So- what is a dene-hole? The term is thought to be a corruption of Dane-hole; it was thought that they were dug by ancient Danes in ancient times. Look in google and you find a cluster of localities: Bexley, Gravesend, Grays, Essex, Dartford, Thurrock, Strood, Swanley... All places on the chalk in the north-west of Kent or in southern Essex. Not deep, a few metres, they go through the covering material and into the chalk. They are thought to have been chalk mines; the chalk was used by ancient farmers for field dressings. The covering is loess; some of the material that fell on the chalk in S.E.England and is still found on the North and South Downs.
The dene holes give a good indication of the depth of the loess, particularly in N.W.Kent. The location of the dene-holes at Dartford and Bexley places them quite near the Crayford brickearths- one of the very substantial deposits of brickearth on the southern bank of the Thames. Crayford provided a lot of bricks in the Victorian times; Kentish bricks were used to build Buckingham Palace. There is no scientific study of loess facts revealed by dene-holes; they are part of an un-appreciated landscape of modest loess which spreads across all of southern Britain.
It has been claimed that there is a loessic relevance to the location and construction of Stonehenge- the greatest, oldest, and most impressive of British monuments. Science tends to look at the petrography and mineralogy of the rocks, or reconstructions of ancient astronomy, or actual archaeological discoveries... The thin layer of loess which separates the ground surface from the chalk beneath was important. The cohesive nature of loess allows a deep, stable, steep sided pit to be constructed- into which, after considerable effort, a large stone construction unit can be placed. The ability to build the location pit is important; and has not been hitherto appreciated. A Stonehenge pit is a lot like a dene hole- but bigger, and of greater significance.
The dene holes give a good indication of the depth of the loess, particularly in N.W.Kent. The location of the dene-holes at Dartford and Bexley places them quite near the Crayford brickearths- one of the very substantial deposits of brickearth on the southern bank of the Thames. Crayford provided a lot of bricks in the Victorian times; Kentish bricks were used to build Buckingham Palace. There is no scientific study of loess facts revealed by dene-holes; they are part of an un-appreciated landscape of modest loess which spreads across all of southern Britain.
It has been claimed that there is a loessic relevance to the location and construction of Stonehenge- the greatest, oldest, and most impressive of British monuments. Science tends to look at the petrography and mineralogy of the rocks, or reconstructions of ancient astronomy, or actual archaeological discoveries... The thin layer of loess which separates the ground surface from the chalk beneath was important. The cohesive nature of loess allows a deep, stable, steep sided pit to be constructed- into which, after considerable effort, a large stone construction unit can be placed. The ability to build the location pit is important; and has not been hitherto appreciated. A Stonehenge pit is a lot like a dene hole- but bigger, and of greater significance.
Stonehenge is a monument to the Neolithic; left by the Neolithic people to remind us of their achievements.
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