Rare colour footage of Shrewsbury from about 60 years ago, which has remained unseen for half a century, has been published online.

The archive footage, including a royal visit to the town, came to light during research for the play Silhouette, which is just completing its second sell-out run at Theatre Severn.

The film has been put on the tourism website Virtual Shropshire and can also be seen on the Shropshire Star’s website.

* Click here for more videos on the Virtual Shropshire website

During preparations for the play, Nigel Hinton, of Made in Shrewsbury, and Chris Eldon Lee, of Love Lee Productions, were handed 20 reels of Super 8 film by the Lobbenberg family, who co-owned the town’s famous underwear and swimsuit factory.

Mr Hinton said: “The reels were entrusted to us by Peter Lobbenberg. They were filmed between 1948 and 1952 by his father Hans on his precious cine camera and we knew there would be external footage of Silhouette’s Coton Hill factory but it turned out there was much more.”

The films were painstakingly transferred to DVD by Actimedia of Shelton Lodge and reveal ten minutes of “remarkable” scenes of Shrewsbury from about 60 years ago.

Mr Eldon Lee said: “There’s colour footage of crowds in the streets as Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip arrive to open the Royal Agricultural Show of 1949.

“Many faces are clearly visible and we’d love to know who they are. Hans also took his camera to the show and filmed several events.

“There’s a parade of tractors which were brand new then, but would be regarded as vintage vehicles now.”

The researchers also found mysterious footage showing horsewomen in period costume pushing their way through throngs of people in Castle Foregate.

Mr Eldon Lee said he was keen for the films to be seen by as many people as possible.

He added: “Peter Lobbenberg is thrilled Silhouette is recalled with such affection locally and immediately agreed the family films should go on public display.”

By Emma Kasprzak