No plans to open police station time capsule

An unopened time capsule discovered at a former police station has been put on display.

Believed to be from the 1950s, it was found underneath the foundation stone of Barrow Police Station when it was being demolished in 2018.

It was passed back to Cumbria Police last year by the site's new owners, but was not opened by the force as it did not want to damage it and has been given to The Dock Museum.

Curator Charlotte Hawley said it would be opened eventually, but "the big question for us is 'when?'"

After receiving the time capsule, police in Barrow found a newspaper article from the 1950s which listed what was inside and satisfied the force's need to open it.

Sgt Paul Holmes told BBC Radio Cumbria its contents include building plans for the old station, a truncheon, handcuffs and a police whistle.

The time capsule sat on a shelf in the superintendent's office before the force decided to pass it over to The Dock Museum.

"It'd be really interesting to see them because obviously technologies and the equipment we use now will be nothing like it used to be in the past," he said.

But he added: "We felt, knowing what the contents are, we would leave it sealed."

Ms Hawley said it was her "natural inclination to see what's in it", but the museum did not currently have any plans to open it.

"Time capsules are eventually designed to be opened and I think the big question for us is 'when?'" she said.

"I think because we know what's in it, we don't have any immediate plans to open it because obviously it would damage it."

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