Huge mine shaft opens up under garden patio

A 300ft mine shaft from an 18th century tin mine opened up in a back garden. Credit: Mark Thomas

A huge mine shaft has opened up under a patio in a back garden in Cornwall.

The 300ft mine shaft was found in Scorrier, an area with a history of tin mining, when surveyors were checking the site for the sale of a house.

The hole is said to drop approximately 90m until it hits water but it could be four or five times deeper.

Local resident Mark Thomas, who uploaded footage from his drone on his YouTube account, said: "This shaft is truly massive and is approximately 300ft to water and god knows how deep from there."

The hole opened up when mining experts, searching for holes after looking at old maps, started drilling in the area.

Half a garage and a patio disappeared into the hole but fortunately the home it was discovered under is unoccupied.

Stuart Dann, from Mining Eye, said that the discovery was unexpected.

"There was nothing there at all that shows there was a shaft," he said. "The shaft opened up when experts were drilling down the patio."

Structural engineers are deciding the future of the bungalow but Mr Dann says that cracks to the foundation means that it is likely to be uninhabitable.

The mine shaft is just over 20 miles from Rosudgeon, where another disused mine shaft opened up on a road last year causing traffic chaos.