A historian is stuck for an explanation after discovering a stash of antique golden syrup in her loft.

The six tins of Lyle's Golden Syrup, thought to date from 1918, had been hidden under the boards in Lavender Jones's attic in Queen's Park, Brighton, for more than 80 years.

The tins are a little tarnished and the sticky contents well past their sell-by date, but the paper seals and printed recipe suggestions attached to some of the tins are in immaculate condition.

They were found by carpenter Sam Dalton, wrapped in fragments of newspaper dated January 1918, in a specially constructed cubby hole beneath the floor.

The 2lb tins are green and gold and emblazoned with the trademark lion motif, still familiar today.

The only difference is the writing on the back of the tins endorsing the product as "an excellent and economical substitute for butter or jam".

One came with a recipe for "household fruit cake" and a second with instructions for making lemon cake.

Miss Jones, who took up local history after retiring from her job as a designer, isn't sure how the tins got into the attic.

She said: "I would imagine they were put there by the family who lived here at the time. If they were living with rationing they might have squirrelled them away because sugar was something which was hard to get.

"They did not have rationing for most of the First World War but apparently it was brought in at the end in 1918, which would fit in.

"Whoever put them there must have completely forgotten about them.

"We have found all sorts of funny things in this house over the years. We found a tin of humbugs under the bath a few years ago, which I think had been put there about the same time as the treacle.

"It had never been opened and the sweets were all in little paper packets."

Miss Jones has not decided what to do with the syrup, which has turned black inside the cans and cannot be eaten.

She said she might just put the tins back in their cubby hole with a note where they might remain undiscovered for another 100 years.

Miss Jones believes the syrup belonged to the aristocratic family who once owned the Edwardian house.

She said: "George Beresford, the son of the Marquis of Beresford used to live here. "He renounced his title to marry someone his father did not approve of and they moved to Brighton and took the name Wilson."