IN MAY 1939 MR. F. G. GARLINGE WAS DIGGING AN INSPECTION PIT IN HIS LORRY GARAGE ON LAND NEXT TO CHURCH LANE, NOW THE HAVEN, VICARAGE LANE, FROM WHERE HE RAN HIS COAL DELIVERY BUSINESS. EXCAVATION WAS UNDERWAY IN THE NORTH SLOPING CORNER OF LAND THAT HAD BEEN USED AS MEADOW FOR AT LEAST A CENTURY WHEN A BRICKWORK DOME WAS DISCOVERED SOME 18 INCHES (450 MM) DOWN, WHICH WHEN BROKEN THROUGH DISCLOSED A BRICK LINED VERTICAL SHAFT SOME 3 FEET (900 MM) IN DIAMETER DESCENDING TO THE LEVEL OF THE SOLID CHALK, SOME 30 FEET (9 METRES) OR SO. AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SHAFT WAS A SURFACE BED OF SOME 5 TO 6 FEET (1.5 TO 1.8 METRES) OF FALLEN LOAM AND CHALK WHICH PREVENTED ACCURATE MEASUREMENT OF THE DEPTH. THE DENEHOLE‘S LAYOUT WAS UNTYPICAL IN THAT THE LARGE SHAFT WENT DOWN DIRECTLY INTO A CENTRAL SPACE FROM WHERE FOUR DOMED CHAMBERS OPENED OUT, SO NEEDING A LADDER OR WINDLASS AND ROPE TO DESCEND THE SHAFT AND TO BRING UP EXCAVATED CHALK. THE BRICKS USED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SHAFT AND DOME WERE OF A TYPE USED WITHIN THE PREVIOUS 150 YEARS OF THE DATE OF DISCOVERY.

THE FOUR CHAMBERS WERE OF DIFFERING HEIGHT AND DIMENSION, THE LARGEST HAVING SUFFERED AN EXTENSIVE CHALK FALL WHICH LEFT THE OVERLYING LOAM EXPOSED. THIS PROBABLY INDICATED THE EXCAVATORS WERE AMATEURS, POSSIBLE ORDINARY FARM LABOURERS, AS THEY HAD IGNORED ONE OF THE BASICS OF EXCAVATION IN NOT LEAVING A SUFFICIENT DEPTH OF CHALK TO SUPPORT THE ROOF OF SO LARGE A CHAMBER. THE MARKS OF THE PICKS USED IN THE EXCAVATION WERE CLEARLY VISIBLE AND PLENTIFUL. FOUND IN THE DEBRIS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SHAFT WERE A FEW SMALL MAMMAL BONES, A PIECE OF WOOD AND AN 18^TH CENTURY TYPE IRON LAMP MINUS ITS SPOUT. MR. STEBBING BELIEVED THAT THE DENEHOLE HAD BEEN DUG TO PROVIDE CHALK FOR LIMING AGRICULTURAL LAND AND ORIGINATED IN THE 18^TH CENTURY.

THE SITE WAS ALSO VISITED BY DR. F. W. HARDMAN, MR. C. W. KNOX, ADMIRAL R. G. AND CAPTAIN A. G. MORTON, AND MR. WESTERN PLUMPTRE WHO WERE OF THE OPINION "THAT WHATEVER WAS THE ORIGINAL PURPOSE OF THIS AND OTHER DENEHOLES THEY WERE MADE TO OBTAIN THE USE OF UNDERGROUND CHAMBERS AND NOT FOR THE USE OF THE CHALK THAT WAS EXCAVATED FROM THEM". SOME SCHOLARS BELIEVED THEY WERE DUG AS REFUGES, OTHERS THAT THEY WERE FLINT MINES. ALL MAY BE RIGHT AS DENEHOLES ARE DIFFICULT TO DATE AND TO ASCERTAIN FOR HOW LONG THEY WERE IN USE, SOME MAY HAVE BEEN IN USE FOR LONG PERIODS AND USED FOR MORE THAN ON PURPOSE.

DENEHOLES HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED IN OTHER PARTS OF THE PARISH, A LEAST ONE WAS DISCOVERED TO THE WEST OF ST. ALBAN’S COURT WHEN THE GROUND COLLAPSED AS A TRACTOR PASSED OVER THE TOP AND PARTIALLY FELL INTO THE CAVITY, WHICH WAS SUBSEQUENTLY FILLED IN, UNFORTUNATELY WITHOUT A DETAILED STUDY BEING MADE.