Unexpected Sewer... Where I Want To Build My Pond...

[^woody^]

Hmmm, an "unexpected" sewer beneath one of the biggest, heaviest, fakoff manhole covers you can get?
Lol.

 

[jagillham]

Hmmm, an "unexpected" sewer beneath one of the biggest, heaviest, fakoff manhole covers you can get?
Lol.

There is another manhole cover about 10ft to the right... so was rather hoping any pipes ran along the fence line, not this way..!

 

[mattylad]

Get the cover off and look inside, that's the only way your going to know whats in there.
If you pay your £50 and someone comes to see then I'm sure that's what they will do too.

 

[ivixor]

My guess is that it's an old manhole repurposed to cover up an old septic tank or well. Either way you are now duty bound to get that cover off and report back with pictures! Don't try and get the cover bit up, just dig around it and slide it off the bricks with a crowbar.

Edit: Also that brickwork looks far too shoddy to be part of a proper manhole, which would seem to support my theory above.

 

[jagillham]

More digging... seems to be sat on a big square which might not be in the way of the pond afterall.

Also seems somebody has managed to stick a fence post through this at some point.

The lid is loose, so will see if can get it up.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The brickwork looks tidy enough and professional, just the way that cover is sat on it at an angle and the sheer weight of all that metalwork.

 

[noseall]

Is this a Time Team thread? If so you need to add a cheap Wilko trowel and 2" paintbrush to that set of tools on the IC lid.

 

[^woody^]

Nobody expects the Time Team sewer inquisition. There chief weapon is surprise, surprise and fear ....

 

[jagillham]

Is this a Time Team thread? If so you need to add a cheap Wilko trowel and 2" paintbrush to that set of tools on the IC lid.

Lid seems to be about 4 inches deep, and I’ve not got anything to lever it off further with.

 

[jagillham]

My guess is that it's an old manhole repurposed to cover up an old septic tank or well. Either way you are now duty bound to get that cover off and report back with pictures! Don't try and get the cover bit up, just dig around it and slide it off the bricks with a crowbar.

Edit: Also that brickwork looks far too shoddy to be part of a proper manhole, which would seem to support my theory above.

Comes with legit brickwork

 

[noseall]

Give the lid a whack around the edges with a lump hammer then jamb a crow bar into one of those key hole lugs. Get the angle right with the crow and you should be able to lift it. Its the twin iron triangle fellas you want to avoid. They can end up falling into the (usually very deep) chamber.

 

[jagillham]

Crow bar is about the only tool I don’t have!

Anyway, a spade and few bit of wood do the trick to lift the whole thing.

Is currently live as I heard the house behind water come down their down pipe, and a flow through the chamber. (Which would the one at the top).

We’ve only the road to the left of us, and the straight on one looks blocked.

 

[jagillham]

The strange thing being inside is only the width of the manhole cover. The big concrete slab it sits on with bricks under that is much bigger. A chamber within a chamber?

Am I any closer to being able to plant a tree anywhere near this thing?

 

[mattylad]

DANG!
And here I was hoping you would find it's an access hatch to a long forgotten MOD tunnel system that's still full of secret goodies and stuff lol.

All you get is some sewers...
Well, at least you know where they run and at what depth now

 

[JBR]

I'm no expert, of course, but I believe that being a sewer for both yourself and your neighbour the responsibility for its upkeep would lie with the water supplier.
That doesn't help with your wish to re-site it, though, I suppose.