A hoard of secret recipes found by a demolition worker in the roof of the former Hammonds sauce factory in Apperley Bridge, Bradford, are about to go under the auctioneer’s hammer.

Retired demolition worker John Senior, 52, of Heckmondwike, found the papers, belonging to Leeds firm Goodall, Backhouse & Company, while working at the site in 2002.

Mr Senior said he kept them with him until he retired and settled down with his partner Christine Kane, who urged him to discover the history of the papers.

Her son started to research the documents, which included handwritten recipes for Yorkshire Relish, and was surprised to learn of their historical importance from Leeds Museums.

Mr Senior said: “When I first found them I actually opened the box and I came across William Powell’s will, so I read that and a few other bits and pieces that were there. They were up in the roof, buried away in the wall.

“I have still got things I have found in demolition, but I had never found anything like this before.

“I really was excited when I first found it and I just had a feeling about it. I knew there was something about it.

“When we got in touch with Leeds Museum, they said ‘so that is where they have been’.”

The documents are now with Leeds auctioneer Gary Don, who is set to put the pieces under the hammer on Tuesday, May 24.

Mr Don said: “It is a really interesting find, it’s part of our cultural history really.

“The firm employed a lot of people from Leeds and the surrounding areas.

“These documents were hidden away in the building, so they were a secret, but, more importantly, the laws today about copyright would not be as they are today without this.

“They were the first people to take other people to court for using their name and their product name and it went all the way to the Houses of Parliament, where they made the copyright law as it is today.

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