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Journal of Proceedings.
circular shaft about 3 feet in diameter. As Mr. Walker says,* " They are
entirely unguarded from the approach of the wayfarer, and incredibly
dangerous. Wild flowers lead you on inadvertently to the sides of a
small and inviting dell, and it is hard to stop yourself from sliding down
the grassy crater right into the mouth of the unseen pitfall in the centre.
Happily you perhaps hold on by a friendly root or twig, and so peer
down the circular shaft into the dark and unknown depths below." At
one time many were wired over, not, however, for the safety of human
beings, but to prevent the loss of dogs and foxes !
Planks had been thrown over an open shaft at the entrance to the one
on the right-hand (No. 1, on small plan on Plate II.), and a pulley slung
from poles, the rope being worked by a windlass. At first the explorers
stepped into a square box, and were lowered down the shaft one by one;
but the box was soon disestablished in favour of a stout piece of wood, on
which one after another sat astride, and were slowly lowered down the
shaft to view the subterranean chambers. The funnel-shaped hole
quickly contracted to about 3 feet 6 inches in diameter, and all who went
down into the pit soon bore upon their clothes ample evidence of the
narrowness of the duct. Back, elbows, knees, one after the other scraped
the sides of the shaft as the rope revolved; and there was a notable
difference between the trim appearance of a gentleman before his descent
and that which he presented when he reappeared on the platform,
fancifully adorned with streaks of earth and chalk! At about 58 feet
from the surface chalk was reached, but before getting to this the visitors
alighted upon an immense conical mound of Thanet-sand, gravel, and
surface soil, partly debris from above, and partly formed by the falling in
of the roof of the chamber at the bottom of the shaft. The chalk roof to
the chambers was only 2 feet in thickness, quite insufficient to bear
the superincumbent strata, and the heavy fall of sand had completely
blocked up all except two chambers, if more existed. (See No. 1 Pit,
Plate II.) "Foot-holes" were clearly traceable almost all down the
shaft,—holes just large enough for the foot to enter, and evidently the
means by which the makers of the pits descended and ascended, before
denudation had widened the mouth of the shaft.† The depth of the floor
* In his article in the ' Leisure Hour,' referred to above. The Editor gladly acknow-
ledges his indebtedness to Mr. Walker's paper, Mr. Worthington Smith's note in
'Gardeners' Chronicle,' and to the reports in 'Essex Times,' for many details.
† At the visit made by the Lewisham and Blackheath Scientific Association to a Dene-
hole in Stankey Wood, Bexley, two of the visitors ascended about 20 feet, and descended
again by means of similar foot-holes (see Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol. vii., p. 401). Mr. Spurrell
says of the foot-holes of this Stankey pit that "they are opposite to each other, about
18 inches apart, and mostly 6 inches deep, some reaching 20 inches. I supposed that
these latter were for sticks or poles to be inserted as rests, hut on trying one I found
such poles very difficult to pass, unless indeed the whole of the passage down was made
into a kind of ladder. It is noticeable that anyone below inserting a pole across the
shaft could easily prevent anyone descending. The Thanet sand bears the wear and tear
of use well, but in the lapse of years, perhaps to he counted by thousands, many of these
pits, which were once descended by holes, have got too wide for the stride of any man."
(F. C. J. Spurrell, in Archaeol. Journ.)