#i need to go buy ink refills but unfortunately i am Away and cannot :(

[two-minutes-only]

for his birthday patrick can throw a cake at pete’s face. as a treat :D (ft. aftercare and my pen dying halfway through the third one) inspired by this gifset

[gobrandrootweb]

Bottle Digging • Nostalgic Look Back at Bottle Digging in the 1970's

Hi I was inspired to write this after reading all the good posts on the bottle digging forum. I started bottle digging in the early 70’s, inspired by a love of history, and copies of Edward Fletcher’s Bottle Digging and Treasure Hunting for All. During the long school holidays we had to go to work with our mum who was a farm field worker. We were tasked with picking beans or strawberries and later in the year potatoes and pears. As kids it was hard work but brought in some pocket money. The good side of this was every now and then we would sneak off to explore the fields and farmland. In several places that were overgrown I noticed there were fragments of glass, pottery and scrap metal under the cover of blankets of stinging nettles. I started by pulling out a complete pot lid which I took home, cleaned and displayed in the house. From that moment I realised there was treasure to be found in the old hidden dumps and I was hooked. With a couple of like-minded friends we decided to start digging the dumps. Now these dumps were in the middle of nowhere tucked away in overgrown corners of orchards or fields. The only way we could get there was to walk or bike if the tracks were passable. So on a normal day we would put on a rucksack, tie a garden fork or spade to the crossbar of the pushbike and walk to the dumps, about 45 minutes away. At first we just started digging anywhere and dug individual holes. Sometimes hedging trees were growing through the middle of layers of rusty galvanised baths and laundry tins full of bottles, china and lots of old type glass battery cases. This normally had another layer of rusty tin roofing and skeletons of old farm machinery which we had to drag or move out of the way. We would spend all day there leaving it till almost dark before trudging back home laden down with rucksacks full of treasure. As time went on we started to get quite good collections of Ginger beers, Codd Bottles, Hamiltons, Pot Lids, Ink Wells and many other types of old bottles and china. After a while we realised we had an excess and one friend suggested we take some to a couple of antique shops in the local town. As luck would have it one of these was owned by someone very interested in buying our finds and readily purchased the samples we had taken. Back then the only way for us to get to town was on the bus so it became a regular trip with rucksack loaded with finds into town on a Saturday, sell them, then off to the record shop and buy the latest vinyl record or go to the cinema etc. Bottle digging was proving to be a really interesting and enjoyable hobby and we realised could also be a good earner. In the summer of 1972 or 1973 we decided a better approach would be to try and clear this dump by digging the whole dump from end to end to make sure we got everything. The dump covered an area of about 10ft by 60ft and incorporated a ditch which the dump blocked, and made for soggy digging. So two of us who were still interested in digging started a trench the width of the dump and dug to the bottom which was about 7ft down at the deepest part. Standing in the pit and looking up at the top was this wall of black soil with lots of pieces of rusty tin, china glass, tree roots and lots of other rubbish. It was then a case of digging the soil and throwing it behind us whilst pulling out bottles and other bits and pieces. That heart stopping feeling of seeing something really good sticking out of this mound when you carefully pull it out and its complete or heart sinking when the bottom half is missing. We were doing so well with finds we considered camping there for a week but in those days the only tent we had was a large ex-army canvas type too heavy to take to the site. Instead we erected the tent in our back garden and that became our club house where at the end of the day we laid out the finds and cleaned them. We borrowed bottle brushes and various cleaning tools from my Dad who used them for homebrew. I remember having buckets and bowls of caustic soda crystals dissolved in water where we left bottles and earthenware etc soaking overnight. In those days no one questioned 12 years old boys buying boxes of caustic soda crystals or even using these chemicals. We went digging most days and spent ages discussing finds, swapping, and selling. My mum must of despaired as we were always filthy, covered in black dump soil, cuts, scratches and that metallic iron type smell that the dumps smelt of. As we got more experienced in the hobby we started researching old maps and business directories at the local libraries and talking to older residents and farmers. Soon we had quite a few good digging locations, but it was quite common to spend a whole day digging at some dumps and not find a single whole item to take home. One location we found was an old well or pit in the corner of a field that had been filled with Victorian rubbish which we continued to dig one year whilst there was snow on the ground we were so keen. We had to stop though as we soon realised the ground we were standing on had started to sink and the large hole started to fill with ice cold water. We were never able to finish that dig due to subsidence, so it may still be there today hidden away. During our research we found that rubbish from London was loaded onto old barges and taken down the Thames and dumped in the river not far from where we lived. At that time there were only a few places where you could get access to the seawall and the Thames as there was a very wide dyke that ran marsh side of the sea wall for about ten miles. I think there were only 2 or 3 proper crossing places for farm machinery. These dumps in the Thames were only accessible during really low tides which I remember always seemed to be in winter. So we would dress up for winter, with rucksacks, garden forks and spades, get on our pushbikes and ride to the seawall using the farm tracks. Now and then the gates were locked so we would climb over and carry on our journey. When we got across the dyke at a passing place it was then several miles ride to the dump location in time to make the low tide. Now I don’t think I would recommend anyone do this now as it would seem foolish and dangerous, but as young kids we would walk through the knee deep grey mud following the outgoing tide to these mounds that appeared quite a way from the shore. The forks and spades were a good stability aid in the mud and it was strange walking out through the sinking mud and feeling the ground suddenly firm up as you then walked up onto a mound where you were standing above the receding river water. The mounds were a mixture of old red bricks, rubble, glass, china, and grey river mud so you needed a fork and spade to dig. In the excitement of finding lots of whole Codd bottles, Hamiltons, Ginger Beers etc it was very easy to forget about the fast incoming tide which would quickly surround the mounds and cut you off from the shore if not careful. The other problem was the weight of a fully loaded rucksack with glass and earthenware made the journey back to shore far harder as the mud seemed deeper and you got tired quicker. We never lost anyone or had to be rescued but we were freezing cold, soaking wet and covered in stinking grey river mud and best of all laden with finds. One time we were so tired biking back that we noticed a possible shortcut where someone had laid two very long old telegraph poles across the dyke and started to construct a new crossing place. It seemed a good idea to walk on one pole whilst wheeling your bike along the pole next to it for stability. Two of us made it across and one even went back to collect the third persons bike as they were not keen on standing up on the poles which by now had a slippery coating of river mud. Loaded down with a very heavy rucksack our colleague sat on the pole and started to shimmy across the dyke, unfortunately the weight of the fully loaded rucksack shifted to one side and pulled the person over off the pole into the dyke. The dyke was only about chest deep but it was freezing cold and after much laughing and then shouting we managed to get our soaked friend up the bank out of the dyke. It was a very slow drudge home in freezing conditions but it must have been worth it as we continued to go to the river dumps for several years after. The glass bottles from the river always had an iridescent bloom to the glass that you could not clean away but was quite attractive. I still have a normal and amber topped Codd bottle I dug from the river that have this oily look. One of the strangest dumps we dug was a large mound in a field that had some good finds but as you got into the dump all the glass was melted or badly distorted. It appeared that at some time there had been a very fierce fire inside this dump that was so hot that it melted thick glass bottles like Codds and Hamiltons so they were flat or wrinkled. It was a bit like those Coke bottles in the 70’s that were heated and left to stretch so they stood about 15 to 20 inches high and then refilled with red liquid and sold as ornaments. Some years later the farmer who owned the fields this dump stood in bulldozed the whole dump mound and used it to level the dips in the field so it was easier for the bigger farm machinery. To this day the field is littered with broken glass and china as far as you can see. I cannot walk along the track alongside this field without head down scouring the earth for treasure when I visit the area. Just occasionally after ploughing and reseeding something comes to the surface still intact. I have picked up a small china dolls head, a tiny solid white doll, and a small earthenware ink in previous years and I am sure there is more still to find. Back then we were always looking for the rare bottles, Warners Safe Cure and Bellarmine jugs being particularly sought after along with cobalt blue Bell Inks, Cottage Inks, and Hamiltons. Amber Codds Bottles and nicely transferred ginger beers and Bears Grease pot lids. I remember sticking my fork through a cobalt blue Hamilton and sitting there looking at it hoping that it was already broken in the ground and it was not me that just smashed it, but you never know. We commonly found earthenware of all types of designs that seem to survive intact even after the areas had been ploughed for years. The most common thing to find was broken glass, china, and old rusty tin, obvious really as it was a dump, but now and then you would be surprised find a Victorian ornament, china dolls heads, plates, cups, and once a beautifully transferred blue and white Victorian toilet all perfectly preserved. I once dug up a perfect large very scary looking terracotta clowns head that had grooves all over his head. If you soaked it in water and sprinkled cress or grass seeds all over the head it grew green hair making it even more unattractive. The Victorians did have a sense of humour, but my wife said it was too freaky so I later swapped it with a friend for an enamelled silver top scent bottle he had dug up and which I still have. Although it is well over 30 years since I last went digging I still have some of the bottles and pots I dug up on display in my home including the original first pot lid I found, a Woods Areca Nut Toothpaste. A selection of Virol Jars including a really large one that I still cannot believe was the only intact find I once made in a whole days digging. Several types of Earthenware, glass Embrocation and beer bottles, ginger beers, a clay pipe and a couple of nice Codd Bottles is all that remains now. I will try to post some pictures on here shortly.

Statistics: Posted by skythepig — Wed May 30, 2018 1:14 pm

Bottle Digging • Nostalgic Look Back at Bottle Digging in the 1970's published first on https://pickmymetaldetector.tumblr.com/