Well I never! Plymouth couple find 17ft-deep hole under their living room

A couple who found a well under their living room have finally hit water.

The hole discovered under Colin and Vanessa Steer’s sofa is now 17ft deep.

The couple, both 67, found a hole under the front room of their home in Plymouth, Devon, in the early 1980s, but thought it was only one foot deep.

They initially decided to cover up the indentation because they had three young children in the house.

But after retiring in 2011, Mr Steer began to decorate the living room and dug deeper, only to find the hole was a lot bigger than he had thought.

He has now dug down to about 17ft and has finally hit the water table in the 3ft-wide stone well, and thinks it will get wider the closer to the bottom he gets.

The retired civil servant said he was replacing floor joists in his home when he came across a dipped area by the bay window.

“There was a depression in the floor,” he said.

“I dug down and found the wall of a well. The hole was full of earth, but with the help of a neighbour, we have managed to get about 17ft deep.

MORE: Heathrow introduces scanners that could mean you no longer need remove liquids from your bag
MORE: Female police officer floored by protestors during EDL march against new mosque in Worcester

“I always wanted to dig it out to see if I could find a pot of gold at the bottom, so when I retired that’s what I did.

“I was quite surprised really, I would have preferred it to be in the garden where I could have got at it a little easier.”

Using a ladder and a bucket on a pulley system, it took them about six months to get to the current depth.

“We think it’s a bottle well. It’s 30 inches wide now and could go down another five to six feet,” said Mr Steer.

“I thought I’d found a sword around four feet down – it was a wooden thing that must have had a leather sheath on it as you can see stitch holes. That’s why I want to get to the bottom. Who knows what’s down there.

“We have no idea when it was built. There could have been a couple of cottages here or it could have served a farm.

“I’d like to find something down the bottom, something to give me an age. I wish I had a Tardis to go back in time and see what was here.”

Friends and family have thrown coins down the well and made wishes.

The well isn’t the only bizarre thing the couple have discovered at their property.

In 2012, Mr Steer was carrying out building work in the back garden when he unearthed two German incendiary devices with his shovel.

A bomb disposal team evacuated the property, including both the front and back garden, as they carried the two devices out in sand boxes, before taking them to be destroyed at a safe location.