Found: Medieval Well

Colin Steer and his wife Vanessa.
Photo: SWNS, Source.

Going through my (very long) backlog of news articles and online ephemera earlier today (Happy Thanksgiving! We're celebrating tomorrow because I'm exhausted and why not!), I found this delightful article about a man in Plymouth, Devon, UK who found an old well under his living room while doing some home improvement chores one day. He's dug down 17 feet so far (all in the past year -- this is what he's doing with his retirement); found a crude, peasant's sword; and installed lights and trap door (see above).

According to living room adventurer and hobby historian Colin Steer's research, the land on which his home was built was woodland until the late 19th century, and archival plans date the well to at least the 16th century. He now wants to hire a professional to see if he can date it even further back in time.

Steer states:

I love the well and think it's fascinating. I'd love to find out who was here before us. I've got a piece of Plymouth's history in my front room. 

 Colin's wife, Vanessa, is less than enthused (just look at that glare on her face in the photo above), and says:

I hate the well. 

I just think this story's great.

Perhaps this will become a (relatively) regular sub-feature: Medieval Found Objects? Refer to my previous Found entry on Medieval Underwears, here.