I'm in the middle of removing an old patio from the back of our garden, and I've dug up this big (probably ~6' deep, 4-5' wide), bricked up hole, with a large pipe entering it. We live in a Edwardian terrace built ~1905. No smell, and no standing water in the bottom.
Does anyone know what it is? And do you reckon it would be okay to use it as a convenient disposal location for all the hardcore from the old patio we no longer want?
by dave1022
13 Comments
Probably an oubliette and fully of spooky skeletons.
Or an old soak away / septic tank. Any idea where the pipe is coming from?
You may well (see what I did there?) have found the old cess pit. Before mains sewers were universal people would have a cess pit for toilet waste and grey water. Their use survived relatively late.
Old cess pit/septic tank.
Could be a nice little fire pit there
Best knock on the wood to check if there are any stray saddams hiding down there
Well well well…
Looks like you’re on heavy-clay ground, so probably a soak away, especially if the material in the hole is lighter (less clay) material
Rat. Always a rat
It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.
Does the pipe point towards your house or the neighbours? Also ask your neighbours
We had similar but it was a spring uphill that filled a series of brick tanks along a terrace
Could be a soakaway.
Secret entrance to Nutty Putty cave?
It’s a “Naughty pit”, it would have been used to punish misbehaving children. They were commonplace only 2 centuries ago!