A couple who were renovating a former Post Office building have discovered a historic unsent letter under the stairs.
Richard and Tracy Ward from Devil's Bridge, Ceredigion in West Wales, found a letter in Welsh that was written more than 60 years ago whilerenovating a housethey moved into two years ago.
The letter had been left there intentionally, clearly as a bit of fun for future generations to find, with the couple then tracking down the daughter of the writer to hand it back to her.
How couple found letter hidden under the stairs
Richard and Tracy moved to Devil's Bridge from London in 2021 and were in the process of renovating the town's former Post Office when they made the discovery.
邮局用来服务entire town and surrounding villages of Devils Bridge and Ceredigion with just five postmen delivered post to the village’s 426 residents. The town was named after Devil's Bridge above the River Mynach which legend claims the bridge was built by the Devil due to its complex design.
Hidden under the stairs they found a handwritten note tucked away, apparently left there intentionally for future owners to find. On pulling the note out they saw it was dated March 1960 and written in Welsh.
What did the letter say to the new owners?
这对夫妇的过程中学习威尔士fter moving to Devil's Bridge, which made the discovery even more intriguing for them. They took the letter to their beginner's course in Welsh at Dysgu Cymraeg Ceredigion-Powys-Sir Gâr for it to be properly translated by the class and the teacher.
Zoe Pettinger, the class teacher, translated the note, which read: “This paper was put here by Trefor Griffiths, The Post Office, Devil's Bridge on the 10 March 1960. I wonder who will find it?"
The couple then did some research and discovered that Trefor Griffiths was a writer who lived in Devil's Bridge and wrote a book in 1975 about the people of the village of Ceredigion called Hapus Dyrfa (Happy Crowd).
The writer had since died but the Welsh language class managed to track down Trefor's daughter Nerys Hughes. And she was delighted when they gave her the letter, saying: “I didn’t know he’d put the note inside the house, but it doesn’t surprise me to hear he had. It was his kind of character."
She added: "As a family, we love the story. Seeing my father's writing on the note was a very emotional and special experience."
And if you are wondering why Trefor Griffith left the letter in the Post Office... Nerys explained that his wife, her mother, was the Postmaster in Pontarfynach, who ran it from 1960 to 1967.
Letter is less unusual than other renovation finds
The letter adds to a number ofgruesome renovation findspeople have made during their house projects, including the body of a priest still hiding in a priest hole.
A number of homeowners also discoveredmummified catsinside their walls which were believed to have been "foundation sacrifices" to bring good fortune to new structures. For one reason or another, these finds are left behind by previous owners, and this story is no exception.
