Monument record WHA 012 - Hollow way(?) circa 3m deep, to N of present road from Whatfield to A1141, which appears to be cut into S side of S bank defining hollow way (S1).

Hollow way(?) circa 3m deep, to N of present road from Whatfield to A1141, which appears to be cut into S side of S bank defining hollow way (S1). Linear cutting 72 paces long x 7 paces broad and 10-15ft deep, adjoining a minor public road on its south side and bounded by a flat terrace on the north side. N of the terrace the land dips down to a disused track that is shown on the 1838 Tithe Map (S2). There is another, smaller, cutting to the west of the long one and a third to the NE. All are dry-bottomed and situated in woodland (woodland shown on the 1838 Tithe Map but no earthworks marked). South of the public road there is a step sided mound 12-15ft high, also in woodland (S3).
The Rev John Clubbe, Rector of Whatfield, referred in 1758 to a `very uncouth declivity and a pit, where, no doubt, was Fornax calcaria (lime-kiln)...; the soil bieng chalk, and the field called to this day ....Kiln-Field' (S4). The description fits this location - the wood is on land that slopes steeply to the north. The liklihood is that these are old chalk pits dug to serve a lime-kiln somewhere in the vicinity. The 1838 Tithe Map marks a U-shaped feature in the adjoining field to the west, named as Pit Field, which is probably yet another chalk pit.
The piece of woodland containing the long cutting was part of the rectory glebe and was named `The Grotto' in 1838; the mound opposite it was also part of the glebe and lay adjacent to `Arbour Field'. There is, therefore, a possibility that the chalk pit was adapted as a garden feature and that the mound was constructed as a prospect mount (there is a fine view across the valley to the SE). A wood across the valley, also apparently containing pits (info from Mrs J Wellings, parish recorder) was also named `The Grotto' in 1838.
It is reputed (third-hand, (S5)), that an excavation (of an archaeological nature) took place in this woodland about 30(?) years ago.