An electrician running a cable in a Perth building couldn’t believe the the piece of history he discovered inside a wall.
Billy Sinclair is working on the £1m transformation of the former British Linen Bank building in South Methven Street into a dental facility.
He was having difficulty running the cable down a wall cavity in one of the upstairs rooms of the B-listed building.
He said: “I cut out a hole in the wall to find out why.
“I couldn’t believe the cable was being jammed by three rolls of tram tickets.
“One was very badly damaged and really tatty, but the other two were pretty much as new.”
The 1d Service Perth and District Tramways tickets were for the route between the Station Entrance and Cherrybank, which is a mile southwest of the town centre.
They date from the turn of the 20th century.
Billy said: “No one knows why they would have been put there in the first place. It’s a bit of a mystery.
“We believe this part of the building was a restaurant at one time, but that wouldn’t explain why so many penny tram tickets were hidden away.”
The electrical contractor also found an Australian bank receipt during his renovations, a more expected find in the former bank.
The tram tickets are being offered to Perth Museum.
History of Perth and District Tramways
The Tramways company was founded in 1895, in the era of horse-drawn carts.
Around 6,000 passengers boarded the trams within the first week.
The business was bought by the local council in 1903 at a cost of £21,800.
Within two years, horses were replaced by five miles of electrified lines.
However, it didn’t prove to be a sound investment. By 1925, debts had soared to £30,000 as cars and buses provided intense competition.
The final tram ran in 1929 and the tramlines to a number of the terminals in and around Perth were ripped up within the year.
The renovation work is being undertaken for Clyde Munro Dental Group.
In partnership with Dentsply Sirona, the firm will open a dental clinic and state-of-the-art teaching centre in August.
Clyde Munro’s chief operations officer Fiona Wood said: “This is truly a unique and fascinating find.
“It is testament to the skill of Billy to have preserved the artefacts while carrying out his renovations.”
Conversation