History in the making

RARE documents unearthed by an Oldham firm are thought to be among the oldest of their kind in the world.

The fascinating paperwork, which gives an insight into landmark buildings, was discovered during a clear-out at quantity surveyors Cameron Middleton and Lees.

They were in a box in a storeroom and include bills of quantities for work at Royton Cooperative in Radcliffe Street in April 1907, and the Ivy Soap Works in Salford from June, 1896.

Another document shows revisions in quantities for a new tower at St Margaret’s Church in Hollinwood from April 1905, and a copy of The Builder magazine from June 1886.

Charges from the District Master Builders Association from July 18, 1897 show how much bricklayers, joiners and plumbers were paid — with carpenters receiving 11d (just under 5p) per hour.

Andrew Field, business development manager at the Bright Street firm does not know how much the documents are worth.

But he believes the bills of quantities — outlining the components of building projects — are among the oldest in the world.

“The documents are very rare. For whatever reason the construction industry doesn’t seem to preserve these sorts of documents very well,” said Andrew.

“We will have a really difficult decision whether to keep them for historic purposes or give them to a museum. They are worth money to collectors, but the real worth must be historically to those who want to understand what the construction industry was like in those days.”

Cameron Middleton and Lees is one of the oldest quantity surveyors in the UK and has been using its current name since 1935, but the company previously traded in different forms.

Andrew added: “A director who retired at Christmas was going though stuff in the storeroom when he came across a box marked old bills.

“One of the directors has been here for 30 years and has never seen anything like it.

“What’s interesting from our perspective is seeing which of these buildings are still there. The Ivy Soap Works was bought by Colgate and has now been refurbished by a developer into office space.”