A Denehole (alternatively Dene hole or Dene-hole) is an underground structure consisting of a number of small chalk caves entered by a vertical shaft. The name is given to certain caves or excavations in England, which have been popularly supposed to be due to the Danes or some other of the early northern invaders of the country. The common spelling Dane hole is adduced as evidence of this, and individual names, such as Vortigerns Caves at Margate, and Canutes Gold Mine near Bexley, naturally follow the same theory. The word, however, is probably derived from the Anglo Saxon den, a hole or valley. The lack of evidence found in them has led to long arguments as to their function. For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Margate is a town in Thanet, Kent, England (population about 60,000). ... Headline text Canute (anglicized form of Knut, from Old Norse knútr meaning knot, sometimes Cnut; Danish Knud) is the name of several kings of medieval Denmark, two of whom reigned also over England during the first half of the 11th century. ... // Bexley is a place in south east London in the London Borough of Bexley. ... Old English (also called Anglo-Penis[1], Englisc by its speakers) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ...

Form

The general outline of the formation of these caves is invariably the same. The entrance is a vertical shaft some 3 feet (1 m) in diameter falling, on an average, to a depth of 60 feet (20 m). The depth is regulated, obviously, by the depth of the chalk from the surface, but, although chalk could have been obtained close at hand within a few feet, or even inches, from the surface, a depth of from 45 to 80 feet, or more, is a characteristic feature. It is believed that deneholes were also excavated in sand, but as these would be of a perishable nature there are no available data of any value. The Needles, situated on the Isle Of Wight, are part of the extensive Southern England Chalk Formation. ...

Footholds were cut into the sides of the shaft to allow the miners to climb in and out. The shaft, when the chalk is reached, widens out into a domed chamber with a roof of chalk some 3 feet thick. The walls frequently contract somewhat as they near the floor. As a rule the main chamber is 16 to 18 feet in height, beneath each shaft. From this excessive height it has been inferred that the caves were not primarily intended for habitations or even hiding-places. In most cases, between two and four sub-chambers are present, excavated laterally from the floor level, the roof being supported by pillars of chalk left standing.

Distribution

There are many underground excavations in the south of England, also found to some extent in the Midlands and the north, but true deneholes are found chiefly in those parts of Kent and Essex along the lower banks of the Thames. With one exception there are no recorded specimens farther east than those of the Grays Thurrock district, situated in Hangmans Wood, on the north, and one near Rochester on the south side of the river. Isolated specimens have been discovered in various parts of Kent and Essex, but the most important groups have been found at Grays Thurrock, in the districts of Woolwich, Abbey Wood and Bexley, and at Gravesend. Those at Bexley and Grays Thurrock are the most valuable still existing. It is generally found that the tool work on the roof or ceiling is rougher than that on the walls, where an upright position could be maintained.'Bold text For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Kent coat of arms For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ... Essex is a county in the East of England. ... Several places exist with the name Thames, and the word is also used as part of several brand and company names Most famous is the River Thames in England, on which the city of London stands Other Thames Rivers There is a Thames River in Canada There is a Thames... Location within the British Isles Grays is the largest town in the borough of Thurrock to the east of London. ... Investigating a denehole in Hangmans Wood by Simon Leatherdale Hangmans Wood is a triangular wooded area of Little Thurrock in Thurrock. ... Rochester is a small town in Kent, at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway about 30 miles (50 km) from London. ... Location within the British Isles Grays is the largest town in the borough of Thurrock to the east of London. ... , Woolwich town hall dates from when this was a borough in its own right. ... Abbey Wood is an area on the eastern edge of the London Borough of Greenwich, between Plumstead to the west and Erith to the east, Abbey Wood takes its name from the nearby Lesnes Abbey and Bostall Woods. ... In typography, emphasis usually refers to means of stressing parts of a text by using letters in a different style from the rest of the text to make them stand out from the main text body. ...

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History

Pliny the Elder wrote about British chalk extraction in 70AD and archaeological evidence shows that at least some of the deneholes were being exploited during prehistory. Casts taken of some of the pick-holes near the roof show that, in all probability, they were made by bone or horn picks. Numerous bone picks have been discovered in Essex and Kent. These pick-holes are amongst the most valuable data for the study of deneholes, and have assisted in fixing the date of their formation to pre-Roman times. However, very few artifacts which would provide dating evidence or assisted in determining the uses of these prehistoric excavations has been discovered in any of the known deneholes. Chrétien de Troyes has a passage on underground caves in Britain which may have reference to deneholes, and tradition of the 14th century treated the deneholes of Grays as the fabled gold mines of Cunobeline (or Cymbeline) of the 1st century. Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19th Century portrait. ... Dating material drawn from the archaeological record can made by a direct study of a artifact or may be deduced by association with materials found in the context the item is drawn from or inferred by its point of discovery in the sequence relative to datable contexts. ... Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. ... Dame Ellen Terry as Imogen This article is about Shakespeares play. ...

In 1225 Henry III gave every man the right to sink a marl pit on his own land. Spreading chalk on the fields was a common practice in the Middle Ages. This appears to have continued into the 19th century. The need for chalk in agriculture supports the theory that the origin of deneholes was for chalk extraction. // The Teutonic Order is expelled from Transylvania. ... Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272) was the son and successor of John Lackland as King of England, reigning for fifty-six years from 1216 to his death. ... Marls are calcium carbonate or lime rich muds or mudstones which contain variable amounts of clays and calcite or aragonite. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ...

Vortigerns Caves at Margate are possibly deneholes which have been adapted later for other purposes; and excellent examples of various pick-holes may be seen on different parts of the walls.

Local tradition in some cases suggests the use of these caves by smugglers Illicit traffic was common not only on the coast but in the Thames as far up the river as Barking Creek. The theory is at least plausible that these ready-made hiding-places, which were difficult of approach and dangerous to descend, were used in this way. These lollipops, above, were found to contain heroin when inspected by the DEA. Smuggling is illegal transport, in particular across a border. ... Barking Creek joins the River Roding to the River Thames. ...

Purpose

By the end of the nineteenth century, three purposes had been suggested for which deneholes may have been originally excavated:

• as hiding-places or dwellings
• storehouses for grain.
• drawwells for the extraction of chalk for agricultural uses

For several reasons it is unlikely that they were used as habitations, although they may have been used occasionally as hiding-places. Silos, or underground storehouses, are well known in the south of Europe and Morocco. It has been suggested that the grain was stored in the ear and carefully protected from damp by straw. A curious smoothness of the roof of one of the chambers of the Gravesend twin-chamber denehole has been put forward as additional evidence in support of this theory. For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ...

Since the 1950s the theory that they were ancient chalk mines has gained acceptance. This was formerly thought unlikely as it was reasoned that chalk could have been obtained outcropping close by. J.E.L. Caiger worked in Kent excavating, surveying and researching deneholes and concluded that they were excavated in prehistoric, Roman, medieval and even post-medieval times in order to produce a supply of unpolluted chalk to spread on fields for the purposes of marling. By excavating a narrow shaft, the miners used up as little of the productive agricultural land as possible. He suggested various other practical issues which supported his ideas including that open cast chalk extraction would require moving the material further than necessary and that shallower chalk deposits have much of their minor mineral content leached out by groundwater. Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Marls are calcium carbonate or lime rich muds or mudstones which contain variable amounts of clays and calcite or aragonite. ...

Another theory that has been advanced is that the excavations were made in order to get flints for implements, but this is quite impossible, as a careful examination of a few examples will show. This article is about the sedimentary rock. ...

Further reading

• "Essex Dene-holes" by T.V. Holmes and W Cole; The Archaeological Journal (1882); the Transactions of the Essex Field Club; Archaeologia Cantiana. &c.;
• "Deneholes" by F. W. Reader, in Old Essex, ed. A. C. Kelway (1908).
• F.C.J. Spurrell's paper "Deneholes and Artificial Caves with Vertical Entrances", published in the Archaeological Journal for 1881 and 1882.

Flaxman Charles John Spurrell (6 September 1842 - 25 February 1915), the archaeologist and photographer, was born in Mile End, Stepney, London, the eldest son of Dr. Flaxman Spurrell, M.D., F.R.C.S., and Ann Spurrell (who were also cousins). ...

External links

• Kent Underground Research Group page on deneholes

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.