More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A woman was left speechless after she found a giant hole in her garden.
Lara Ann Peters, of Glencoe Road, Chatham, discovered the 30ft-deep void while installing a new fence post.
The shocked mum-of-three says she is still not sure what the mysterious pit is.
Upon the discovery, Lara contacted Medway Council for advice and was told it did not fall under its remit, as it was on private property.
Lara, who works in the vaccination hub of Medway Maritime Hospital, said: "I was quite shocked considering how deep it is.
"After the council said they couldn't help I took to Facebook where I heard a lot of different things.
"Some said it was cesspit and my neighbour's landlord thinks it is an old well.
"There are pipes going into it and brickwork down there - it's quite freaky really."
Lara's neighbour's landlord will assist in covering the hole tomorrow, to reduce the risk posed by the void.
Meanwhile, inquiries to determine the origin of the hole are ongoing.
It's certainly not the first time people digging in their gardens have unearthed more than they expected.
In 2016, the Raistrick family was stunned to find the entrance to a buried chamber, believed to be an ice house.
And it's by no means uncommon in Kent for voids to suddenly open up.
In February, a large hole opened up in the road in Guilton, on the edge of Ash, near Sandwich.
At the end of last year, villagers in Minster on Sheppey were surprised to see a huge void arrived overnight in the churchyard at 1,400-year-old Minster Abbey.
And parts of Maidstone, particularly the Barming area, have become well-known for the appearance of gaping chasms.
Most recently, in October last year, people who paid nearly £400,000 to move into new homes were alarmed to see yet another sinkhole swallowing the ground close to their estate.
This one was at the Bovis Homes Orchard Fields development along Hermitage Lane.
It came just a month after one had opened up at South East Water's drinking water storage reservoir, also in Hermitage Lane, on September 25.
Such was the regularity of the holes appearing that it prompted MPs Tracey Crouch and Helen Grant to appeal to the Secretary of State for Housing for "an urgent moratorium on all future housebuilding" around Hermitage Lane.
Another one not far away in Tonbridge Road in 2018 saw the A26 shut for months while it was filled in.
