A house put up for auction for £1,000 because of “serious mining issues” nearby, has been sold for £32,000.
West Country Property Auctions said buyers had to consider the house in a disused mining area in Redruth, Cornwall could collapse at anytime.

Four years ago a couple abandoned their home when a 200ft (61m) mine shaft opened up and swallowed their lawn.

The house was bought on Wednesday by a self-confessed “eccentric” who bid from behind a tall plant.

Posted: 12|7|06 at 1:33 pm. Filed under: Auction News.

A house put up for auction for £1,000 because of “serious mining issues” nearby, has been sold for £32,000.
West Country Property Auctions said buyers had to consider the house in a disused mining area in Redruth, Cornwall could collapse at anytime.

Four years ago a couple abandoned their home when a 200ft (61m) mine shaft opened up and swallowed their lawn.

The house was bought on Wednesday by a self-confessed “eccentric” who bid from behind a tall plant.

At the auction in Plymouth, the man bid by waving from the foliage, prompting auctioneer Graham Barton to refer to him as gardener Alan Titchmarsh.

The new owner would not say why he had bought the three-bedroom, terraced house or whether he planned to live in it.

The auction house said there were “serious, disconcerting mining issues in the immediate vicinity of this property”.

Mining activity was prolific around the Camborne and Redruth areas from late 1700s until 1800s and a large number of mining shafts run along underground.

Posted: 12|7|06 at 9:26 am. Filed under: Auction News.