BOTTLE

Post-medieval glass witch-bottle and contents. The glass bottle has a wide flat base with a twisted and fluted narrow neck, which is broken around the rim. The size and form of the base and neck indicates that the vessel was originally an inkwell or a small ornamental candle-holder, the former being more likely. The vessel has a seam running up the side, indicating that it was made in a mould. This would also indicate a date of c. 1820 onwards.

Inside the vessel was found a small number of corroded iron and copper-alloy objects, and a single strip of leather. The leather is a strap, and has four holes along its length. It is possible that this strip of leather originally bound the iron and bronze objects together inside the glass vessel. Although very corroded, the iron objects appear to consist of straight and bent pins, generally c.16-25mm in length. There are also two copper-alloy objects, which look like simple dress hooks. These two objects are contained within the iron mass. They have a single complete loop with a hooked tail, c. 18mm in length.

Although called witch-bottles, these bottles were in fact used as antidotes to witchcraft, and were most popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. The most common form of vessel used in the the second half of the 17th century was the bellarmine jug or bottle, especially the type with a bearded mask on the shoulder. In the 18th century, however, these were replaced by a wider variety of bottles, such as small glass phials and glass wine bottles. These containers were often filled with varying quantities of bent nails, cloth, human hair, fingernail clippings and urine. Once the bottles were prepared they were normally buried under buildings, usually under the threshold or the hearth; other examples have been found under boundary walls and placed in roof spaces. This witch-bottle was found underneath a floor surface of an extant house. It was believed that the contents of the bottle were an effective counter-measure to witchcraft, protecting the victim by throwing back the evil spell onto the witch who cast it.

Witch-bottles were most popular in the 17th and early 18th centuries, and the majority of finds date to these periods. This bottle is very interesting, however, due to its very late date (after c. 1820), and the fact that the findspot was underneath a still extant building, which lay only c. 130m east of the village Methodist chapel. This find is more likely to represent the survival of an 'amuletic' tradition or practice, as still can be seen in some parts today, rather than indicating the survival of the witch-bottle in its original form and function as an antidote to evil spells.