What is this?

[r896neo]

Were the people you bought your house from jewish?

 

[Thermo]

looks to small for an air riad shelter and the construction looks to old from the types of bricks etc. As mentioned befor may well be some sort of plant or pump room. the angle iron looks like it is there to support something so th steps may have given acess to underneath it to maintain it or drain it etc. Steps look very narrow as well, which would tend to point towards that.


more to the point, why are you putting a green house on a concrete base? the point of a greenhouse is to maximise the area you have to grow stuff inside. much better off with a pathway down the middle and open soil to grow in

 

[Rosy]

The reason for the concrete base - slabs have been laid on top. The greenhouse is only 8'6" x 6' octagonal - and very pretty. I have tomatoes, peppers, chilli growing in pots on the staging and strawberries in a tiered container outside it.

We do have veggies down the bottom of the garden.

 

[Rosy]

Any ideas on what could be done with this now? - it seems a shame having cleared it out - to fill it back in again. I think its quite cute.

 

[ColJack]

line it and turn it into a pond?
fill it with sand for the kids to play in?
paddling pool?

 

[bobby spray]

maybe the remains of a game larder?

 

[Rosy]

You could well be right, from the old paperwork I remember the old chap had shooting rights when he purchased the land. So bunnies and pheasants could have hung from the rusty iron bar. There may well have been another one, or even more higher up before demolition.

 

[bobby spray]

It certainly looks like the ones I have used in the past. There would be a top section (now demolished) with air vents to allow the game to ripen. You don't hang bunnies by the way only game.

 

[Rosy]

Thank you so so very much.

How can we recreat it as it would be a brilliant feature?

I take it we need air vents, how tall out of the ground would it have been and what sort of roof etc etc etc.??????

 

[bobby spray]

There is no standard design. I've seen pitched roofs, flat roofs, vaulted ceilings, in both brick and wood. Some sunk into the ground, some on stilts. The key thing is ventilation. Usually there are several openings covered by fine wire mesh to keep flies out but still allow the game to breathe and ripen. Usually there are two of these on each wall. If you really want to recreate it then do it to your taste. It's of limited use nowadays unless you shoot lots of game. I like vaulted ceilings but that is just my taste.

google for pics of dozens of designs
good luck with it

BS

 

[matt1e]

my gran used to have an air raid shelter at the bottom of her back garden looks pretty much identical to me, same shape, size etc it was made with bricks and had a huge slab of concrete on top as a roof did a google map search but hers has long gone but it was pretty much like a smaller version of the ones here
matt

 

[Rosy]

Thanks Mattie but we have a very large garden and this thing is so very tiny. During the war this area was rural and relatively safe and used to get the evacuees from London so I think an air raid shelter would have been slightly bigger. Been talking to an old local and apparently there was a public air raid shelter across the road from us.

Also there was a tiny butchers shop 2 doors down which as far as I know the chap that lived here built and rented out so I am still tending toward the game larder.

 

[glasgowgas]

looks a bit like Fritzels first stab at a family room

 

[kevtrydiy]

You could have built the greenhouse over it as per this link!!!!


http://www.reuk.co.uk/Solar-Greenhouse-Heat-Sink.htm