Residents discuss old chimney-like object in rural Dorset

Sat on a field off the B3143 between the villages of Piddletrenthide and Plush sits a chimney-like stone object surrounded by nothing but grass and trees.

Following a Facebook post by Dorset-baker Liz Crow, residents on social media began providing suggestions as to what the structure could be – some serious, some not so.

“The elves are in the field at the top of the hill,” one man said.

“Perhaps we could think of it as a kind of hobbit house,” said another.

Liz, who runs Lizzie Baking Birds, joined in on the light-hearted brainstorm. She said: “Could it be a house that was there and buried underground?”

Some digging on the depths of the web lead curious residents to a 2008 online post by blogger Peter Ashley on his Unmitigated England site.

He wrote: “Of course the first thoughts were for a subterranean home in the style of Bilbo Baggins' Hobbiton dwelling, with the front door perhaps hidden away in the woods. And then maybe a smokery of some kind.

‘Underground hobbit house’ object near the B3143 between Piddletrenthide and Plush in rural Dorset (Image: Lizzie Baking Bird)

“The only other explanation put forward is that it is an escape hatch for the build-up of marsh gas emanating from a water course. It just seems so purposeful, with its stone base and truly magnificent orange chimney pot.”

Peter also stopped an elderly local man to ask if he knew anything about the object, writing: “He peered over the hedge, thought for a minute and then said ‘I ain't got a clue boy’.”

So, what is it?

The truth is, disappointingly, rather simple. The object is part of an old hydraulic ram formerly used to pump water back up the valley to a duck pond.

A short distance away further up the hill is the lever used to work the ram.

“I was so gutted to discover it wasn’t a hobbit house,” said Liz.

While the object’s true myth busting form may ruin the fun, residents suggest they will keep the mystery of the chimney alive.