A BRIT has been left baffled after discovering an ancient relic in the bathroom of her 700-year-old home.
Tracy Vorster has only lived in her Lincoln home with husband Rory for little more than a month, so was stunned when she came across a bizarre item carved into the stone in their bathroom on Sunday.
The 40-year-old and her hubby were cleaning under the bathroom windowsill when they spotted what looked like a carving of a face with three tiny holes appearing to lead to outside the home.
Asking on both social media and folks in the area, Tracy soon found the relic was in fact a 14th century drainage device, used to funnel water away from the building.
An image shows Tracy’s windowsill and what appears to be its original stonework, which has been revealed as the wood on the modern sill opens like a door.
In the stone is carved an unusual gargoyle-like face, whose mouth consists of three small holes.
Three faint lines lead down into the holes, acting as an ancient drain for the long-forgotten previous inhabitants of the house.
Baffled by the discovery, spray tan tech Tracy took to social media yesterday for suggestions on what the relic could have been used for.
She wrote in the post: “I found this under the windowsill in my bathroom in my 700-year-old house.
“You can clearly see it has three crevices in which the water can flow down into a face. Any idea if this was a type of sink?”
The post received over 28,000 likes and 3,000 comments by users who attempted to explain the carving.
Kat Tressler-McQuiston wrote: “My first thought is drainage for doing work on corpses. Was your home a funeral home once?”
Liv Frifeldt suggested: “I think you’ve got a gargoyle rain drainage – it was very popular back then.”
Claire Louise commented: “Back then, it was popular to reuse and repurpose anything they could from old buildings and even churches and graveyards.
“Lots of people find that they have ancient gravestones in their fire hearths. Could it be some ancient architectural salvage? I assume this is in the UK or Europe?”
Speaking to Tracy today she said: “We live in a group of homes called Vicars Court.
“They were the original homes for the vicars when the cathedral was built all those years ago.
“In the 16th century, they turned them into regular homes. So, the cathedral owns all the homes and are the most amazing landlords.
“We found it this past Sunday while doing a regular house clean. We only moved in a month ago and so hadn’t yet looked in that area in the bathroom.
“When we moved in I simply placed plants over it for decor and didn’t think anything of it.”
She added: “On Sunday, I asked my hubby to clean the wooden area in the bathroom above the loo, as the windowsill is large.
“Once he started he realised that the wood opens up like a door, and he opened it to discover the relic just sat there.
“We were happily surprised to see it but not shocked as the house has so much history already.
“The cathedral has confirmed that it is a 14th century drain used to funnel away water.”
Tracy is now excited to see what other relics lie in her home, awaiting to be discovered.
She added: “There is a 700-year-old beam going through our dining room, all the rest has been covered up so who knows what’s to be discovered.”
