DOCUMENTS hidden away for just short of 100 years have been discovered by workers at a historic trading estate.

A box full of letters and documents dating as far back as 1923 were found by contractors working on St Michael's Trading Estate on St Michael's Lane.

The contractors are carrying out work to restore the historic Tower Building at the trading estate following the major fire in 2018.

The box contained a bundle of around 20 letters, most of them originating from Lillywhites Sports Outfitter of Haymarket, London, requesting that Edwards Sports Nets in Bridport send them various pieces of sports netting.

One letter contains a 'special order' ticket for some tennis netting. Edwards became the official supplier to Wimbledon in the 1870s, an arrangement that continues until the company was bought out by Huck Nets in 2016. Huck Nets still operate from Bridport today and continue making the tennis nets for Wimbledon and for tennis clubs across the country.

The documents have been donated to the Bridport Museum by Hayward and Co., the owners of St Michael's Trading Estate.

Martin Ridley, manager of the estate, said: "The find feels like an unintentional time capsule squirrelled away by an Edwards employee; we shall never know how or why they came to be there except that it must have been a deliberate act."

Emily Hicks, director of the Bridport Museum, said: "It’s always exciting when something unique is donated to the Bridport Museum collection: but perhaps even more so when the find was discovered under some floorboards where it had apparently been tucked away for safe keeping for 100 years.

"Bridport Museum already curates and cares for a large archive documenting the town’s 800 year old rope and netting industry, but donations such as this help to add detail and colour to that unique story."

Bridport Museum is scheduled to reopen to visitors on Monday, May 17.

The restoration and repair works on the trading estate are expected to be completed by mid-July.