Huge 300ft Sinkhole Opens Up Just Outside Cornish Bungalow
This giant sinkhole is so vast that it threatens to swallow the bungalow that sits just beside it.
The cavernous hole has emerged in the back garden of the home in Scorrier, Cornwall, and it drops approximately 90m deep to water.
However, experts believe it could be as much as FIVE TIMES deeper and may eventually open up to destroy the nearby property that is fortunately unoccupied.
Since drilling was begun to explore the depths of the mine, half a garage and a patio has already disappeared into the hole.
Vast: The sinkhole is at least 90m deep (SWNS)
Danger: The nearby bungalow is at threat of falling in (SWNS)
Cornwall is full of abandoned mines and this one was discovered when local experts set out to look for more holes after looking at age old maps.
Stuart Dann, from Mining Eye, said that the discovery was unexpected.
He said: ”There was nothing there at all that shows there was a shaft. The shaft opened up when experts were drilling down the patio.
“Both houses nearby are empty, which is a very good job. It is easy to see the woods fields and houses and assume nothing was there.
"If you go back to 1750, the area was completely different.
"There were dozens of engine houses and hundreds of shafts in the area, which probably looked a bit like a desert.”
Mineshaft: The hole was likely boarded up after the mine was abandoned (SWNS)
Unoccupied: Fortunately no one is living in the bungalow (SWNS)
Explaining how the mines were covered up once they were out of use, Stuart added: “As mines closed, many put very large bits of timber across shafts and backfilled them, thinking this would be safe.
“Gradually all evidence of the engine houses and covered shafts went and we and builders before us assumed there was nothing there.
"Apart from on the old maps of course. The old maps often clearly detail the layout of various mines and where shafts are.
“It is these maps which mean the difference between buying a house which might fall down a hole, or one which sits on firm ground.”
The fat of the bungalow has yet to be determined - though structural engineers believe it will eventually fall down to the watery pit below.
Top pic: SWNS
