Any ideas what this could be?

[Fern204]

So the house we are buying has this weird raised patio area, with an access panel, like a drain cover. We are planning to redo and landscape the patio/garden anyway, but anyone have any ideas? It's about 40 cm high, plus the 'decorative' wall. House has mains drainage etc, so not a septic tank.

Pictures attached now

How old is the house? Could it have once not been on mains drainage maybe?

I dont think so, its 1930s, standard road in Brighton

Another picture

Possibly just a "decorative feature"?

What do the current owners say? Or does it come up on the survey?

Could the house have oil heated to begin with and it been where the oil tank sat?

My 1930s house has an underground air aid shelter but it doesn't have a drain cover on it.

I like the idea of an underground bunker! Was oil heating common in a town, I have always associated it with more rural properties.
We are waiting for an answer from owners...

Is it not just a drain cover?

But why would there be a big raised area that needed a drain cover?

Yes it's just a drain cover!!!

🤣 I prefer the underground bunker suggestion!

There's clearly some ground movement around it, and the breezeblock wall isn't straight. It needs investigating.

Could the whole area have once been a koi pond or something, and has been filled in?

Have you lifted the drain cover? There's definitely some sinking going on there.

We are planning to remove it, so not too concerned about the movement. There is also half a dozen steps down the side of it that corresponded with a side gate which has been bricked in.
I can see a large skip being needed.

What is it? Ugly as fuck, is what it is!

@DonLewis you are right there!

it could be the old septic tank from before the house was connected to the main drains?

Don't chuck all of it in a skip.
When we had our small patio replaced by a much bigger one, he lifted the old slabs, dug out the base then broke up the old slabs to use as hardcore base under concrete for new patio.

My husband is an architect he says it's probably just a manhole but the fact it's a raised patio means it's possibly access to the subfloor but definitely a service.
I have no idea what that all means or if he's right.

I dont think it would give access to the subfloor because it's about 6ft away from the house itself. The EA suggested it might have been a base for a greenhouse. But why they would put paving blocks and a drain cover, he had no idea...

its a sacred burial spot.

The roof of the family crypt?

Septic tank