Mystery letters dating back more than 30 years have been unearthed in a cellar.

More than 20 unopened letters dating from July to September, 1968, were hidden underneath bags of earth in the cellar of the house in Rhodes Street, Saltaire.

They were found by the new owner, Heather Senior, in a plastic wallet as she was clearing away rubbish.

"You could tell the cellar hadn't been cleared for years and I wanted to get rid of all the dirt," she said.

"When I saw them I immediately thought that someone had tried to hide them because they were underneath 11 big bags of earth.

"They are addressed to different people throughout the area so I don't know if a postman has thrown them away or not.

"But it doesn't look like whoever put them there wanted them to be found."

Included in the 23 letters were;

A postcard which features the Marina Hall and Gardens in Fleetwood

Invoices from former Bradford department store Brown, Muff

A letter from Riverside Leather in Shipley

A doctor's note.

There were also a number of personal letters.

Miss Senior, a teacher at Woodhouse Grove School, Apperley Bridge, took over the terrace house from Lottery winners Margaret and David Storey, who moved to their four-bedroom, stone-built dream home in Nab Wood after scooping £1.4 million more than a year ago.

Miss Senior said she believed the Storeys only lived in the house for ten years.

Of the letters, she said: "I was tempted to open them but I didn't.

"Some of them were falling apart though, so it was hard to see what they were or who they were for."

One of the letters was addressed to Edna Tate, of The Grove in Baildon, while others were addressed to people in Windhill and Shipley.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "We are extremely concerned that these letters have not been delivered and we want to investigate the situation further.

"If any member of the public can genuinely help us get to the bottom of this mystery, then we would love to hear from them."

Miss Senior, who moved in to the property two weeks ago from Pudsey, said:

"I'd just like to think that they get back to their owners after 32 years. That would be great."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.