Natural Geological Activity? ...Or do we have mini Pirates in Kent?

[f0rm4t]

I was out with the hounds on Sunday in a private wood near me and came across this hole in the ground with what looked like mini caves coming off the sides.
What do you think this is? ...a natural occurrence?
I've taken some video of the surroundings to give a better all-round view of the environment.

Any explanations would be gratefully received as I would really like to understand how this came about.

[fish]

stone mining mate got one near the same down the road from us.

[AL...]

Yup they look man made to me too.
Realy cool place to have a wander for sure and thanks for sharing Paul

Cheers
AL

[Humakt]

I also live in God's Clean County. There are deneholes all over the place - I wonder if what you have found is one?
No one really knows what deneholes were for, but it's thought they may have been hiding places against Viking (dene/dane) raids - but whether for hiding people or possessions is unsure.
That said, the deneholes I have seen have been very deep (30' plus) and wide (10' plus), although most of that has been caused by erosion over the centuries. And most deneholes are also pinpointed on Ordnance Survey maps. Might be worth looking at the one covering your area to see if it has been surveyed?
Or it could be a flint mine? Kent is made of flint and it looks as though the thing you have found is embedded in chalk - as flint often is.
I'd put my money on one or the other.

[FishyFolk]

If I saw that here, I'd think it was part of German fortifcations from the war. Watch this from 10:20

[biker-bri]

I,d watch where you are walking in the future, there could well be more sink-holes in that area, I remember TIME TEAM excavating one
a few years ago and that one went really deep, as Humakt said flint mining is a good possibility.
Cheers Bri

[butchthedog]

Hi, you learn something new every day on here. The only holes we have up here are from mining, be that Coal, Flourospar or year's ago "Lead" in Weardale. Oh and the Council leave one or two about, mainly on the highways LOL

[HillBill]

Could also be made for storing foodstuffs over winter, underground is remarkably stable temp/humidity wise

[Tony1948]

Paul I think it chalk or flint hole ,I'm not to certain I think they use to burn chalk to get lime it could be for that,or some ass badger digging?Nice place, caint we do a bit of stelf camping over there could we?

[Ehecatl]

Hi Paul.

If that's where I think it is it's on the edge of Cozendon woods and is well known about. I've actually slept in the cave after a good session in the Cock at Luddesdown (fortunately I went prepared).

It was probably around 20 years ago (roughly) that the full roof fell in. The original "entrance" was little bigger than a man hole cover. As youngsters we would perpetuate the rumour that Dick Turpin used to hide in the cave. I couldn't say whether the caves were natural or not but when I was (a lot) younger there was not anything to suggest spoil from within (assuming that it was flint being mined) was piled nearby and I recall that chalk doubles in volume when excavated, so it would have been an unsightly bump evan after a very long time.

I'll ask around for you - my Mum might remember Dick Turpin