The House on Mill Lane

When Clara and Tom bought the old house on Mill Lane, they knew it needed work. The surveyor’s report listed twenty-three problems, and three of them had to be dealt with immediately. “The roof must be repaired before winter,” he wrote, “and the wiring should be checked by a qualified electrician.”

Since neither of them was good at practical jobs, they had the roof repaired by a local builder and had the wiring replaced in the spring. By June, the kitchen had been painted, the windows had been cleaned and the damp walls were being treated. “If we had done everything ourselves,” Tom joked, “the house would have fallen down by now.”

The neighbours were curious. An elderly woman told them that the building had once been a flour mill. “It is said to have been built in 1840,” she explained, “and it is believed that a secret room was hidden behind the old chimney.” Clara laughed, but Tom was already looking at the wall.

A week later, the builder phoned them. “Something has been found behind the chimney,” he said. A small wooden box had been left there decades earlier. Inside were a bundle of letters, a pair of reading glasses and a photograph of the mill with fifteen workers standing outside.

The local historian was invited to see the discovery. “These letters are thought to have been written during the First World War,” she said. “They ought to be kept in a museum.” Clara and Tom agreed, but they asked to have copies made for the house.

That evening, the house was quiet. The photograph hung above the fireplace, where the old chimney had been opened. For the first time, the building felt less like a project and more like a place with a story.