Metal detectorist thought he found well in back garden – but discovery was much more grim
A metal detectorist thought he had stumbled across an old well in his backyard has been informed the discovery is something very different.
A metal detectorist who stumbled upon what he believed was an old well in his backyard has been left baffled to discover it was something very different.
The man shared snaps of his exciting discovery to Reddit – only to be quickly corrected by fellow enthusiasts of the fascinating hobby.
"My wife and I found what looks like an old well in our backyard," the man declared in the MetalDetecting subreddit. "As the title says, can anyone give me insight on what else this might be?"
He went ont to explain his property was built in the 1920s, which backed up the other detectorist's theories.
"Back in the day, no one had indoor plumbing," one person responded. "This could be a pit that was dug for an outhouse."
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Another agreed: "It's an outhouse cesspool." Whilst a third simply concurred: "Cesspool."
In a bid to make the most of the find, however, a fourth user suggested the find might not be all doom and gloom. "[A cesspit] in itself isn’t a bad thing," they explained. "They were often used as trash dumps. While you probably won’t find a ton of metal, items bottles and ceramics are possible."
And a second encouraged: "If it’s an old outhouse, there is very high likelihood of bottles etc down there. Keep going."
If there are indeed bottles present, it could actually prove quite lucrative for the finder.
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It was commonplace in Victorian and Edwardian times for unwanted items and rubbish to be dumped on the outskirts of towns and villages - often on the banks of rivers.
Complete and rarer bottles from those bygone eras can now fetch four-figure sums, and as such the unusual pastime of bottle digging has seen a surge in popularity in the UK in recent years.
In his book, Digging For Treasure: A Guide to Finding Valuable Victorian Rubbish Dumps, author Ron Dale states: "The rarer finds dug out of old rubbish dumps can now realise several thousands of pounds and it is understandably important to collectors to be able to continue digging."
