IN 1905, aspirin went on sale in Britain and the first suffragettes were being sent to jail, but farmer William Lawrence Bailey had more important things on his mind.

He was busy restoring a cottage he owned in the village of Ainderby Steeple, near Northallerton, North Yorkshire - and wanted to make his mark in more ways than one.

He decided to leave a message for the future, so placed a handwritten letter in a bottle to preserve it as a time capsule.

The bottle was then buried in the redevelopment of the cottage where it lay undisturbed for almost a century.

Now the bottle - and the letter - have resurfaced and are in the hands of Mr Bailey's great granddaughter, Wyn Place, who is in her seventies.

The cottage is still in the hands of Mr Bailey's family and it was during the latest refurbishment that the message came to light.

"Builders Len Harrison and John Bell, who were doing some renovation work on the cottage, came across the bottle in the concrete floor and realised there was a letter inside, together with a 1902 threepenny bit," said Mrs Place.

"We managed to get the letter out in one piece. It was tremendous fun to find the letter and very interesting."

As well as being a farmer, Mr Bailey was also a corn merchant, who often travelled to Europe. He met his wife in Rotterdam.

The letter detailed the building work carried out in 1905 when Mr Bailey was 76.

"In the letter, my great grandfather said he wished that he could see the property when the bottle was found and that he wished the finders 'good health and happiness'," said Mrs Place.

She took the letter to the county records office in Malpas Road, Northallerton, where conservator Stephen Allen was delighted with the find.

He said yesterday: "There is speculation in finding the letter that the cottage could be one of the oldest properties in Ainderby Steeple, because of the coin discovered in the foundations and the discovery of a wall made of stones, clay and chopped straw."