Notes on some excavations of the nature of Deneholes

( 182 ) NOTES ON SOME EXCAVATIONS OF THE NATURE OF DENEHOLES. BY W. P. D. STEBBING, P.S.A., F.G.S. THE year 1939 has been noteworthy for the unexpected and somewhat alarmMg appearance of unknown cavities M the chalk. A typical Denehole was described, with a plan and ihustrations, M Vol. XLVII of Arch. Cant., pp. 211-18, and M Vol. L, p. 169, there is a note on a Denehole at Wmgbam WeU. DrawMgs showing the site of the latter, and its ground plan, the work of Messrs. G. C. SoUey & Co.'s late assistant, Mr. Douglas Spratt, are here reproduced by Messrs. SoUey's kindness. The plan shows a great similarity to that of the HammUl Denehole. TMs, however, is not the case with this year's tiiree artificial underground pits. The Mst made its presence known M April during plougMng along the edge of a field bounded by the lane and opposite CootMg Farm, Adisham. The excavation had the usual shaft from which 'smaU chambers branched out on its opposite sides, but the shaft, while about 2 ft. 6 M. wide, was oMy about 10 ft. deep ; and the surface deposit above the chalk was very thM. A full examination could not be made as the bottom of the shaft and the entrance to the chambers were blocked by the material which had faUen in ; but the whole excavation, while earUer than the memory of man, gave the definite impression of being a farmer's traditional method of getting chalk for covering his straw yard and hmMg his Ume-free near-by land lying at a lower level. The second set of underground chambers was exposed in May when Mr. F. G. Garhhge of Church Lane, Nomngton, was diggMg an mspection pit in Ms motor-lorry shed. This was on previously unoccupied ground near the corner of a field sloping north. At about 18 in. down a brickwork dome NOTES ON SOME EXCAVATIONS. 183 was uncovered, and when this was broken through a vertical shaft about 3 ft. diameter was disclosed. There was a surface bed of 5 ft. to 6 ft. of loam and the shaft was lined with brickwork down to the level of the sohd chalk. Contrary to the typical Denehole (see plan, Fig. 2), the large shaft here descends directly Mto a central space from which four domed chambers open. Hence a ladder, or wmdlass and rope, would be needed for descent and for brMging up the POSITION OP HOLE !•*« &