Working with Professor Owen Davies and Dr Ceri Houlbrook from the University of Hertfordshire, MOLA Finds Specialist Nigel Jeffries is leading a three year AHRC-funded project aimed at recalibrating understandings of the phenomenon of mid-late 17th century ‘witch bottles’. Over a hundred examples are already known, but the ‘Bottles concealed and revealed' project team are on the lookout for more, especially those in private ownership. So how can these bottles be identified, and what should you do if one (quite literally) falls down your chimney? Nigel tells us in this blog.
PLEASE NOTE: Archaeology doesn’t always involve digging, and ‘witch bottles’ found in historic buildings (or elsewhere) should be treated as archaeological artefacts, not moved and reported to your local Finds Liaison Officer before alerting the ‘Bottles concealed and revealed’ project team – find out how below.
Bulbous, bearded and brown
What does a 17th century ‘witch bottle’ container look like? Most are durable German-made Bartmann stoneware jugs or bottles, which tend to be brown, bulbous and decorated with characteristic bearded facemasks and applied roundel medallions. These vessels, made in Frechen close to the city of Cologne, were the most common and widely traded pottery type of early modern Europe. Later in the 17th century similar vessels made by the first English stoneware pothouses, like this one found under the floor of Holywell Priory, were also used.
There is also a small but varied group of a dozen or so glass vessels which have been interpreted as possible ‘witch bottles’ based on their contents or concealment (like this glass bottle from Reigate, and this example from Lutterworth). However, some are more likely medicinal and homeopathic phials filled with liquids and found and reported on during the Victorian period. Whether these vessels count as ‘witch bottles’ requires further research.
Filled and concealed
So-called ‘witch bottles’ can contain a tremendous diversity of everyday objects and substances added as the ingredients of a ‘prepared cure’ against witchcraft before being stoppered or sealed; most commonly urine, and varying quantities of metal nails and pins (which are sometimes bent).
