Geology Site Account

Site name: Dakings Pit

Grid reference: TM 154233

Brief description of site:

Former gravel pit in the garden of Hillhouse Farm which has yielded Palaeolithic artifacts.

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Summary of geological interest

A rich assemblage of Palaeolithic artefacts has been recovered from this former pit in the garden of Hillhouse Farm. The deposits are mapped as Cooks Green Gravel (laid down by the Thames-Medway River 600,000 years ago) but it has been suggested that the gravel may be a post-Anglian deposit of the nearby Holland Brook.

In 1970 a 3 metre wide face was cleaned at the north-east end. The pit is historically important; archaeologists such as Leakey, Oakley, Warren and Wymer carried out research here from 1933 to 1970.

The 'pit' has now been more or less levelled and survives as a depression. However, a face could be created with a digger if any future investigation is required.