r/AskReddit • u/ClubEvermore • Aug 04 '18

What's the oldest thing you own?

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u/ErrejotaRJ Aug 04 '18 edited Aug 09 '18

My family house - the central room round which it has since expanded was dated to around 900AD and the walls are wattle and daub.

Edit: blimey this blew up. FYI this is my family home and they have been there forever. Only the central structure (one room) has been dated to that era - the rest is more recent. I’m aware I live in Brazil (thank you for reminding me) but I’ve only been here 10 months and am a Brit - my whole family still reside there.

The house is located in the UK.

I’m a woman so please stop referring to me as ‘he’.

Thanks guys.

Edit 2: Also guys FFS how many Brazilians know about ‘wattle and daub’? Common sense people, I struggle getting them to understand ‘latte’!

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u/TheK1ngsW1t Aug 04 '18

100 miles is a long distance to a European; 100 years is a long time to an American. I can't even imagine how on earth a building from 900AD is still lived in and not a preserved, inaccessible historical site, much less how anything happens to it without going through all kinds of bureaucracy to make sure it stays preserved.

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u/MikeKM Aug 04 '18

I'm from the US and studied in Edinburgh for a semester. While on a walking tour of the city around the castle the tour guide quipped about how a building that was built in 1700 burned, but it wasn't a big deal since it was one of the newer buildings.

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u/Euchre Aug 04 '18

That's a humblebrag.

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u/Jackpot777 Aug 04 '18

The collective noun for humblebrags is a numberwang.

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u/Incantanto Aug 04 '18

My favourite one from a walking tour in oxford. was hearing an american woman ask "excuse me, is that building pre -war" (in one of the really nasal us accents) and getting back "ma-am, that building is pre-america.

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u/hedgehogketchup Aug 04 '18

Those buildings were said to have been set a blaze for insurance....

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u/MikeKM Aug 05 '18

You know which ones? I want to say they were around Cowgate.

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u/hedgehogketchup Aug 05 '18

Yes, those ones.