We bought a crumbling 18th century home – then we made an amazing discovery hidden inside
A HOMEOWNER got the shock of his life when he bought a crumbling 18th Century home and made an amazing discovery inside.
Kevin Mort, 48, and his daughter Ellie, 26, were installing some DIY underfloor heating at the property in Audlem, Cheshire, when they found a unique hidden feature.
Just inches below their dining table, there was a 17ft-deep well full of water.
Kevin told The Sun: “I had hoped to find some treasure down there, but a couple of Victorian bottles are the best we could do.
“The kitchen was extended 20 years ago, and there was no trace of it found then. It was fairly deep down.
“I had to dig pretty far down for underfloor heating, and I suddenly heard this ‘thud’ when my spade hit brick. I thought it was just a rogue brick at first but I dug around it carefully and I could see pretty quickly that it was rounded – and the ground was so wet.”
He recalled that it was like “doing an archaeological dig” in his own kitchen.
He added: “As soon as we knew what it was I knew we couldn’t fill it in, I needed to get to the bottom. It just kept going and going, we had no idea how deep it was going to go.”
Kevin and Ellie filled four skips with the sludge and rubble from the well and cleaned it in a £5,000 labour of love.
The structure has now been built up to match the height of the current floor and has been refilled with fresh water.
A pane of reinforced glass has been placed over it so the family can walk over the well and look down into the depths.
The Victorian bottles he rescued now take pride of place in the kitchen and are used as vases.
Kevin’s wife Kristina grew up in the property, which was bought by her parents in the early 1980s, and they believe the previous owners also had no knowledge of the well’s existence.
The property was a large coach house when it was built, and the well would have likely been used as the source of water for other properties in the village.
Kevin believes that the well was probably blocked up when running water was installed in the area, sometime during the Victorian period.
Kristina added: “I did want to get the underfloor heating in pretty quickly, but we couldn’t have passed up on the chance for this beautiful addition to our home.
“It’s our forever home and hopefully the well will be there for generations to enjoy.
“My only regret is that my mum and dad aren’t around to see it, they would have loved it.”