Well, well, well...

[Penners]

Most wells I've seen look too small to be able to bend over to do the digging or even lower a bucket past the person doing the digging. Very small boys perhaps?

There's a wonderful hill town in the Umbrian region of Italy called Orvieto. It's built on a volcanic plug, and dates back to Etruscan times. The whole of the area under the old town is honeycombed with underground tunnels and galleries - these are thought to have been an escape route for the townspeople, in the event of attack. Large vehicles are banned from the centre of town, for fear that their weight and vibration will collapse these catacombs.

Down in the tunnels, there are dozens of wells cut down through the volcanic rock. They're all identical in cross-sectional size. I can't remember their depth, but it's enormous. They're so deep, in fact, that archeologists have shown that the people who dug them could not have breathed at the bottom. They must, therefore, have had some kind of artificial ventilation system for the well-diggers - in pre-Roman times!

If you're ever in that part of Italy, don't miss Orvieto. It's fascinating and beautiful.

 

[Moo]

Ah - Orvieto! A truly magical place.
As is St Francis's original monastery just outside Cortona. No doubt Penners will know the name.

 

[Penners]

Could it be Le Celle (literally meaning "the cells")?*






*Thank you, Mr Google!

 

[Moo]

Yes - that's it! Many thanks, Mr P.
Have you been there? It's a real gift for photographers.

 

[Penners]

Sadly, no. But thanks to your recommendation I shall definitely add it to our list.

I anticipate seeing everything on our list by the time I'm 147 years old.

 

[MatthewC]

Sadly, no. But thanks to your recommendation I shall definitely add it to our list.

I anticipate seeing everything on our list by the time I'm 147 years old.

You'd better get a move on, then! :lol:

 

[CatherineB]

Mystery solved by the builders on day 1 of their work; it's simply a glorified soakaway, built 20 years ago when the annexe/garage building were built. :roll:

So, very unexciting, but on the bright side we should be able to drain some of the house guttering into it, as well as the annexe's. At some point I will need to look into whether we can get a discount on our water charges.

 

[AMc]

I looked into this - Anglian water would give me about £30 off a year provided I could prove that all surface water was directed away from their sewers.
Just digging the holes to prove the direction termination of the existing drains would cost me more in labour (unless I did it myself). One downpipe definitely goes into the sewer. The cost of redirecting that to the soakaway would be about £200 just for pipe and pea shingle + labour to dig a trench around the house or create a 2nd soakaway so I decided not to worry. YMMV

 

[CatherineB]

Ah! Thanks for that, Andy!
We definitely have quite a bit still going to the sewer, and I'm not proposing to redirect it, so that's that.
Cheers