This postcard took an incredible 91 years to reach its final destination.

It was originally popped into a letter box in 1910 by a woman called Ruth Amphlett who was travelling from Scotland to the Lake District.

This week staff at Northbrook College in Union Place, Worthing, were sifting through their mail when they stumbled across the postcard depicting Hadrian's Wall.

They turned it over and read a message addressed to a Mrs Amphlett in Union Place.

It stated: "Look at the Roman wall running across England."

The halfpenny stamp depicted King Edward VII and the postmark revealed it was sent from Carlisle.

Tony Brooks, lecturer at Northbrook College, recognised the name Amphlett as that of the family that owned a house before it became the Adult Education Centre.

In 1910, it was the only building in Union Place, which is now home to the police station, Connaught Theatre and the local Conservative headquarters.

The house was sold by the Amphlett family to West Sussex County Council for educational use in 1939.

Northbrook staff have now taken the card to Worthing Museum.

Dr Michael Thrower, principal of the college, joked: "Despite the fact that I am almost of this age myself, we did not realise some of our mail took quite this long to reach us."

A spokesman for Consignia said: "Often old cards get put back into the postal system and redelivered."