AN 18th Century parchment parish register which was thought to be lost for ever has mysteriously turned up.

The volume, which records generations of christenings and burials in the small Wensleydale community of East Witton, near Leyburn, landed on the doormat of North Yorkshire County Council's record office, in Northallerton.

The densely-written script was compiled between 1771 and 1813 and was missing when the vicar handed over the parish records to the office 30 years ago.

Staff were amazed when it arrived anonymously by post in a brown envelope on Monday morning, much to the disbelief of archives development manager Keith Sweetmore, who was unable to make out the postmark.

"I was totally astonished," he said. "I honestly believed this book had been lost for ever. Whoever has had it all this time has obviously looked after it reasonably well, because it is still in good condition.

"It is great to finally have it back. It's like finding the missing piece to a jigsaw."

The sheepskin parchment pages, which are bound in calf- skin, are filled with hand-written entries.

"The volume has filled an important gap in the parish registers and gives us a glimpse of the social history of the time," said Mr Sweetmore.

"One thing that you see is a very high rate of infant mortality, with baptisms which are followed by burials at a very early age."

County councillor Chris Metcalfe, the executive member with responsibility for the record office, said: "We are delighted to restore this volume to its rightful place in the parish archive at the county record office, where it can be used and enjoyed by family historians and parishioners alike.

"Thanks are due to the public-spirited individual who has secured its preservation in this way."

The register will be microfilmed to save it from wear and tear, and made available to the public in about a month, alongside the records of other North Yorkshire parishes.

Mr Sweetmore said that people researching family histories made most use of registers of this type.