An antique dance shoe, believed to date back to around 1932, has been discovered concealed within the ceiling void of the Royal Hall at Bridlington Spa.
The fascinating find was made this week during works being carried out in the building.
General Manager Mark Lonsdale says the shoe was found in a "strange unique place" within the building.
"We were doing some works in the Royal Hall Void ceiling early this week and when we lifted the floorboards up, we found a really old dance shoe, it's obvious that it's been there for a very long time.
When we did some investigation we think it dates back to around 1932, which was when the last major repairs and works was done in that area, the Royal Hall burnt down in 1932 and was rebuilt incredibly in 52 days.
And so we don't think anybody has had any particular reason to go up into that area 'cause it's in such a strange, unique place that we think it's been placed in there as part of the building works."
Mark says the shoe "looks and feels really really old but it's lasted very well". The location of the shoe has lead to speculation that it wasn't simply dropped but was "placed in there as part of the building works" possibly as part of a theatre superstition.
"There has been speculation around the superstitions around placing objects in walls and in ceilings and in voids. And apparently it's to ward off evil spirits. So we think it's possibly something to do with superstitions because obviously in the theatre there are a lot of superstitions.
You don't say Macbeth in the theatre. You say break a leg rather than good luck.
It must have a story of something. But just to say as well, we have put it back. So we got the engineers we've asked them to put it back into the roof void because we are all very superstitious as well.
So it's gone back in there and we'll be in there for many. Tens of hundreds of years. I'm sure
Mark says the shoe is "like a little time capsule" noting that finding such an old item really emphasises that Bridlington Spa has been the "centre of entertainment in Bridlington for many, many, years". He says it's not the first time they have discovered hidden history while carrying out building works.
"There is so much history to the building. We did some work in the theatre a couple of years ago, and in certain areas of the theatre such as the Fly Tower there are chalked names and years on there .
The theatre is the oldest part of the building and dates back to 1907, and so we've got names and years from the twenties and thirties in the fly tower where people have written.
So it is a rich history of local people and, and and superstitions."
While some speculated the shoe found this week might be the original Cinderella shoe, Mark Lonsdale commented that it would be wonderful to know who it truly belonged to.
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