A PRICELESS collection of historical documents has been unearthed during the restoration of a listed building in the New Forest.

The documents, many of which chart the development of the Lymington area in the 1920s, were found in a row of bin bags.

Professional signwriter Terry Smith, 52, pictured above, was repairing an 18th-century coach house off Lymington High Street when he stumbled across a historian's dream.

Now he plans to display the unique collection over the Easter weekend.

Exhibits will include a poster advertising the sale of building plots at the Chewton Glen Estate, Highcliffe, in 1912, when the seaside town was billed as "one of England's health resorts".

Another poster promotes the sale of Priestlands Farm at the Angel Hotel, Lymington, on January 28 1925, when the town still had two-digit telephone numbers.

Mr Smith said: "I came down to Lymington to research the history of my boat, which was built by Berthons in 1936.

"I was cycling past an alley leading off the High Street when I saw a neglected old place behind the Nationwide Building Society.

"I bought the building to use it as a base in the area and subsequently found a large number of documents in bin bags. It would have been so easy to throw them in the skip, but I looked inside and realised I had discovered something very special."

One of the documents is a piece of parchment dating from the early 1700s.

Mr Smith added: "The building appears to have been used as a dumping ground by several businesses. I'd be very interested to hear from anyone with information."

Call Mr Smith on 01590 688156.