Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 236, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1913 — Dene-Holes. [ARTICLE]

Dene-Holes.

These curious well-like excavations, found In Kent and Sussex, are popularly supposed to belong to the time of the Danish rule in England. They are invariably about 3 feet In diameter and seldom less than 60 feet deept Ingress and egress were provided for by means of rude ladders or ropes. Various explanations have been ottered to account for their existence — some supposing them to have been places of refuge, others that they were connected with secret forms of worship, still others that they were dug for the extraction of chalk and places of refuge, others that they flint Mr. A. J. Philip, in a reoent study of the subject, advocates the view that the holes were made to serve as silos, or granaries. They are found close together in groups, corresponding with the habit of various tribes of clustering in restricted areas.