On my pristine 2000 38A, just under the battery cover trimplate andjust behind the battery itself, is a cubby hole that I had not noticed until a few days ago. At first I thought that it might be a shielded and water-protected air intake for the engine, but there's no opening. It is just about the right size to hold the leather owner's manual packet that I have stored in the glove box bin. Could that be the use? My repair manual is too large to fit in the space, but it could be used to hold a set of mechanic's gloves, battery tender, or something much smaller than a thin set of battery cables. Keeping a small tool set there doesn't make a lot of sense if it takes a screwdriver to get the cover off.
Any ideas why the good folks at Solihull did this?

 

on rover 95-98 the GEMS control module sits in there.