xxxiv
Journal of Proceedings.
they would have been below tide-mark, as the land now lies, when dug.
The pits down by the Mardyke stream have had one or more ditchways
leading to the point of land on which the powder magazines stand. That
and the Beacon Hill appear to have been Neolithic dwelling sites (for
which they were well suited) if only from the signs of flint chipping to be
seen there plentifully " (loc. cit.)
Mr. Spurrell has kindly given the Editor a tracing of the positions of
these holes and Neolithic stations.
As bearing on the probable connection of the "denes" with the early
British, we may refer to a statement given in an account of the opening
of a British Tumulus in Norsey Wood, near Billericay, Essex, in the
' Building News ' for February 22nd, 1867, p. 141:—
" Not far from the first of these tumuli was an excavation, like a small
deep gravel-pit, which one of the labourers said his father told him was a
' dane-hole ' which had caved in. He had had the curiosity to dig into
it here and there to about the depth of three feet, but ' found nothing
except a few broken tiles.' "
In the above summary of the published accounts of our Essex examples,
we have neglected those numerous letters and articles in periodicals
which merely put forward one or other of the hypotheses which have
been devised to account for the existence of the dene-holes. The early
writers appear to have approached the truth more nearly than their
modern followers (the "gold-mine" legend, we suppose, never deceived
any but the "gulls" of the money market). That they were store or
dwelling-houses is the opinion of Mr. Spurrell and Mr. Holmes, and,
with all respect for former writers, we think we may safely assert that
no other archaeologists are so capable of forming a sound opinion. In
excavating the shafts and chambers large quantities of chalk and some
flint would be removed, and were possibly utilised, but a little considera-
tion of the facts and arguments in Mr. Holmes's paper will convince most
readers that these were secondary advantages, and not the principal aim
of their constructors. The age of the deep " denes " of Kent and Essex
is still an exceedingly doubtful point; they are probably not so ancient as
the shallower pits found elsewhere, but only future investigation can
decide where the available evidence is so scanty and obscure.
On the Wednesday previous to the meeting Mr. Spurrell and the
Secretary visited Grays to make the necessary arrangements, and to
examine some old chalk workings discovered on June 3rd at Messrs.
Brooks, Shoobridge, and Co.'s chalk-pit, about one and a quarter mile
from Grays, towards Purfleet. Mr. Herbert Brooks kindly made a plan
of the workings (which is deposited in the Library) and furnished the
following particulars:—The workmen broke into the workings at a
distance of ten or twelve feet below the surface, at the spot enclosed with
dotted red lines on the plan. The extreme length of the principal gallery
exposed was about sixty-five feet; it ran north and south, with side