Have you ever while planting new seeds in your garden or placing a bird bath, come across something that you were not looking for? This is something that can be true for many of us – discovering history that is literally near our doorstep. This happened to me when we were clearing the site for our garden and I stumbled upon a strange hole in the rear part of our yard, which set me on a path through history that I would like to describe.
I recall the tales that my grandmother had to tell about the old farm she was bred up on. Recalling the stories she told me about the old days when there were no mod cons, wells were hand-dug and water was captured in barrels came flooding back to me as I stood over this newly discovered pit. The soil was sandy and the blocks constructed in a very ingenious manner what I could associate with the past generations. It was a view at a period in history where each and every building has a function to fulfill, whether it was a gateway or a bakery.
The pit has an estimated size of 36 inches by 72 inches and has five courses of block with the first course located 12 inches below grade. It had been covered by two precast, three inch thick concrete slabs wired with chicken wire. First, we thought that it could have been an old outhouse pit, yet the size and construction of the hole did not point to that. Perhaps it could have been a well or a cistern or something else?
In homes that are more than two hundred years old especially the ones that I live in, internal plumbing may have been installed later. It is also important to note that before plumbers, people used to get their water from wells and cisterns. A cistern could be a good suggestion for this pit for instance. These storage tanks were used to collect rainwater which was a precious commodity used in the daily life especially in areas where water from underground sources was either hard to get or was polluted. It is also possible that the blocks provided with openings could have released water drop by drop to the household use.