The house that lied about its age

[bunn]

Chatting to a neighbour (who shall remain anonymous), I discover that her house is considerably older than she thought it was when she bought it.  She knew it was old - maybe 18th century or so.   But having looked it over thoroughly and burrowed through some of the paperwork, she thinks that parts of it are 15th century, or possibly even earlier.

So, she checked her insurance.  And found that insuring very, very old houses is really rather expensive and difficult. It seems likely that at least the last two owners of the place have been a little discreet about its age, at least in public.  She plans to follow their example.

I wonder how many other houses this applies to.

Comments

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

Other half's cousin and her husband have absolutely no idea how old their place is, but it is mentioned in the oldest records of the village, dating to the 1600s. Any older records, and probably most of the village as well, were destroyed in the 30 years war. They have found an entire room bricked up with valuables (such as the good furniture and cloth) bricked up and plastered over. It could, in places, be even older than 17th century, and it wouldn't surprise them in the slightest if it turned out to be the case.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Wow, that sounds exciting! My neighbour has not found anything as dramatic as a sealed room.

I was mostly amused by her being almost as annoyed as interested that the place was older than she had thought.