Help Explain Gutters and Downspouts

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I’m really struggling to understand our home’s gutters. We are end-of-terrace, with one downspout in the front. It’s the single pipe that goes into the grey bricks in front of the fence. I pulled it out yesterday and discovered that it just goes about 12 inches into sandy soil under the brick. It does seem to drain and I haven’t seen signs of water damage, but still it’s odd. Is it a soakaway and if so why is it so close to the house?

At the end of our driveway there is a channel drain. This has a hole in the middle. Out of curiosity I filled the drain with the hose and the water flowed fine, but don’t know where it is going.

Finally, we have a Y drain in the back. I don’t want to take this one up but I figure it’s likely the same as the front and goes into the ground.

Anybody know what’s going on? I am from the US and am used to seeing downspouts connect to underground pipes that discharge to the street. I know there are different rules and requirements here, plus no basements to flood, so if this is how it is meant to be built great, just help me understand!
 

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Older properties often discharge into the ground at the front of house with or without a soakaway. At the rear they may be connected to the main sewer pipes

Blup
 
Our house is from the 1980s, if that helps explain what’s going on. I’ll try to get a photo when the suns back up.

If it’s as you’ve described, what then is the function of the gutters? I thought they took the water captured by the roof and kept it from being deposited along the home’s foundation. If it discharges into the ground right by the wall, why not just have rain run straight off the roof?

Luckily this particular downspout is only connected to a few feet of gutter where our front door protrudes from the rest of the house. The rest of the roof water flows through the gutter and is carried further down the terrace. The house next door has that downspout.
 
If it discharges into the ground right by the wall, why not just have rain run straight off the roof?

Stops water flying off the roof and splattering everything up the house. And who wants to get completely drenched when they walk out the front door? Or the carpet get soaked when you open the window?
 
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Our house is from the 1980s, if that helps explain what’s going on. I’ll try to get a photo when the suns back up.

If it’s as you’ve described, what then is the function of the gutters? I thought they took the water captured by the roof and kept it from being deposited along the home’s foundation. If it discharges into the ground right by the wall, why not just have rain run straight off the roof?

Luckily this particular downspout is only connected to a few feet of gutter where our front door protrudes from the rest of the house. The rest of the roof water flows through the gutter and is carried further down the terrace. The house next door has that downspout.
Its a soakaway of sorts, maybe the rules allowed so close to the house then, maybe the builder got away with it, either way it doesnt seem to be a practical problem

Blup
 

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