Solva: Builder finds message in a bottle behind fireplace

A builder knocking down his fireplace found a message in a bottle dating back to 1926.

Dan Dafforn, 32, was working on his house in Solva, Pembrokeshire, and found a glass bottle with two pieces of paper inside.

The first item turned out to be a hand-written history of the house, dating back to 1931.

The second was a newspaper article about the man who wrote the history, dating back to 1926.

Dan said he was "breaking out an old fireplace" when he saw the tip of the bottle inside the wall.

"Luckily I didn't smash it," he said.

"I didn't have a clue what was going to be inside, I could see that it was something, I was hoping it would be some kind of message," he said.

"Although some sort of treasure map would also have been nice."

The hand-written note Dan found, titled "A history of Min y Mor", dated back to 14 September 1931.

He also found a newspaper article about Henry W Evans dating back to 10 July 1926.

After the initial shock, Dan took them out and dried them, as "they were both pretty damp".

"I could tell it was something really special, the really old style handwriting was cool to see," he said.

"My nephews were super excited and I actually had to keep them away because one of them was eating an ice cream over the top of it."

Not knowing what to do with them, Dan's mum, Penny Calder, then put photographs of the findings on a local Facebook group, and received around 100 messages in reply.

"There was lots of excitement and we were advised to keep them in an air-tight container wrapped in acid-free tissue paper until we decided what to do with it," she said.

"I think Dan would like to keep it in the house, and we'll get advice on how to frame it so it doesn't get damaged by the sun.

"It's a pretty fascinating thing to have come across. I took a photograph of both the handwritten history of Min Y Mor and the article describing the chap that wrote it.

"He was an astronomer, and self-taught architect and a taxidermist."