Woman finds decades-old message hidden behind her wallpaper

[Gillg]

In the 1980s we bought a rambling old country mansion in Cumbria, together with my brother and his family.  The oldest part of the house was from the 18th century, but in Victorian times it had been  greatly extended (we had 7 bedrooms and my brother 6.  The kitchen was vast. )  On the rooftop was a small belfry with a bell to summon children, servants, etc., from the extensive grounds.  We used it to call the children for meals.  On inspection this construction was found to be in a dangerous state and had to be taken down.  The carpenter who had originally made it in Victorian times had written his name on the wood.  Amazingly his name was identical to that of the man to whom we had just sold a portion of the house!   (Despite the 7 + 6 bedrooms there was still a lot of spare space, which we eventually divided into four dwellings.)  He was amazed, but didn't think could have been a relative, as he was not local.

[Nick_Ips]

I must have been destined to be concerned with the past. When my bedroom was being redecorated when I was very young, I wrote my name, address(why?) and age on the plaster that the paper soon covered. Irresistible to do.

At some point in the future the new occupants of my parent's home will find a treasure trove of messages around the house - just about everything that was decorated or built had some kind of message added.  We also left copies of the local newspaper hidden in partition walls and the like... so plenty of reading material if the finder is interested. 

We kept the tradition going as adults - in 2010 I left my initials and "MMX" cast into the concrete base of a new shed... if the Victorian engineers and craftsmen were proud enough of their work to initial it, then why shouldn't I? 

I wondered if the previous owners did B&B but I haven’t found any evidence of it re advertising, newspaper archives etc.

It is possible it was a car sticker was given away (to a young child?) as marketing at some event, or from a relative, rather than it being used at a business premises. For example my bedroom window was covered in stickers collected at the county show - an eclectic collection of machinery companies, banks, the gas and electric boards etc. Until relatively recently my garden shed window advertised National Petrol.  If the glass hadn't been replaced then any of those might have led to a lot of head scratching one day.

[oldfashionedgirl]

Yes Nick I did wonder if that could be a possibility. I was keen on stickers as a child but had a house proud mother who wouldn’t let me stick them anywhere other than my bike. 

I’m just disappointed that I haven’t found evidence of a brothel that took American Express 

[brigidmac]

I haven't got Twitter so can't read what writing the woman did discover

As in many houses if you stripped wallpaper background noise nmy childhood home you'd find lines and initials with dates showing how much me + my sister's grew between1962- 77

[IgorStrav]

I haven't got Twitter so can't read what writing the woman did discover

As in many houses if you stripped wallpaper background noise nmy childhood home you'd find lines and initials with dates showing how much me + my sister's grew between1962- 77

Brigid, the message said:

"If you ever need to paper this room again, it will take about 8 rolls of wallpaper.
I bought just 6 rolls at £17.00 per roll.
5/12/97 and didn't have enough.
(It really p*ssed me off)
Jon 21/12/97"

Definitely of great historical interest and significance. 

[Dyingout]

In the late 1950's our neighbours were redecorating the Lounge. The wife couldn't make up her mind on which colour wallpaper she wanted.

So having already stripped off all the old paper, he proceeded to the shed and got all the old paint he had.
Then proceeded to paint a mural on the largest wall which faced the street. On there he painted a beautiful azure sea and a sandy desert island with the largest palm tree that would fill the wall arching right across .

At the foot of the tree.

He painted a large black dog cocking it's leg.

The wallpaper colour was chosen quite quickly. As far as I know it's still there.

[ThrelfallYorky]

The information about how much paper the room needed would have been really useful if:
a) It told you how big the "drop" on the pattern was
b) It's been somewhere where you didn't have to strip off all the paper - I always buy the new paper before I start on stripping the old stuff, as I so rarely see a wallpaper that I like, but can't stand painted walls.
I have a folder with pockets, and in the pocket for each room is a sample of wallpaper, carpet, curtain fabrics, etc, with labels about how much of each was needed, and details of paint, and also diagrams of where electrical wires are ( In the hall they, against all good practice, fan out in all directions from the place where they come from the garage!!!)
TY

[bearkat]

We seemed to decorate the lounge during the Miss World contest.  My father wrote his top three several times over the years.

[Mowsehowse]

Our house was built in 1966, so not that old really..... we moved here in 1987.
when we removed the wall paper on the landing one wall had details of all the previous residents written on it.
Our children 9 & 11 at the time thought this was very exciting and wanted to add their names and ours and the date to the list which we duly did.
We will be coming up to redecorate probably next year so this time I'll make a note of the names as I didn't the last time... wasn't into family history then but it would be a nice record to keep for future home owners or maybe I should just let it be revealed to them when they come to decorate as we found... of course if anyone paints the wall the names will be lost for ever!
Decisions,decisions!  Caroline

Supposing you take a photo to fame of the list?
Win:win I think?