Lynchmere Common - Hidden Midden

Now and then I do find old bottles on the commons. Perhaps discarded by woodsmen of years ago, but more likely the residue of youngsters playing in the woods in decades past.

There are a couple of places where I regularly find old bottles and jars from before the days of branding or screw tops. They are a lot heavier than today's glass bottles and jars. To prevent them becoming a danger to people or grazing animals I tend to pick them up and add them to the recycling, unless they are particularly old or interesting, when I might keep or reuse them.



Whilst removing an oak bough from the fenceline this week I found a number of interesting old bottles and jars. It's clear that these are part of old dumps for farm refuse, or middens, dating back to before regular collections were made.

How old they are I don't yet know. What's coming to light at the moment is mainly from the mid 20th century (I think).







One I particularly like is labelled 'genuine malt vinegar' and seems to have been a corked bottle. the rest are an assortment of preserve and pickle jars and some for paste (I think these are from Shippams, a Chichester firm). As always there are some that mystify me.

Not really worth calling the Time Team yet. But as deeper items come to light I remain hopeful of older finds, perhaps cider flagons or earthenware jars, we shall see. There was a bronze age burial found very close to the commons, so I shan't stop looking - who knows what I might find?