all probability, prehistoric.
And their distribution seems to me to point towards the
conclusion that each group of two or three marks the position
of storehouses once occupied by closely-allied families, or of
some similar domestic arrangement common to the race
inhabiting this district in prehistoric times.
To some readers many of the foregoing remarks may appear
almost unnecessary ; but all who are interested in Deneholes
find, sooner or later, how strong and general is the feeling in
districts where these "chalk-wells" abound that they were
originally made for the purpose indicated by the name they
bear. Of course there is no necessary improbability in the
existence of shafts for such a purpose ; there may doubtless
be districts in which they would be the most natural means
of getting chalk. Whether the pits of any given locality are
ancient Deneholes—which may have been more or less
utilised in later times—or modern shafts for chalk is a
matter of evidence. And it is only by a careful review of
that evidence in any given case that we can hope to settle
this question, which any amount of mere vague talk about
this district and that district would leave just where it was
before the discussion.