Iron pipe found digging in back garden, what will it be?

[sim17]

Digging my back garden under some flags just behind the house I've discovered an iron pipe, runs across back of house, under fence across party line, will have to dig some more to find out how far it goes the other way.

About an inch or inch and a half external diameter, appears to be black, surprisingly shallow at aroun 8 inches. My water supply comes in to the front of the house via blue pipe, so if it is water it isn't serving me. My gas was replaced with yellow pipe a few years ago and also comes from road at front of house.

Could it be old abandoned gas or water supply? Or possible still live somehow? feeding somewhere else? I think all houses on the street had yellow gas pipe put in the same time, from the road at front, so I doubt it carries gas. It is kind of in the way at that shallow depth... Seems in reasonable condition though, heavy clay soil, house about 1930.

How do I tell whether water or gas, or what? Thanks for any tips or advice people are able to offer.

 

[Onetap]

You can't tell what's in it unless you break it or you trace it to a fitting, with a metal detector. Leave it alone unless you need to move it; it's probably redundant, some service to a demolished building, but it would be a horror story to seal it again if it were live.

I found a shallow steel pipe in my back garden. It turned out to contain an electric cable that had been run to an Anderson air raid shelter that was at the bottom of the garden and is now under a rockery. I only heard about its existence when I met a lady who'd lived in the house during WW2.

 

[Nige F]

About an inch or inch and a half external diameter, appears to be black, surprisingly shallow at aroun 8 inches. er.

@ that depth - and knowing gas fiters/pipelayers - It`s redundant Gas