Abstract
A RECENT subsidence of earth at St. Mary Cray, Kent, has revealed the existence of a subterranean cavity, which, it is thought, may prove to be the entrance to a considerable system of caves, similar to that at Chislehurst, two and a half miles away to the south, where thirty miles of galleries have been explored since the caves were rediscovered in 1902. Marks of deer-horn picks, still clearly visible, show where prehistoric man cut away the chalk. Although it will not be possible to attempt to explore the caves at St. Mary Cray until the fallen subsoil has been removed, entrance to two chambers, it is stated in The Times of March 4, has been made by Mr. Gibson-Cowan and Mr. Geoffrey Edwards, who found them to be about five feet high by thirty feet long. Probing with a pole ten feet long at the end of the farther chamber failed to encounter obstructing chalk, and it may be concluded, therefore, that they extend in this direction, while the existence of an earlier subsidence a quarter of a mile away, suggests that there may be a system of connected caves of considerable extent. The Chislehurst caves have produced few archaeological relics; but as an Elizabethan villa has been shown to have had direct access to the caves by means of a stair, and the caves were used as refuges, disturbance must have been considerable. At St. Mary Cray, there is no evidence of occupation, at least since Roman times. It is possible, therefore, that they may serve the needs of the archaeologist to better effect, and it may be, throw further light on the prehistoric excavators of the chalk, to whose activities the dene holes, notably near Croydon, bear witness. Exploration of the newly discovered caves will begin as soon as the subsided clay has been removed and the roof of one of the chambers has been supplied with the necessary shoring.
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Prehistoric Caves in Kent. Nature 139, 438–439 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139438c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139438c0