A man who helped his wife buy back her family’s derelict estate was horrified to discover huge sinkholes on the lawn that will costs tens of thousands of pounds to repair.
Pitchford Hall had been part of Rowena Nason’s family for centuries, but in 1992 her parents were forced to sell it off after falling into financial difficulties.
It meant the stunning timbre-framed property in Shropshire – which once hosted a young Queen Victoria and was used as a safe house for the British royals in World War II – was left unattended for 25 years. But that all changed after Rowena bought her family seat back, with husband James.
However, during last night’s episode of Channel 4’s Saving Country Houses, the pair were forced to face just one of the huge costs that come with preserving historic structures.
They brought in Corey Lane, a heritage surveyor, to investigate the cause of the sinkholes.
‘We’ve clearly got a problem,’ James told the programme. ‘And the issue for us is, we do events on the lawn.
‘We do weddings, we do guided tours. So when you find you’ve got two sinkholes in a major part of the grounds, clearly we’ve got a pretty big issue.’
To try and trace the cause, James and Corey investigated Pitchford Hall’s intricate tunnel system, which lays around three metres below the ground – connecting an old fishing pond on one side of the house to a brook on the other.
A couple that bought a derelict family estate were horrified to learn that they will now have to splash out ‘tens of thousands’ of pounds to get rid of two giant sinkholes on their lawn. Pitchford Hall (pictured) had been part of Rowena Nason’s family for centuries, but in 1992, her parents were forced to sell it off after falling into financial difficulties
But during last night’s episode of Channel 4’s Saving Country Houses, the pair was forced to face just one of the heaving costs that come with preserving historic properties. Pictured: James Nason
They brought in Corey Lane, a heritage surveyor, to investigate the cause of the sinkholes outbreak
Plunging to take part in the claustrophobic endeavour, Corey made his way through the tunnel – and spotted the culprit about 24 metres in.
‘We’re seeing a lot of structural movement within the chamber itself at this point,’ he explained.
‘On the north wall we’ve got a two-metre section where the stonework is completely missing and that is the cause of the sinkhole.
‘That’s enabled the water to then rush in and wash the ground out, which has caused your original sinkhole.
‘It’s percolating through to the rear of the structure – it’s a spiral of decay.’
‘There are significant issues,’ he concluded. ‘We’ve got localised defects all the way through, however the real problems occur between 19.6 metres and 29 metres.
‘This section of wall here is completely undercut… We’ve got obstructions to the flow of water and these are in the form of huge pieces of stone that have been displaced from upstream.
‘We’ve got a huge five metre section of wall and it’s literally just dropped, there’s water completely free-flowing.’
To try and trace the cause, James and Corey investigated Pitchford Hall’s intricate tunnel system, which lay around three metres below the ground – connecting an old fishing pond on one side of the house to a brook, on the other
Plunging to take part in the claustrophobic endeavour, Corey made his way through – and spotted the culprit about 24 metres in
He was horrified to hear the repairs would end up being ‘tens of thousands’ – but admitted he still loves the property, and that this was simply ‘a classic challenge that they didn’t expect to be dealing with’
Corey said that because of this, there is ‘structural cracking’ about 16 metres in.
‘There’s no sugarcoating it, is there,’ James said. ‘It sounds pretty bad. Looking for a silver lining but I’m not sure that’s coming.’
He was horrified to hear the repairs would end up being ‘tens of thousands’ – but admitted he still loves the property, and that this was simply ‘a classic challenge that they didn’t expect to be dealing with’.
However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom – as a foray through the tunnel system also unveiled some positive hidden surprises.
Corey and James had come across a previously unseen ‘chamber’ – which was bricked up about 100 years ago.
Taking away some of the stonework, they were able to get a glimpse into what they believe was a private bathing room during the Georgian era – as cold water bathing kicked off as a trend during the 18th century.
Elsewhere, an accent wall featured what appeared to be ornate shell and quartz decor.
‘I would love to actually restore this to what it was originally in the 1820s or 1830s,’ James added.
‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful for people to see how the Georgians relaxed and enjoyed themselves all those years ago.’
