Woman finds 130-year-old time capsule buried under her floorboards
A woman found a 130-year-old time capsule - buried under her floorboards.
Madeline Goodwin, 26, was stunned to find the metal box containing a penny from 1901, a cigarette packet, hat, bible and a letter. She discovered the capsule after advertising a table she was selling - and the woman who came to buy it revealed she used to live in the house.
The lady said her family had lived there since the 1890s - and for over a century different people had added to a time capsule under the floors. She herself had added a DVD and a newspaper when they sold the house in 2007 - and when Madeline looked the capsule was still there.
Madeline, who lives in Swindon in Wiltshire with her partner, bought the Victorian home four years ago. She now plans to add to the time capsule for future owners of the home to discover. Madeline put a side table on Facebook Marketplace and had a response from a local woman who wished to come and collect it.
The time capsule was under Madeline's floor (Madeline Goodwin/SWNS)She said: "I gave the woman our postcode and she said she used to live on the street, so I gave her our specific address and she said she used to live in our house! When she came to collect the table, she told us about the history of the house. The property had been in her family for 130 years from when it was built in 1890 until they sold it in 2007.
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"Since we bought the property four years ago, there has been lots of renovation works, so we were showing the lady these around the home. That's when she told us about the time capsule her family had left in the foundations of the building underneath the floor boards. Her family had been adding to the capsule until they left the property in 2007 - but she was very allusive and wanted us to find it ourselves.
"I have no idea where she lives now, but she must be local." Madeline and her partner immediately got to work and as instructed pulled up the third floorboard within the cupboard underneath the stairs. They discovered an old metal tin container, opened it up and found a penny from 1901, a cigarette packet, a hat, a bible which the lady said had belonged to her family, a letter, a newspaper from 2007 and a DVD.
A coin dated 1901 that was found in the time capsule (Madeline Goodwin/SWNS)Madeline explained: "It was very cool and interesting. Though unfortunately the weather had gotten to the ammunition box - so the letter from this lady's family was illegible. We also need to find a CD player as there is a burnt DVD disk on there - but we don't have anything to play it on! So we have to track down a way of playing it!
"There were such random things and it was quite weird because the day the lady came last week was also four years to the day my partner and I had moved into the house. What are the chances! It was so strange that it all aligned". Madeline says she has been thinking of items she can add to the time capsule for future owners of the home to rediscover.
She said: "We've already started thinking of what we might add. We still have all of the original Victorian doors still in the property and each has a different door handle, so we were thinking of adding one of those to the capsule. We could also leave a USB too with images and maybe songs".
Though the pair have said they will be moving the rare items into a more resilient box to avoid future weather damage. Madeline added: "I'm not sure when we'll move but we will be here for a little while longer. Now we know where the capsule is, we will keep it - but might have to move the stuff into a new box or seal this one properly! I want to try and preserve the stuff as best as possible, so a new sealable container might be better!"
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