Cool Finds

A Groundskeeper Noticed a Sinkhole on a Golf Course. It Turned Out to Be a Wine Cellar Full of Empty Bottles, Untouched for More Than 100 Years

The cellar is located near the 13th hole of a course at the Davyhulme Park Golf Club in England. Staffers think it was previously part of a manor that was torn down in 1888

Kunjal Bastola | Editorial Intern

March 19, 2026

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A sinkhole has opened up on a golf course in Manchester, England, revealing an abandoned wine cellar. Officials say nobody had been in the forgotten space for more than 100 years.

Steve Hopkins, the deputy head green keeper at Davyhulme Park Golf Club, uncovered the cellar near the 13th hole. Dozens of empty glass bottles were discovered inside. 

“I was walking back to the green-keeping facilities when I noticed a small sinkhole on the 13th tee, which is not unusual. At the time we just thought it was a collapsed drain,” Hopkins tells the Guardian’s Mark Brown. “So we’re thinking it’s just a drain that needs digging out and clearing and repairing, but as we dug deeper and deeper it just opened underneath us.”

An exciting discovery on the course today⛳

Following the appearance of a sinkhole on the 13th hole, our greens team uncovered what appears to be an old cellar, believed to date back to the original manor house.

Over 100 years old and filled with historic wine and port bottles pic.twitter.com/0uBdyrW1Vp

— Davyhulme Park Golf Club (@DavyhulmeGolf) February 27, 2026

The digging led to a small doorway. When he carefully climbed inside, Hopkins found a brick cellar full of empty wine and port bottles. The space appears to have had another entrance at some point, but it’s now blocked.

“I was basically the first person to go in there for over 100 years,” Hopkins tells BBC News’ Jonny Humphries.

Coincidentally, the space was found near a section of the course called the Cellars. Officials think it was once part of Davyhulme Hall, a manor built by the Hulme family in the 12th century during the reign of Henry II. The hall was the seat of John de Hulme, a medieval knight.

In 1844, Robert Henry Norreys inherited the estate and created a nine-hole golf course on the grounds. When Norreys died in 1887, Davyhulme Hall went on the market. But the manor didn’t sell, and it was ultimately torn down. The golf club that exists today was formed in the early 20th century.

“It's quite exciting for the golf club. We do have a rich history, and we are aware that before the golf club was there, it was a manor,” Martyn Hamer, a staff member at the club, tells the Independent’s Harriette Boucher.

After the discovery was announced, staffers and members at the club began discussing what to do next, with some members even suggesting that the cellar could be transformed into a new feature on the course, Hopkins tells BBC News.

“For now, the cellar has been safely sealed while we decide what to do with it next. We’d love to turn it into a feature—it’s such a fascinating find—but we need to carefully consider the safety of players (and where those golf balls might land!)” the golf club says in a Facebook post. “The bottles have been removed for safekeeping while we work out their next chapter. Perhaps they’ll make a lovely display in the clubhouse—we’ll keep you posted!”

Kunjal Bastola | Read More

Kunjal Bastola is an editorial intern with Smithsonian magazine.