Seventeenth Century Witch Bottle ; Rhenish Bartmann Type, c.1650 - Found at Scole, Norfolk.

Seventeenth Century Witch Bottle ; Rhenish Bartmann Type, c.1650 - Found at Scole, Norfolk.

It is of little doubt in my opinion that a main factor for the choice of bartmann jugs as witch bottles was because of their fierce masks.

This example discovered in the village of Scole, South Norfolk has that quintessential fierce mask often seen on witch bottles from the East Anglian region. As with most witch bottles there is a back story of discovery and identification.

Recorded and documented is the finder of the bottles correspondence with the Norfolk Museum Services from September 1985 ( see pic three ) - An iron lump had been found in the bartmann jug, the contents was taken to Norwich castle museum ; assessed and x-rayed, with the result showing to contain pins. The museum concluded rightly that this was the amuletic ingredients of a witch bottle.

However, that iron lump was never reunited with the bottle and has seemingly gone awol in the Norfolk museum system ; a story all too common with artefacts of an archaeological nature.

Nonetheless ; we are left with a fascinating provenance and a witch bottle profile that gives great insight into a very East Anglian folk ritual - ‘just make sure the cork be fast in’.