The couple started renovations and found a 3-meter well in the middle of their living room (7 photos)
A couple from Great Britain bought an Edwardian house (this is the very beginning of the 20th century) and while renovating the floor they discovered a three-meter hole in a ring of bricks right under their feet. Nice decoration for the living room!
Shania Lloyd, 28, and her husband Ross Bennett, 25, were lifting floorboards in their home when they discovered a ring of bricks with a deep hole.
Local records revealed their two-bedroom terraced home in Coventry, West Midlands, is on the site of a former farm.
Shania and Ross were shocked to discover a 10-foot-deep secret well just beneath the floor of their home.
“We had such a busy day and at 10pm we remembered that the plumbers were coming and we needed to get the floorboards up by morning. Ross went to do this and suddenly he screamed! He saw a perfect circle of bricks and complete darkness, so he shone his flashlight down. He jumped in and I thought, "He's crazy." We couldn't sleep that night, it was so exciting."
“We couldn't believe it,” Shania says. “I’m both excited and scared – I watched “The Ring” and “The Silence of the Lambs”!
And Ross just thinks it's cool. Now we are thinking of making a decorative decoration out of the well - placing lamps inside and putting a glass lid on top.”
Shania and Ross bought the house for £192,000 in November last year. The house hadn't been updated since at least the 1960s, so they set out to renovate it.
To replace the boiler, the couple had to dismantle the floorboards in the living room, and on March 10 they discovered a well. Ross climbed inside and says that there is wet clay at the bottom. He believes that if it is removed, the water can be reached and then the well will become operational again.
For now, they are keeping the pit closed because their dog, Bruce, has become too interested in it.
“There was a huge textile dyeing industry in the area, and at first I wondered if the well had something to do with that,” Shania says. “But it’s too deep for that, and we did some research and found that our house was built on the site of an old farmhouse where there was a well, so we’re sure that’s it.”
“This is a piece of Coventry history and the whole local community is delighted with it. We're a little nervous because it's our first time buying a house. And we welcome any advice on how to turn it into a tourist attraction.”