The Margate sea defence diaries - identified earthenware shards No 1

Following on from my previous posting I am now going through the process of checking all the earthenware shards I found this year in Margate Harbour during the sea defence works.
This piece found in Margate Harbour is impressed with part of a word that contains the lettering "RWEILER". The complete bottle is either a ceramic gin bottle or a water bottle and dates from around the 1850's.The full lettering on the bottle would read GEORG KREUZBERG AHRWEILER RHENPREUSSEN and the origin is German.

First dig of the Autumn

This morning was my first dig of the autumn and the objective was to finish off what I started in late spring, recording old bottle remains on the Margate main sands. It was low water and it was a familiar sight of shingle breaking through  the sand mixed with fragments of glass and earthenware.
Most of the bottle bases throughout the year have now been removed with myself being the main culprit . I must have exceeded 200 + most dating from the 1780's to the dawn of the twentieth century. However today I did manage to find a dozen ranging from the beginning to the end of the 19th century.

In the photograph the pontil scarring on the bottles can been clearly seen and that helps date the bottles. The top three on the left are fine examples of where the iron pontil rod has been attached so the bottle could be finished off and the lip applied. These bottles more than likely dates  in the 1820's to 1840's bracket.
The remaining bottles date from the later  Victorian period . Representing a Victorian day at the sea side of which the evidence is still in abundance on the foreshore at Margate.

The sea defence diaries- the final chapter

Today I took into the Margate Museum everything single item I have found during the sea defence works at Margate. All in all it represents about seven months work of photographing and digging  in and around the Margate Harbour area.
The final phase of the sea defence works has been a bit of a disappointment as I never realised that very little digging would be taking place around the Kings Steps area where the revetment is to be constructed. However this has been out weighed by all the information gathered and items founds during the underpinning of the Stone Pier since the end of December.
This morning I took full advantage of the effects of the recent strong South Westerly winds that have scoured the through the silt in Margate Harbour from earlier the digging. Today I found three old bottles, one complete clay pipe and part of an animal jaw bone.
One of the bottles was embossed Weavers Plumstead which just happened to be a small company once owned by the Grandfather of  John Williams (curator of the Margate Museum). So on those credentials I let him have the bottle.The other bottles were a Weston's dairies milk bottle and the other was an early coke bottle.
From now until September beach combing  finds do fall sharply because  everything  is either covered in green sea weed making it hard to see and the weather is not as volatile like in the Winter months when the sand can easily erode on one tide.
In summing up, I have found clay pipes and stems dating back to the early 1700's , fragments of bottles also dating back also the the 1700's and many shards dating back to that period. Unfortunately nothing is complete except a few clay pipes.
From the 1800's to the 1900's  I have found a whole range of items that represent Margate as tourist resort during that period, plus items relating to Margate Harbour as a working harbour. In this category I have found complete items like bottles both glass and earthenware.
The finds that interest me most and have 100% provenance are pieces of the stone pier constructed between 1812 to and 1815 that were lost in the February storm of 1953 when the lighthouse on the end of the stone pier collapsed into the sea.

In September the exhibition at the Margate Museum will be about History of the area in and around the Jetty in including the Harbour area, I suppose the entire area as seen in the  the view of the Webb painting in the Turner Centre . Many of my finds found during the sea defence works will be on display, but not all as the exhibition will not be about items found during the sea defence digging. Once the exhibition is finished the Museum can take whatever they want for their collection and I will keep the remaining items to form another collection of the finds found during the underpinning of the stone pier to accompany the photographs I took.I hope to have something in place for the 60th anniversary of the storm in February 2013.

The Sea Defence Diaries 21/05/12 - The search continues

I haven't posted much on the sea defence works in recent weeks because no real digging has been taking place in the historic areas. Also the low tides have not been that good.
However, my quest to find items relating to the history of Margate still continues and my recent scout inside the harbour area (21/05/12) has turned up a few bits.
I am no longer finding items on an industrial scale and my latest find of a earthenware salt glazed bottle is a bonus. The bottle is in remarkable condition as found in the  harbour silt, it has no makers mark and the cork is still inside.

Of the other items found was a bottle stopper dated 1926 and was issued by George Beer & Rigden Faversham. The company was formed in 1922 when brewers George Beer of Canterbury and Rigden of Faversham merged.
I also found many shards and I have photographed the ones that are significant like the piece from the refreshment Pavillion on Margate Jetty. The other two pieces are from a design I call Letherby and Christopher as that is the logo on other pieces of the same pattern that I have been finding. These pieces are my most common finds and I do know that the company are caterers. Originally it was believed they were sea front caterers and to date I have found no evidence of that. Following another lead the pieces could have come from the paddle steamer trade, to add strength to this theory I have been finding a fair number of pieces in the mouth of the harbour. One piece does have a makers mark "Copeland" "York" England and  that has given me something further to go by.

I jumped the barrier around the current sea defence works to take a photograph (above) of the deep digging. As you can see the contractors are digging deep and even by my standards I would find jumping in that hole risky if I was on my own.
 For some reason there is very little turning up within the barrier area, my only recent finds being a 1920's/ 30's Sharpes Dairies milk bottle from Ramsgate, a plain bottle stopper and many clay pipe stems. I expect this is due the fact that as soon as holes are dug they are refilled once the job is done.

Sea Defence Diaries 24/04/12

 Low water this morning was around 8:30 am and I was rather hoping to get around the square head of the stone pier. Low  tides  haven't been good recently but the winds have, enough to wash through any remaining spoil from the under pinning of the stone pier.
As the low tides are pretty poor in the near future until May 7th  I can only speculate what is uncovering around the out side wall below the lighthouse.
On my last trip I did come across some lumps of wrought iron about the size of a large coconut which is very unusual. I am now working on the assumption that they may be used as ballast but then on the other hand they could have been imported into Margate at one time for foundry work In the same area there is a mass of concretion that is breaking and today I found a piece that had worked its way around the square head. It was a fine example of a broken Victorian mineral water bottle fused together with some iron work. The remains of the bottle water was a hamilton and I would say circa 1880's and part of the embossment suggests that the bottle came from Camberwell.
As the tide did not go out as far I searched through the part of the shingle bank in the harbour entrance that had been uncovered by the tide. There was not a lot to be found except the usual clay pipe stems and shards. The only finds worth noting was a small Victorian earthenware ink bottle and a neck of a spirit bottle probably 1830's or 40's going by the lip.
Over by the Kings Steps, the site is beginning to look like a building site as preparation begins for the pouring of concrete for the foundations of the revetment begins. The entire area is surrounded by a barrier  which rules out any opportunity to search through the spoil heaps. I do have this terrible feeling that because of this history will be uncovered and them reburied and there will be no opportunity for recovery.

The sea defence diaries - changes 14/04/12

It is now getting to that time of year again when there is a noticeable change in the tides. One being the lack of very low tides for the next few months plus this time of year this is also the beginning of a silting process off Margate main sands. These two factors combined do reduce the chances of finding historic items on a industrial scale to a trickle. Even with the helping hand of the sea defence works excavations I doubt if there are going to be many finds until the works around the Margate harbour slipway area begin. As it stands at present the vast majority of finds coming up are around the square head of the stone pier on the good low waters which are going to be few and far between for a while.

The tide backed by a North East wind has brought in a few surprises like this piece of Margate Jetty photographed that is gradually making its way on to the main sands.

Today 14/04/12 I walked all my favourite search sites in the harbour area only to find a few items like a clay pipe bowl, a piece of a jug bearing the New Palace Steamers logo and a part of a cup bearing the Letheby & Christopher design. All the rest of the finds being a few clay pipe stems, a few bottle stoppers and copper boat nails.

It is nice to see that the Harbour Arm / Stone Pier is open and one bonus is that most of the smelly sea weed has disappeared for a while. Inside the harbour I am amazed how the sand/mud/silt has returned back to very much how it was before the deep excavations for the underpinning took place. There a very few items now to be found but that is not surprising going by the foot prints in the mud of other people having a look for items themselves. I must admit I did make one miscalculation, being that I forgot to take into account that in 1947 2000 cubic yards of silt were removed from inside the harbour entrance which explains why some areas where barren of old items.

Anyway that's in the past and I still have found enough items to mount some kind of exhibition in the near future.

The sea defence diaries 08/04/2012

The change in the weather we have been experiencing this past week have been a god send for my searches around the square head of Margate Stone Pier. The northerly backed winds and the strong spring tides have sent waves crashing into and along the sea wall picking up everything in its wake only to spill the contents in the calmer waters of the entrance to the harbour forming a new shingle bank.

This photograph I took yesterday shows clearly how the new shingle bank is being formed from the spoil left over from the mechanical digging of the recent sea defence works.

From the photograph is not rocket science to work out that the heavier and more denser items are remaining or being deposited closer to the wall and the more lighter material like chalk being carried further away. So based on this theory today I was able to fill two buckets of finds, all as a result of the recent sea defence workings . I have photographed some of the finds below.

In the top left is another piece of the stone balustrade (1815) that once surrounded the light house, below that is a iron ring that was once fixed into the masonry of the stone pier, central is another piece of Terracotta (1890) bearing the symbol I am still researching, top right a piece of ornate iron work and a 1850's to 1880's circa bottle neck. The shard in the bottom right hand corner is a piece of Letheby & Christopher china cup.

Amongst the heavy weights, I found this lump of lead drainage pipe that has a diameter of around six inches. In the photograph is a fifty pence piece to give it some scale. To date I have not been able to date it.

Other find also included clay pipe stems, shards, a brass .303 bullet case, pieces of lead and copper boat nails.