WHEN diggers moved in to demolish a church to make way for a housing development they stumbled across a message in a bottle -- from 131 years ago.

Parishioners at Wingates Independent Methodist Church, Westhoughton, had placed a time capsule in a hole under the foundation stone when it was laid back in 1871.

Now developers, who bought the site for housing, have handed the fascinating find back to former church president Alice Woodward as a memento.

Mrs Woodward, aged 84, who had attended the church since birth, had to help make the decision to sell the building because of dwindling numbers. It closed last May.

She said: "It was probably the saddest day of my life. I'd had so many happy times at the church.

She added: "The building was old and we had vandalism, so I resigned myself to us selling.

"I swore I would never come and see it knocked down, but then I remembered reading in the deeds that a time capsule had been buried when it opened.

"I contacted the developer, but it was a total shock when they phoned to say they had found it. My legs turned to jelly. I am happier now, I feel we have something special to remember the church by."

The glass bottle, sealed with a cork, contained a report by Alfred Roscoe who opened the building, newspapers including the former Bolton Guardian dated June 24, 1871, a copy of the Independent Methodist Magazine and a church plan for the half-year.

And a glance at the Bolton Guardian showed that the Victorian age had its equivalent of today's car trade. A front page advert by Henry Julian's Coach Manufacturers promised "Carriages light, easy, durable and cheap . . . 12-month guarantee with all new vehicles."

Horwich-based Signature Developments has demolished the church on the corner of Manchester Road and Dixon Road to make way for eight three-storey mews houses.

Co-owner Lyndon Forshaw said: "We were very happy to be able to help to find the time capsule as it's part of the history of the site.

"We intend to incorporate the date stone into the building and name the complex Chapel Mews in honour of the church."

Mrs Woodward, whose late husband Tommy was a left-winger for Bolton Wanderers, is now to donate the capsule and its contents to Westhoughton Library.

"I'm thrilled the houses will be named after the church.If I was thirty years younger I'd buy one myself because the church was so important to me," she said.