First Victorian bottle dig!

[shaggybfc]

I also found this clay disc though not sure what it is. It measures 45mm x 15mm and is very slightly domed on top. Any ideas?
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That looks like a scone my mrs would make

[Dave The Slave]

I also found this clay disc though not sure what it is. It measures 45mm x 15mm and is very slightly domed on top. Any ideas?
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Could be a stopper for a jar, like the cork ones you can still see.
Cheers,
Dave.

[alloverover]

My Saturday afternoon first bottle digging effort. I excavated a 4 foot square hole of about 3 1/2 feet deep, it was quite slow going as the ground was pretty full of stuff. I recovered over one hundred intact bottles from just that hole alone. I'm guessing that there could be about nine times that area judging from the bank around the pit but the lay of the land is difficult to figure.
Well here's the finds, it rained during clean up!
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Well that was fun and interesting, a fair selection of bottles too so I'm quite happy with that result. No stoneware this time but am sure that there will be some about.

Blimey thats a lot a bottle Easy, really maing me want to have a chat with my landowner with the big house

[Kenleyboy]

Firstly , how does your body feel Wait until the morning , you will notice aching muscles you never knew you had !
Great dig and I am impressed with the neatness of the hole . All household bottles and in pretty good condition . Good selection and a varied age range 20s - 40s by looks of things .
I am trying to workout what looks to be a brick lined floor or possible path . Maybe a timber structure on that spot originally like a tool shed for garden tools . Maybe the floor is too elaborate for that . I have seen old pathways similar to this , just guess work but interesting all the same .
I would say there is more than one pit there somewhere with older stuff in them . Could even be under that flooring
Great photos and looks like you enjoyed yourself which is what it is all about .
Great write up and great photos

[Easylife]

Firstly , how does your body feel Wait until the morning , you will notice aching muscles you never knew you had !

Not bad at all, my back was a bit stiff but fine now, detecting regular has helped to keep in shape. I plan to have another go in the morning unless something else crops up.

Good selection and a varied age range 20s - 40s by looks of things .

Well the 1920's happens to be when household refrigerators became popular which would maybe make an ice house redundant? But maybe still not deep enough for that purpose really?

I am trying to workout what looks to be a brick lined floor or possible path .

I'll have to uncover some more of it to find out.

I would say there is more than one pit there somewhere with older stuff in them . Could even be under that flooring

This pit looks quite large so maybe the older stuff is close? The floor/path had to have some age before being used as a dump though.
Many thanks your input Paul, the mystery will unfold.

[Easylife]

I just realised that the floor is in the far corner of a 1 acre Victorian orchard so could be an apple store?

Edit: It could be a seating area cut into the bank?

Edit: But then again the tree stump could have been a building roof support?

[Easylife]

I grabbed another couple of hours this morning before it rained heavy, many more bottles showed with several of a different design from last time. It seems that there is a layer of near surface bottles, then about foot or so of soil, then about a foot or so of bottles at the pit bottom. The most common seems to be Heinz 57 bottles of the same design, quite like a salad cream bottle though maybe isn't?

The big chunky wine bottle has some imperfections.

Two more 'Tablespoons' bottles, a 'Not to be taken, and another Califig.

Bovril, Marmite, a spectacle lens, a pill box, and a lippy.

There were over 80 intact bottles this time. Every so often an embossed glass label shows but hopefully there will be some older ones about.

[Easylife]

Well I found the edge of the brick floor/path, it is set on the hard light brown clay and laid in a 45 degree pattern, there is a dead tree stump right next to it so maybe it was once a seating area that was cut into the bank? Soil has been placed on the low side of the slope probably to make the pit deeper. The pit extends beyond the brick floor/path at the same level so far.
I surveyed the surrounding ground and noticed a shallow depression in the undergrowth running from the pit towards the house, so a likely old path!
The ground above the pit slopes up to the skyline (below).

Maybe the owner will want to keep the brick paved area clear and reuse it?

[Dave The Slave]

Another great days digging.
Just love looking at all this stuff.
Done well to find intact glass stoppers.
I know of a tip but can`t get permission, Council.
Lucky to have some WW2 era bottles this season from permission.
There is a specialist website for Heinz glass, with lots of info on shapes, contents and about numbers on the base.
https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/Heinzbottlecodes.pdf
https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/Heinz.pdf
Hopefully you may find something with a Silver top, perfumery type thing.
Looking forward to seeing what else you can find.
Dave.

[Emily]

This is all amazing!! How exactly do you ‘find’ a bottle dump though...?? Did you just stumble across it??

[Easylife]

This is all amazing!! How exactly do you ‘find’ a bottle dump though...?? Did you just stumble across it??

This one was quite obvious as it hadn't been filled in, but the original pit could prove quite elusive as various refurb waste has been buried. But with a fair idea of it's likely location probing the ground with a narrow rod may find it!

[Kenleyboy]

Another great haul and some slightly earlier bottles in amongst that lot
Great fun and great dig .

[Dave The Slave]

The photo with the Bovril jars and other bits on the bench.
The tubey thing next to the glass stopper, is that a vaporiser from a perfume bottle or a syphon tube from a soda dispenser ?
Cheers,
Dave.

[Easylife]

The tubey thing next to the glass stopper, is that a vaporiser from a perfume bottle?

Yes, there are quite a lot of perfume bottles here, some nice art deco ones too.

[Dave The Slave]

Did think it was Soda Syphon, until i read Ladybirds reply to Kenley about his ornate bottle.
Then i realised it was probably a vaporiser.
Hopefully you uncover some Art Deco in reasonable condition.
Cheers,
Dave.