Anyone know what this is?

[Vir Campestris]

I'd hoped it was the cap for our well - it's somewhere around there - but now I'm not so sure.

It's about 3 inches diameter.

The iron pin comes out with a little persuasion, and then I see this

Inside there's something else rusty, it doesn't show too well on the photo

but it's a stalk with a cone on the top; the cone has a flat tip, and feels as though it's fitted into a bit of rubber - it moves a bit side to side.

The pipe is embedded in concrete. I'd guess it was built in the 1980s, which is the age of the new house next door.

Andy

[Another John]

It says: "Sorry: this person moved or deleted this image."

The other two are OK. And I can't help, sorry! (It looks like a section from an oil drill to me!)

J.

[Sam Plusnet]

It's a mortar tube - complete with ammunition.

Run for it.

[Mike Barnes]

It could be a periscope tube. Does that house next door have a cellar?

[dennis]

house built on old landfill site generating methane.

[John Rumm]

Inline with a manhole cover by any chance? If so it could be a "weaver" - i.e. a place where there is a vertical drop in the drainage system to get down to the manhole depth. They were more common in Victorian times though.

[Nightjar]

It looks as though you removed the cap and fitted something onto the spigot inside. Perhaps it is an over-engineered support for a rotary dryer.

[Fredxxx]

Try

[harryagain]

It's obviously a one off device someone has spent some time over. All you can do is ask nieghbours and/or dig down around it & see what you can find at the bottom. Could be to do with your well

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Vir Campestris writes

Curious you mention a well. Could this have been a *borehole* ie the water source prior to towns water supply? In which case the spigot might be the key to an expanding plug.

It looks rather narrow to me as any pumping mechanism is usually at the bottom of the shaft. The one here was around 6" dia. with a cylindrical displacement pump powered by a wooden rod from the motor at the well head.

[ss]

Maybe the base for an amateur radio mast or flag pole.

[mark]

[mark]

Rotary drier base?

mark

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

That was my thought. To have a cap would indicate it was regularly inserted and removed. Amateur radio mast put up for contests where there are "sensitive" neighbours that didn't want to be living in the shadow of a huge multi-element array?

[Chris Hogg]

My guess (as good as anyone else's!) is that it's a ventilation pipe for a structure below. That could be an old disused septic tank or cesspit. The stalk with the cone on top might be a float device that triggered some sort of indicator when the tank was full.

Or possibly a domestic WW2 bomb shelter, a bit like an Anderson shelter.

[Bill]

In message , Chris Hogg writes

But why the strong metal cap with a fixing pin that appears to have a hole in one end for a locking device?

[The Other John]

Underground oil tank?

[News]

Having just read the reel to reel thread, I wonder whether it is a periscope. Who knows who or what is lurking under the garden ...

[dennis]

Do you think they have buried an old nuclear sub?

[Fredxxx]

If you hit the top of the tube with a hammer, does it move, sound as if it connected with anything or have any other feature?

If you think it a mortar tube, perhaps ask a friend (or mother in law) to do this for you??