Who ordered that?

[Tim Lamb]

Excavating some planting holes for fruit trees, I found what appears to be a concrete slab 750mm or so below lawn level.

Lots of domestic waste in the soil mix so presumably originally installed below normal soil level and then used as a tip. Difficult to date broken pottery and glass but lots of decayed battery cells point to post WW2 fill.

Domestic bomb shelter? The grass browned off over roughly a 1.5m square during the drought. Mains drainage didn't reach here until the '70's so I'm reluctant to go poking holes in what could be a septic tank.

Any thoughts?

[Joe]

I removed one of those a bit over thirty years ago. the concrete base was a five-sided box about three feet deep, and showed the imprint of the corrugated iron top on the outside faces. It was pretty much level with the surface, and full of mud, bricks, old iron and a fair bit of water. The latter was a perfect breeding ground for gnats, so it had to go.

It was extremely good concrete. A tree root had grown in and out of the corrugations in one corner, and contrary to popular belief, had not been able to get into the concrete.

I went out and bought a six pound sledgehammer, not being able to get much speed with a twelve-pounder. So I struck the edge of this shelter as hard as I could, and dislodged a chip about an inch long. I put the hammer down, and went out and hired an electric breaker...

[Tim Lamb]

In message [e-mail]>, Joe [e-mail] writes

Hmm. So you think they dug a hole, erected the shelter and then concreted the inside.

How thick was your concrete and roughly what overall size?

:-) I have the use of a Kango..

>

[Spike]

I remember helping my dad to dismantle the air raid shelter in our garden, circa 1951, as the UK was short of steel at that time and scrap was in demand. The sum of ten bob was mentioned for it.

I don’t know what happened to the concrete base, it must have been filled in and was grassed over.

The grass was lush and green, as we’d kept chickens in the shelter for the previous years, before eating them.

Some interesting facts about Anderson shelters, including sizes:

[Colin Bignell]

It depends upon the tree. There is a reason why you shouldn't have a sycamore within 5 metres of your foundations.

[Chris Hogg]

There was something very similar in the garden of my previous property. It was a big soakaway designed to take the rainwater from the bungalow roof. No mains drainage and it was still in use as a soakaway. Septic tank was separate.

Maybe yours became redundant at some time - rainwater was discharged into alternative drainage or whatever - and it got filled in.

[Tim Lamb]

We had a farm shed made from corrugated steel that I assumed had been sold off after the war. Very strong stuff!

>

[The Natural Philosopher]

Don't buy my house. Faced with a huge bill to dispose of the old house foundations and chimneys, whilst a lot went to a local stud farm to build roads, a of unbreakable lumps of concrete and masonry simply got tossed into a VeryDeepHole™ and earth pushed over.

Lifted an area about 30x30 metres up a whole foot.

The old septic tank is *still* slowly collapsing in and forming a hollow in the grass after 20 years, too.

There is a great temptation to simply let nature take its course when things like old sheds collapse

[Vir Campestris]

"decayed battery cells" ?

I've been digging out bricks from the old dunny that's under one of our flower beds. There was a lot of broken glass and crockery, a couple of clay pipes, and a couple of little round black rods which upon thinking could have been the middle of a C or D cell (names have been changed ;) )

Nothing else from the batteries though.

Perhaps ours is a little older.

Andy

[Tim Lamb]

Yes. I wondered (from the quantity) if they could be from *dry* batteries that we used to put into early portable radios.

[Brian Gaff]

Nowadays the planning authorities ask for a contaminated land report on such land reused as this. I know that near me though, a clay quarry was filled using clinkers and rubbish, including old cars then a concrete plinth was put over it to build on. This was in the 60s, now in the recent 10 years or so, The road over part of it is sinking, one house lost a porch extension at the front and most of the front garden and cracks are appearing in the house. Its on a hill as well, so I suspect the whole lot is slipping due to erosion by underground water running into a nearby stream. Much consternation as the last occupants found out none of this when they did a search. They should have asked us who have lived here a long time!

Brian

[Chris Hogg]

A small disused quarry near my previous place was full of old 90-volt battery packs and smaller 6-volt packs, for HT and valve filaments respectively for use in 'portable' radios before rural farms etc were connected to mains electricity. The 90-volt types were bonded together in a block with bitumen, probably 10 by 6 cells.

[Bob Eager]

I had one of those radios. 90v HT, but 1.4v LT for filaments (rather than heaters and cathodes).

[ARW]

I love the change from imperial to metric in this bit

The shelters measured 1.4m wide, 2m long and 1.8m tall. They were quite cramped and someone taller than 6ft would not have been able to stand up in one.

But thanks for the link - I enjoyed it

Cheers

Adam

[Tim Lamb]

The mystery is solved! I Kangoed a hole through the concrete and found a large void below. It is a relatively modern rainwater soak! About 1.5m deep and similar wide, loose laid fletton bricks on a concrete base forming a permeable cylindrical wall. The obvious giveaway is the 4" salt glaze feed pipe.

Historically the previous land owners fell fowl of the planning dept. and were made to take down some unconsented buildings built around 1965. About 5m to the foundation slab corner.

The Cherry tree will have to go somewhere else!

[wrights...]

Did they chicken out?

Bill

[Tim Lamb]

I wondered who would first to spot that:-)

[Tim Lamb]

In message [e-mail]>, Tim Lamb [e-mail]> writes

Ok. Now I've missed a B

[Tim Lamb]

In message [e-mail]>, Tim Lamb [e-mail]> writes

Something else I didn't request:-(

Holes drilled to check for gas/water. Dry! Old low pressure water supply I guess. 9" angle grinder and now gone to the scrap bin.

So that is the last of the fruit tree planting!