When a sinkhole collapsed underneath the 13th hole at the Davyhulme Park Golf Club in Manchester in England last week, there was little cause for celebration. Until, that is, the gaping hole on the course revealed an exciting discovery.
The greens team uncovered “what appears to be an old cellar, believed to date back to the original manor house,” the club announced.
“Over 100 years old and filled with historic wine and Port bottles – what an incredible piece of our club’s history,” Davyhulme Park posted on Instagram.
Mystery bottles
A video taken by one of the groundsmen who ventured inside the cellar shows a brick tunnel with earth-encrusted bottles lining the floor. The team were able to remove some of the bottles, which do not appear to have labels or other clues which could indicate specific wine brands, but the different bottle shapes suggest that some are table wines and others fortified, likely Port.
The Drinks Business has contacted Davyhulme Park Golf Club for details on the total number of bottles found and whether any still contain viable liquid, and will update this article accordingly. However, a line in the golf club’s ‘Local Rules’, published on its website, suggest it may have known about or suspected the presence of a sinkhole before it collapsed, revealing the cellar.
“During play of the 13th hole, the right side of the hole, defined by the white marker posts is out of bounds,” the rules clearly warn players. “These white posts are boundary objects during the play of the 13th hole.”
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