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Description: | Post-medieval glass witch-bottle and contents. The glass bottle has a wide flat base with a twisted/fluted narrow neck, which is broken mainly 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 circa 1820 onwards. Inside the vessel was found a small amount of corroded iron and bronze objects, and a single strip of leather. The leather is a strap and has four holes or eyes 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 circa 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, circa 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 were the bellarmine jugs or bottles, especially the type with a bearded mask on the shoulders. In the 18th century, however, they 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 circa 1820), and the fact that the find spot was underneath a now extant building, which lay only circa 130 metres 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. | Subjects: | Witch | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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