156 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
above the other, the third in the western wall; these foot-holes
were flat-bottomed, and about 81/2 inches wide.
The total length of this dene-hole, from north-west to south-
east, was about 25 feet, and the height of the several chambers
about 10 feet in each case. The depth of the recesses was about
10 to 11 feet and the width 5 to 51/2 feet, except in the case of the
shallow northern terminal chamber, which was only 6 feet in
depth, for reasons already suggested.
FIG. 1.
plan of dene-hole.
The visitors were shown a letter S and a date, said to be
1220, scratched upon the chalk wall of the south-eastern terminal
chamber (in a curiously convenient position!), and the workmen
asserted that this inscription had certainly not been done since
the discovery of the pit. The writer was, however, sufficiently
sceptical to examine the scratched numerals minutely with a
pocket-lens, when not only could the absolute freshness of the
white scratchings in the very slightly stained face of the chalk
be detected, but also the apocryphal 1220 could be deciphered
as being in reality 1920! ft is worth putting this on record at