Journal of Proceedings. xxxiii
one nearly perfect, containing the bones of a female and child, with
bronze armlets, and a spindle whorl of lead. I have never seen in them
evidence of occupation as dwellings or stores. The method of obtaining
chalk by this mode of sinking wells down to the chalk, and then driving
tunnels, is now in operation."
The above is the only authenticated statement we have on record of
the finding of relics in an Essex Dene-hole, with the exception of the
pottery mentioned by Mr. Spurrell as existing in the shallow pits at East
Tilbury. But unfortunately Mr. Meeson does not give the precise
particulars required,—viz., the depth and construction of the Dene-hole
explored by him,—and we are left in doubt as to whether it had a deep
shaft, like those in Hangman's Wood, or whether it belonged to the
shallow class of pits found in many parts of England.
Interesting accounts of the Essex "Denes" are given in Palin's
' Stifford and its Neighbourhood ' (1871) and ' More about Stifford' (1872),
both privately printed.* We have already extracted from the latter work
Mr. Williams's description of those in Hangman's Wood (see ' Pro-
ceedings,' vol. ii., p. xviii.). A rough map of the wood and plan of one
of the holes is given. Mr. Williams enumerates fifty holes, of which six
were then open; there are in reality seventy-two, and, as Mr. Spurrell
remarks, " those in the western portion of the wood are mapped in the
six-inch Ordnance map; the eastern division, perhaps from some red-
tapeism, being unmapped, though, if anything, they are the most con-
spicuous holes." The pits are so close together that Mr. Williams asserts
that when a sharp sound is made in an open hole the reverberation
occasioned by the underground cavities of the adjacent closed ones can
be easily recognised. He also speaks of a Dene-hole partly filled up in
the Stifford Chalk-quarry, and of " a series of them in Mucking Woods
filled up within the last few years." These last were in sand, but once
probably extended down to the chalk. Mr. Spurrell says:—
" Others in clusters of three or four are to be found on either side of
the little valley leading from Hangman's Wood southward to the
Thames......From Stifford along the Mardyke, or Merydike,
stream to Purfleet, these caves are found on either side, the chalk being
white on the surface. The ground around them near Purfleet is covered
with Neolithic flakes, which may be scraped up by the hand. The pits
now filled in completely must have been of very slight depth, otherwise
* The Rev. William Palin, M.A., for nearly fifty years Rector of Stifford, died on
October 16th, 1882, aged 79 years. He was a thoughtful and energetic writer on Church
affairs, his most important ecclesiastical work being 'The History of the Church of
England, 1688—1717,' and he was formerly editor of the 'Churchman's Magazine.' His
two books on bis own and neighbouring parishes abound in topographical and physical
details, and present a welcome contrast to the ordinary dull county history, filled only
with the rise and fall, the marriages and deaths of the "great" families; tho details of
architectural lore and local history being interspersed and relieved in a delightful way
with little flashes of dry humour, and telling anecdotes of life and manners in
former days.
c