A COUPLE made a fascinating discovery while renovating their Millport holiday home - 100-year-old sketches underneath their wallpaper.
Kevin Haime and his wife Moira bought the house in West Bay last year, but have only recently started turning it into their dream home.
As they began to strip back rooms, they were surprised to find a series of sketches and the names of the original decorators, Mr G Hastie Esq and his son, etched on the walls around the house.
Kevin believes he has stumbled upon a piece of island history, with the markings on the wall dated 1904.
He said: “We bought the flat a year and a half ago and we’ve been working on a renovation to bring it up to date.
“The place hasn’t been touched for a long time as we couldn’t get on to the island due to the virus, so we have only just managed to get over and get cracking.
“We were going through each room removing wallpaper, and we were finding these little pictures and drawings of different people.
“We were doing the hallway last which is where we found the name of the decorator, it is a really interesting piece of history.”
The couple have shared images of their finds with our readers in the hope that islanders can shed some light on their discovery.
Kevin explained: “We don’t know who the faces are or who done the drawings. They are really detailed and it is clearly supposed to be actual people as opposed to doodles.
“The name of the decorators are Mr G Hastie senior and junior and the walls are signed 1904. We are guessing the drawings were done around the same time.
“That means that these haven’t been seen in over 100 years, which is surreal. We just want to find out a wee bit more.
“A couple of people have come back to say that George Hastie and his wife owned a sweet shop in Millport, which we think will be the son, but we want to find out all we can."
The couple plan on having the drawings covered as part of the property's restoration, but are still thirsty for knowledge.
Kevin said: “It’s a bit of a nightmare because we had already arranged for a plasterer to start work, so most of it will be lost forever.
“We just wanted to put it out there in case someone knows who the pictures are of or can shed any more light on who put them there.
“It’s a little piece of history and something which has not been seen for so long. It’s just a pity that it has to be covered up.
“If anybody knows anything or recognises the faces in the pictures then please get in touch.”
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