The Mystery of the Watering Trough in the Attic (With Apologies to Nancy Drew)

We have a mystery on our hands, several in fact, and all relating to Rob's discovery of what appears to be a watering trough in the attic.  A very large, steel watering trough:

Our architect, Chris Riddick of Coastal Design, suggested it might be a pig scalder, not a watering trough.  Pig scalders were used for immersing just-killed pig bodies in boiling water to aid in the removal of their hair.  Given this possible use, you can see why I'd prefer to think of it as a watering trough.  My cursory research has not been able to answer the burning (no pun intended) question of whether it's a watering trough or pig scalder definitively, and so I shall refer to it as a watering trough herein for obvious reasons. 

Whatever it is, we are also wondering why it was in the attic of the house - other attic finds included everything from disintegrating mattresses to broken picture frames (aka junk) - but nothing else along these lines.  Our collective imaginations and suggestions from others have evoked many interesting possibilities ranging from the inane (catching water from roof leaks) to the insane (think Jeffrey Dahmer).  Perhaps most puzzling, however, is how the watering trough got into the attic in the first place.  As Rob discovered when he tried to remove the trough, and as you can see in the picture below, it is simply much too large to fit through the only entrance and exit to the attic, a pull down stairs.

Thus, the mystery of the watering trough in the attic.  Was the trough put up there during construction of the home in 1907 and before the finished floors, ceilings and walls were put in place?  If so, why?  Did the attic previously have a different access point?  Our architect, Chris, believes that at some point in the past there may have been another full staircase to the attic above the staircase between the first and second floors.  If so, that may explain how the trough was carried up to the attic, but that raises more questions.  Why would a full staircase be removed in favor of a pull down stair access to the attic?  Additionally, a look at the second floor landing rails (which would not have been in place at the end if another staircase existed) suggest that those are original, or at least very, very old:

But, the laths above the existing staircase were cut underneath the plaster in the perfect opening size for another staircase, so it could be that it existed at some point. 

If we could determine the approximate date of the trough, we'll have a clue.  If we end up taking down the plaster on the wall by the stairs, we'll have more clues about whether a staircase to the attic existed before.  And, there may be a long-time Urbanna resident who knows the history of the home's interior.  Like Nancy Drew, we'll do our best to explore the clues, but unlike Nancy Drew's 100% success rate, we may never solve the mystery. 

And, for the time being at least, we'll continue to have a watering trough in our attic.