What's this thing in my cellar?

dominoman

Our house is around 105 years old and has a large old coal cellar under the kitchen. It's used for storage and junk and not much else, as it gets damp.

I'm trying to clean it up so we can use it more, so i started by emptying years of junk and lifting the lino. I then scraped back half an inch of dust and gunk to get to the bare floor.

In the floor I can see a metal hatch. What could this be?

It is way below any of the water or gas mains. They come in much higher up. I've tried to open it, but it is solidly rusted.

Any ideas what this is? I'm going to lay new cement floor so the hatch will soon be covered.

Grenage

Post a picture!

George_Michael

I don't know if it's only me but I can't see any picture or link.

How big is the hatch?
I would definitely want to open it before concreting just in case the original house occupant hid their life savings in there. (Then again, if you open it you may well find what is left of the original house owner!)

dominoman

I tried to post pics but they don't seem to have worked.

Do these work:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/phlmi4bxsv0z2ln/20160724_193529.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6t9lbktsozroqr0/20160724_193009.jpg?dl=0

George_Michael

Those links work okay.
It might be worth seeing if you can drill a big enough hole in the hatch to fit in a crow bar or something similar to give a good bit of leverage and you might then be able to open it.
Giving it an overnight soak with lots of WD40 or something similar should help as well.

SailorSam

They may have had something that was used as some sort of coolbox to store fresh food.

If the house is over 100yrs old, they probably never had any sort of mains water, they may have had some sort of well.

paddy's_mum

I know of an old outbuilding that had something similar. It was a hatch above bare earth so that if/when the floor got swilled out, the excess water could be brushed into the opening and left to soak away into the soil beneath.

Keep_pedalling

It could be full of gold don't cement it over it until you have managed to get it open or you will forever be haunted by the feeling you might have missed out on buried treasure!

ampersand

Good morning op,
I, too, was thinking of a soakaway.
#
Plenty to google including 'Edwardian soakaway/what is a soakaway/ images of/
etc.

I think this is the most likely i.d.
Keep us updated please :-)

Also, have you gone back to housebuild records with land registry and/or council?

Best info. source is likely to be your Local History Society. They could have an interest in photographing it before you cover it. Do try them.

Mojisola

Please let us know what you discover when you open the hatch!

Grenage

Anyone remember the animated series 'The Trap Door'?

If you don't post back, Dominoman - we'll assume the worst.