The historic mystery panels found in a Darlington skip

The ivy-covered building on the right in the 1890s when it was occupied by the Darlington Queen's Nurses Association

The sale necessitated a clear-out, and these remarkable panels ended up in a skip. A passer-by confirmed with workmen that they were destined for destruction and, with their permission, liberated the panels from the skip.

Even though the passer-by has no idea what to do with them, he rightly concluded they were too good to be destroyed, and now they sit in the Mr Chippy fish and chip shop in Eldon Street awaiting the next chapter of their lives.

READ MORE: HOW DID A DARLINGTON MAYOR END UP IN A LOS ANGELES SALEROOM?

But can anyone tell us what they might be? They feature the initials PS and AM – do they refer to a person or to a society?

The property was built around 1800 by the Robson family of linenworkers and botanists – Edward Robson, the renowned botanist who has a North American gooseberry, Robsonia, may well have lived here.

In 1895, the Gibbs family sold the house to the Darlington Queen’s Nurses Association and it became home to nurses who looked after poor people. In the 1930s, it became a school clinic, and in the 1950s, the College of Further Education ran catering and domestic science lessons in it.

Since the 1970s, it has had a chequered life, flitting to use as a bar or restaurant before falling back into dereliction.

So does any of that potted history give anyone any clues about the panels with PS and AM on them?

READ MORE: ONE OF DARLINGTON'S MOST HISTORIC HOUSES WITH A SAD STORY AT ITS HEART

READ MORE: TAKE A WALK IN DARLINGTON'S PIONEERING PARK