Pools of water set puzzle.
Strange happenings at St Dominic cottage.
Pools of water appearing in the ground-floor rooms of an old semi-detached cottage at St Dominic are puzzling inhabitants of this Tamar Valley village. The pools appear only between 9.30 a.m. and 5 p.m. – but never on Sundays. They have never appeared at a spot being watched and floorboards are said to remain dry underneath.
All this began just before Easter and has increased over the past week to such an extent that the occupants, Mr and Mrs George Snell, confess to being very worried and baffled.
Three weeks ago a firm of Callington builders was called in. Suspecting a leak, workmen tested the cottage water pipes and found them all in order. Attention was turned to the floors and two of the four – the kitchen and the scullery – were dug up. There was no sign of dampness. In one spot, says Mrs Snell, the workmen found one of the pools, and though the floor boards were wet on top, they were dry underneath. “We just can’t understand it,” they told Mrs Snell. Before they left, the workmen cemented the surface of two floors and dug a trench outside the cottage. But still the pools come, even appearing on the cemented floors!
Some villagers have suggested that the water comes from a leaking main or from a nearby disused well, but Mr and Mrs Snell wonder how this explanation can be coupled with the fact that the trouble never arises on Sundays or during the nights. “We’ve lived here all our 30 years of married life and this has never happened before,” said Mr Snell. “I just can’t understand it.”
Mrs Snell told a “Guardian and Gazette” reporter on Saturday evening that she and her husband had sat and watched the floor for hours, but had never seen the water appear. At times they had turned their backs or left the room for a moment or so, and then found a pool on the floor.
Mrs Snell said the adjoining cottage had not been affected and she had not heard of any other property in the village having any such trouble. She was sure there was some sound reason for the trouble.
Mr W. Grylls, surveyor to St. Germans Rural Council, said he intended making an investigation. “It seems rather strange,” he said. “The water could hardly be coming from the disused village well, for that is well below the level of the cottage, and so far as I know there is no water main in the village above the level of the cottage.”
Mr L. Williams, deputy surveyor to St Germans Rural Council, visited the cottage to make an investigation on Monday. At his suggestion Mr and Mrs Snell locked two of the affected rooms after making sure the floors inside were dry, and agreed not to unlock them until Mr Williams returned on Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday Mr Williams returned to the cottage, and when the rooms were unlocked it was found that no pools had appeared. Mr Williams wishes to keep his theory private until he is sure that it is correct. He explains that he will be visiting the cottage again.
Mysterious pools. Residents of St Dominic are mystified by pools of water which appear in the ground floor rooms of an old, semi-detached cottage occupied by Mr and Mrs George Snell, who are here seen investigating the queer circumstances.
Cornish Guardian, 31st May 1951.