Partygoers shock discovery at house

Revellers in Shropshire took a trip back in time when a party led to the discovery of a mysterious cellar which had lain hidden beneath an 18th century house for 80 years.

Partygoers celebrating Easter at the house in New Road, Dawley, Telford, stumbled across the long-lost basement when, as the drink flowed, they began investigating a grid on the floor just outside the toilet.

Beneath the grid was some boarding and when the curious revellers broke through that they found a hole, just small enough for some of them to scramble through.

Mathew Farla, son of the house's owners, Pat and Diane Farla, made the discovery on Good Friday, along with Diane's 20-year-old brother Gareth.

Mathew said: "We only discovered it because we were drunkenly fooling around and decided to have a look at what was beneath the grid.

"It was amazing.

"The first thing we came across in the middle of the basement was an old, open chest.

"In it were old newspapers and bottles dating back to the 1930s.

"There were also hooks hanging from the ceiling which could have been used to hang meat.

"At one end of the cellar was a sort of mesh or cloth which was damp.

"We've no idea what that was used for.

"There were also some sort of brick seats around the walls which looked like something you might find in a church."

The surprises continued as exploration went on but then someone spotted some stairs at the back of the basement.

Mathew, 25, said they followed the stairs up until they found it blocked off by more boarding.

He added: "We broke through that and came out through an storage cupboard in the dining room on the ground floor.

"No-one knew about any of these things until now.

"We're just hoping someone can help us out and tell us about what all these things were for and a little bit more about the history of the house."

Mathew said the deeds of the detached house dated it back 230 years but little was known about it.

He said he believed it had been a pub at some stage.