What is this structure?

[Birky]

I decided to try out a new spot I've been looking at today and I must say I'm pretty confused with what I found there..
I was trying to locate an old foundation site that is on a friends property and after an hour or so of searching I came upon a large round hole in the ground that is lined with brick and stone. It's about 8ft in diameter and looks to be pretty deep even though it's half filled in.
It appears far too large to be a well and has a pipe entering into it near the top couple rows of stone. After the first couple rows it starts to cove outward and has a smooth layer of cement or some similar material lining the walls. It appears to be a spherical shaped underground tank of some sort..

About 10-15ft away from that is another hole which is only about 4ft in diameter and also lined with stone, though this one appears more like a well as its sides are straight down.

I'm sure this is nothing out of the ordinary though it's obviously out of my realm of knowledge.

Can anyone tell me what I'm dealing with here?






thanks for reading,
Chris

 

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[diggummup]

Sounds like an old cistern.

 

[DocBeav]

Think diggemup nailed it. Looks and sounds like a cistern to me too. Trace out the pipes that come into it and see if you can tell where they originate (if they are still there) or at least what direction they come in from.

 

[olroy70]

could be an old cesspool. how big is the line into it?

 

[unclemac]

sounds like a cistern connected to a well. Out west you used to see these old wooden windmills that would constantly pump water from old hand dug wells to open cisterns that would keep fresh open water available for live stock. like this....

 

[Birky]

Thanks for your input guys, I do appreciate it

My first thought was cistern also but I didn't know if they were used in conjunction with a well or not. I didn't measure the pipe but I would say it's 4 inches.

Is it common to have two cisterns? Because today I located another one on the opposite side of the well about the same distance as the first. Maybe one of them is for waste?

As far as I know there was only one residence located here though I could be mistaken, the only foundation I've found thus far was completely buried..

Is this common also?

Sorry for all of the random questions, I'm just trying to figure out what I'm dealing with at this site and learn something useful in the process!

Thanks,
Chris

 

[GMD52]

Just a thought, was there any charring , or smoke residue? Possilble it was an old charcoal kiln?