AN unexpected find in an attic has untapped a secret slice of Herefordshire's history.

Around 20 years ago Roger Thomas, 70, found a poetry book containing several newspaper cuttings written by his great, great, great aunt Edith Barrell .

The cuttings, from the Hereford Times and Hereford Gazette, were all poems written by Miss Barrell – and all in good condition despite being written as far back as 1903.

"We found them about 20 years ago in the attic with a number of other bits and bobs but as we were working and bringing up a family we didn't look into it too much. It's only since I retired that we've really started to examine them and they're quite extraordinary," said Mr Thomas, who lives in Ponthir, near Newport, in South Wales.

"There are some 28 poems in all which I hope to get published very soon."

Mr Thomas' son Robert has made a number of copies of the book for family members but they hope to get it formally published under the title Edwardian Poems from Gaway, Herefordshire.

It was in there in Garway that Miss Barrell spent many years of her life, moving with her family there some years after being born at Green Farm, Orcop, in 1851.

"She was one of 10 children from a farming family; a spinster who worked on the land," explained Mr Thomas.

"She wrote words to music called “Our Gallant British Navy” for which she received a letter from the private secretary of the king on October 27, 1936.

"This was just before he abdicated in 1936. I still have both the letter and music."

Mr Thomas' own dad died when he was three and his widow mum never re-married.

He would visit Miss Barrell in Garway with his mum, taking trips to Herefordshire on the train from their South Wales home.

Mr Thomas' mum took in Miss Barrell when she was 98 and she lived with them in Cardiff until she died aged 100 in 1952.

The poems will serve as an important chunk of the family's history but also offer an interesting view into life as a Herefordian many years ago.

One of the poems ‘Child’s Prayer for Dada at the War’ is written in ink and was composed by Miss Barrell after she read a touching account of an officer's little daughter who prayed each night for her dad at war. It was also later published in the Christian Herald.

"I’m quite amazed by it – it's a miracle they survived," said Mr Thomas. "I was speaking to someone about them at Newport library and they told me that, of course, the poems are part of Herefordshire's social history.

"As a farmer's daughter she had little education but the words are incredible. When you read all the poems you wonder how a woman could be so good with words. It’s just wonderful and that's why I think they have got to be published."