A couple have been left baffled after uncovering a 52-year-old note hidden behind the fireplace in their home by a previous owner in 1971. The message was signed by a man named E.C. Pearce, who claimed he was 37 years old at the time of the writing and had just purchased the property for £3,000.
Kathryn Stutley, 49, and her partner Neil made the discovery behind the previously bricked up fireplace after making renovations to their home in Devizes, Wiltshire, which they purchased for £292,000 in 2019. The author of the note also wrote that he was on a £5 mortgage, while he was earning 65p an hour over five decades ago, the Mirror reports.
The note read: "To who may be interested. This fireplace was bricked up by me on September 1971. I have just bought this house on mortgage for £3,000 with a deposit of £300 and repayments of £5.50 per week + £80 solicitors fees.
"My wage at present is 65p per hour and I go to a Sunday market to make a few bob extra, aged 37 years. Hope you find this interesting. E.C. Pearce".
After investigating further online, Kathryn and Neil believe the note was penned by a man named Eugene Pearce, who sadly died in 2000 at the age of 66. There is no way to confirm if he did indeed write it but online researchers have managed to track down one of his grandchildren.
Kathryn who runs a birth and postnatal support business said she was thrilled to find the old letter as she and her partner have been writing their own notes for future homeowners while making renovations to their property. She explained: "As we've been doing the house up, we've been leaving notes around too - so if anyone then takes down our stud walls they'll find our messages.
"So it was lovely to find that someone else had already done it. When we moved in there was a not very pretty fireplace where someone had clearly once had a gas fire or something. It was empty, so we decided to do something with it - maybe to put a wood burner or something in there. We took the surround off initially and then realised that we needed to actually dig out the fireplace a bit more.
"So a few days later we started taking the actual bricks out. Amongst all the rubble though there was a weird bit of paper that had been folded up many, many times into basically a small cube. I couldn't read it at first because I didn't have my glasses on, but when I unfolded it I noticed there was clearly something written on it.
"I gave it to my other half to read, and he read it out loud. That's when we realised what it was. I was glad I'd bothered to unfold it - otherwise, I'd have just thrown it away like the rest of the rubble."
Kathryn took to a page for Devizes locals on Facebook to help her find who may have written the note and interested individuals got in touch with her. It was discovered that Eugene Pearce married a woman named Irene Hunt in the 50s. After getting in touch with one of Eugene's grandchildren, Kathryn has confirmed that Irene's daughter remembers living in the house as a child.
She added: "I plan on keeping the letter, but I was very thankful to people on Devizes Facebook group who helped me find out where it came from. A couple of people who are obviously interested in this kind of thing messaged me saying they had been doing some research and believed that the author was a Eugene Pearce, who got married to Irene Hunt, in Devizes, in the 50s.
"Three children with the surname Pearce (and with mothers with the maiden name Hunt) were born over the next few years. Eugene unfortunately died in 2000, aged 66, So we won't be able to let him know his note was found - however I've chatted to Eugene's granddaughter who says her mother remembers living there."
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - sign up to our daily newsletter here .
