Mystery under the concrete

[Merlin]

I have spent the weekend breaking and removing the concrete in the back yard and have found the original path and step that had been buried for 40 years. I still have more concrete to go at, and hope to find the rest of the path intact....

On removing the concrete from where the original garden wall was at the back of the garden, I found a slope. I have no idea what it is or what it was for, so am asking the enlightened minds of PPUK for help.

A couple of pictures to help your ponderings....

This shows the back gate and original step into the garden, which was under 8" of concrete.


This shows the line where the old garden wall was, and the slope is at the right hand side.


This is a close up of the slope. There are two square indentations, one at either end of flat area at the top of the slope.

Initially it looks like a coal chute, but I think that is unlikely, as there is a coal chute at the front of the house leading into the coal cellar.

 

[Penners]

At first I thought that the concrete fillet (slope) was simply to hold the kerbstone in place, but then I noticed that the kerbstone is unlike the rest of the cobblestone verge. So it may have been installed for a particular purpose.

Could the indentations have been worn into the edge by, perhaps, cartwheels? Could the slope then have been put in to make it easier to roll a cart up and down, at that point (to a parking area, perhaps)?

What's behind the fence at the bottom of the slope?

 

[JoceAndChris]

I'm sort of thinking of the rolling along of things too. Slopes have been built in here for the use of wheelbarrows.

But how lovely to uncover it!

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Might it have made it easier to shovel, erm, something out of a pit beneath a small building traditionally found in yards of that type?

 

[tobydog]

Bit of a longshot but is it possibly something to do with a WWII air raid shelter? A posh one rather than the pre-fab Anderson type?