My Hole in the Ground

Hello everyone. I'm new here and hoping I can get some advice. I'm renovating an area of my garden which was created 24 years ago when I moved here. The property then was a newly renovated cottage on a disused farm. A developer had bought the old farm and created several properties from the various farm buildings. In one corner I found an area that had collapsed into a hole. Investigations with the spade have uncovered a hole which is bricked lined at the top then apparently concrete lined below the bricks. The attached pictures should make clear what I've found ...

From what I've dug out so far it seems to me that it is builders rubble that has been dumped into the hole - it includes a Corona pop bottle so I'm guessing it was filled in by the builders when they renovated the properties 25 years ago.

So, my questions are all to do with what should I do. I'm hoping someone here will recognise the situation and can offer advice. I have no idea how deep the pit is and am wondering whether to just refill it ensuring it is well compacted. Or do I really need to dig deep to find it's full extent - and then what. It appears to be a square hole and it also appears to be concrete lined. The top layers of bricks are staggered to reduce the size of the opening which I guess at some time must have had a lid or cover on it. I'm wondering if it was a cess pit or a slurry pit but really have no idea.

What I really want is to get on with completing the renovation of this area of the garden but at present am a little stumped as to the best way forward. My worry is that whatever I do, short of digging it out no matter how big a volume it is, am I running the risk of it collapsing again. I did wonder whether it could be a well but a farmer friend suggested not as he believes these are always circular?? By the way, when digging in it I am secured by rope to a nearby tree - just in case.

So, perhaps not a run of the mill gardening question, but until I can decide on the best way forward the renovation work as stopped. I did wonder where best to seek advice and thought perhaps I might find some pointers here.

 

Is there any pipe in the vicinity or evidence of one in the hole?

 

No sign of any pipework in or near. The only way to be sure is to dig the whole thing out and, as you've probably gathered, I would like to gain enough confidence to avoid that!

 

Any chance of contacting the local authority for a sight of the original plans of the farm building?

 

Hi V G,

Are you in a mining area and/or does the area contain any oil shale ?

I guess the mining bit is obvious, but if there is oil shale, this leaches carbon monoxide, which is heavier than air and has killed people digging holes.

Like Doghouse says, check out the history of the area. Local libraries have old OS maps which might shed some light. Not trying to worry you, but as a contractor, I have to consider the H&S aspects.

 

It's remiss of me - I should have said I've got all of the old property deeds and there's no sign of any building immediately around the hole. I also have a 45 year old aerial photo which shows nothing obvious although the view is not perfectly clear. The was a large war-time lean-to glass house a few yards away which was demolished sometime between 1965 and 1985. This area of the farm was used during the war as a market garden area - land army girls used to occupy what is now my house. I met some of them a few years ago when they turned up out of the blue on a nostalgia trip.

By the way - I'm in the Vale of Evesham - not a mining area of any sort.

Notwithstanding the fact that I have the deeds to the property I think I will try the local authority to see if anything exists that might shed some further light into the hole - so to speak. Thanks for your responses so far. Any more input or suggestions will be gratefully received.

 

Could it have been an air-raid shelter?

 

Your hole in the ground could become famous yet, like this one did in Jersey! :gnthb:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=141&t=543304&i=0

 

OMG 208 pages ! Gonna take all week to go thru that

 

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1950/may/10/opencast-coal-mining

 

i agree with doghouse - the developer would have had to have a done a site survey before the building works - contact either the builder or see online as most local authorities have all their planning appplications on line


loopy

 

Thank you. Fascinating to see a Hansard report from when I was 1 year old. The reference to open cast mining is well to the NW of where I am - but I shouldn't have made the assumption that there's no mining in my area!

I'll follow this up today with the planners. I haven't yet looked online but suspect whilst current plans are online, old plans won't be.
Unfortunately the builder went bust just after completing all of the work.

I sincerely hope not ... !

 

Might be worth getting an old OS map of the area. Try this link:
http://www.my-history.co.uk/acatalog/Cassini_Maps.html?gclid=CLWl89W-jJwCFd4B4wodnSwOZg

 

Your hole looks to me very much like an old cess pit.

I found one in the bottom of my last garden, dating back to the 1920s. Mine was well made from a combination of bricks and the very hardest concrete I've ever come across in my life. It was filled with earth and I never discovered how deep it went. The concrete was so hard that I could only remove the top couple of feet and then filled it in with earth from the rest of the garden.

 

Sorry - forgot to add that the concrete lining of your hole very much suggests the need to contain liquid i.e. strongly indicating my cess pit theory. These pits were dug a reasonable diistance from buildings and were fed from a clay or ceramic pipe system.

When they fell into disuse, the old pipe system could be ignored or dug out but the pits themselves were so well built (like mine), that developers just filled them in for speed and cheapness.