Builders find 19th Century time capsule in Esher church

A time capsule buried in the walls of a church building in Surrey in the 19th Century has been uncovered by builders.

The jar was found inside the hollow foundation stone of Esher Green Baptist Church's old Sunday school room.

It was buried on 1 August 1870 when construction work started on the school next to the chapel.

The Park Road church is being extended and pastor Lee Johnson said the jar would be reburied with another time capsule from the present day.

Site manager Doug Dalgleash said his team had been dismantling a wall at the church, taking it apart piece by piece because of the resale value of the yellow stock bricks, when they found the foundation stone.

He said: "We discovered that the stone was in fact hollow inside, and in that hollow was a jar, which we have since discovered was a time capsule."

Mr Dalgleash said the builders opened the 8in (20cm) jar, which had a lead lid and sealing wax around the top, and looked inside to find several documents, before handing it to the pastor.

It contained Sunday school booklets, scripture lessons, a children's magazine, and a pamphlet called The Sunday School Times and Home Educator.

But he said: "For me, the most important thing and the most amazing thing was the address that was written in 1870 and left for us to read today."

Mr Johnson said children's activities at the church had changed significantly since the time capsule was laid, but he had been struck by the similarities between the church's vision then and its aims today.

"We would use different words today for sure. But the reality is what they wanted to do was reach the community they were a part of, as we want to reach into the community that we're a part of today," he said.