Collecting History Since 1972...

Checked out two potential sites at Nayland and Mersea.Nothing but shards.....Desperate to get digging we headed back to Spurgeon Street in Colchester to the dump on the moors which was a good early age.We jumped into the coal yard to make sure we were in fresh ash and within three hours had 16 codds,6 impressed gingers and a local flagon  between us plus two bases.Lots of other bulk but nothing to write home about.

 

5th February 1989

 

Went back to Spurgeon street with Shaun and cleared a big area of exposed ash about 15ft square.The depth was about three foot with lime capping and then you were into a rich black ash.Literally first fork full out came a coloured gosnells to match one of the bases from the previous week.We forked it over and dug under but ended up with just ten codds,a couple of gingers and a point hamilton for our effort.One disappointment was the other lid came out plain....and it was rectangular!

 

12th February 1989

 

Decided to give Bishop Stortford a dig again.We used to dig here years ago and it was well dug.However,there was plenty to go at in the 20s site in the trees.

We knocked out three large holes but bottles were few and far between.We realised too late in the day that the best area was nearest the road so will return at a later date.Did get two good bisque shoulder dolls and a few poisons but not much else.

 

12th March 1989

 

Took dad back with me to Stortford.Someone else had dug on from my last hole and had left a reasonable enamel laying on the top "Nectars tea" in the shape of a tea cup and saucer! This dig we struck lucky with a shallow trench near the road we had three transferred gingers (only one was a Normans) two more good heads,a London flagon and nine blue poisons.Left the sick codds behind as they arent worth the trouble.  

 

12th May 1989

Left Martin Drake's house at 4am to arrive at first light on the tip at Longfield, Kent at 4.50am. Needless to say it was a quick Journey with Martin! The dump is made up of London rubbish from the turn of the century and is un-touched apart from the shallow area that has been turned over. I opted to dig near a large tree that gave shelter from the heat we were having. There was also no capping in this area. The seam was only about 2 feet thick and I was soon turning up pointed hamiltons and clay pipes. The ash was thick with broken shards and it wasn't long before a Claytons, Pimlico transferred ginger beer and a black and white gosnells lid came out in quick succession. I moved the hole forward during the morning but struggled to find whole bottles. I finished digging around 3pm and had added a large Atkinson's soap lid, 5 impressed GBs plus a bag of hamiltons, minerals and 2 nice dolls heads. Shall definitely return to this site.

19th May 1989

Had to return to Longfield and did so with Martin, Rob and Lee Smith. We were on the tip by 5am and I continued the hole I had previously dug. This proved a good decision as almost straight away I had 3 holloways pots in various condition out of the first foot of ash! I was unlucky with a damaged blue top express dairy cream pot but 2 good figural pipes (one was Jockey riding a horse) made up for it. I was quickly gathering a pile of hamiltons, codds and minerals whilst Martin had pulled out an Ellen Hales lid (we were to dig a number of Ellen Hale lids from this tip). Towards the end of the day the ash had deepened and I was unlucky with a broken Radams but rewarded with a mint amber warners cure, 2 shoulder dolls, a mint bynol pot and an early un-usual virol pot. We left the dump with bag loads of bulk on top of the finds listed. Another cracking dig.

28th May 1989

Drove back to Meopham , Longfield with Martin Drake and Dave Scrivens. Lee overslept and arrived 2 hours later at 7am! We all dug side by side with me nearest the lane. The capping had become deeper as we dug further into the dump and there was now about 4ft of heavy sand/clay before reaching ash. The weather was really hot and made it very hard going. This week it was all about what Martin found. He started by throwing out a 6oz brewsters hybrid codd and finished the dig with a mint Pegwell Bay coloured lid! In between this he also dug an Ellen Hales lid, a 6d woods lid and a coloured gosnells! We all had plenty of minerals and bulk, however, could not match Martin's finds. I bought the hybrid off Martin for £15.00. A week later I dug a Dr. Ziemers lid from the dump before moving to another tip.

9th July 1989

Hadn't been on a machine dig for ages so after scouting about we decided that we could access a site near to my house where I had first discovered old bottles and had hand dug there since the mid 1970's. I had not dug the dump for years simply because it was quite late and could be sparse in areas. we carried out a quick recce to see how access could be made and where to dig. The dump was Lexden Woods and can be quite deep in places with most finds coming in the bottom foot of ash. We picked a large area where I had previously dug a Nicholls blue lipped codd (this dump has produced 3 or 4 of these over the years) and felt that because of the depth it would be mainly untouched. My expectations were that if I covered our costs I would be happy, so I was more than pleased to see a commans lid come up on the first shovel-full as lids were scarce on this tip! We had ash down to 13ft where the clay appeared. The dump was full of old buckets and bedspreads with screw tops and clear bottles everywhere. Slowly throughout the day we gathered poisons, Sainsbury's pots and stoneware but nothing to of any significance. The digger then removed a densely covered bramble area and our luck changed with a mint stone flat flask from London with a pub name, the 'Bell Inn'. A number of ginger beers then came up from all over including Cambridge, Braintree and Sudbury, but not Colchester. What came out next was hoped for but not really expected - it was a 6oz Nicholls, Colchester reliance blue lip codd in excellent condition. We were all full of further expectations so we raked and dug like mad, but apart from a Bacons of Burnham on Crouch bulb neck codd- no more minerals! Further finds added that day were 3 more common burgess lids, 8 good bisque dolls heads, a local tap-jar, numerous baby feeders and bedwarmers plus 4 blue hobnail poisons. (I got the stone flask in the draw and after numerous swaps over a period of time I eventually ended up with the prized blue lip.)


30/7/1989

We put a third machine onto Lexden Woods. I had to work in the morning, and when I arrived I found that Dad had gone home after a lump had fallen down on his head! The second disaster occurred an hour later when the machine got a puncture that finished the dig early. Apart from the usual bulk we had just two good pictorial Archers, Braintree gbs and a Huntsmen coloured lid that I ended up with in the draw. My mum never let Dad forget his accident and from then on he was issued with a hard hat for future machine digs.

16/9/1989

Due to work commitments (combine harvester support) digging had been restricted during August. I had a week booked off and intend to dig for most of it. (Those were the days!)Wasn’t sure whether to go to Newmarket or Enfield as both tips were reporting good finds, however, the lure of coloured minerals and good lids was too much so off I set for Newmarket.

Shaun had to work at late notice and it was pouring with rain. Faced with a 120 mile round trip I nearly didn’t bother but once I arrived on the tip the first finds I saw were two cracking lids-blue gosnells bear and a Duke of Wellington coloured freshly dug by two yanks from the nearby Mildenhall airbase. I was soon digging to the left of them and sledge hammering through the layer of bricks.

At about 5 feet depth I started finding broken minerals with a few whole point Hamilton’s. A Raes, Newmarket lid came out in two pieces and the layer appeared full of broken shards, and looked promising. Digging down further I was reaching the point when I couldn’t see all that was being thrown out until a blue codd went up and over my shoulder before I could stop! Out of the hole like a rocket only to find a mid blue Wadsworth with the top two inches missing-gutted! !Spurred on by this I dug on and was rewarded with a lid laying upside down that looked like a Jewsbury and brown with mottling. It turned out to be an ambrosial shaving cream Gosnells lid in mint condition. I later added a large potted ham lid before I set off for home.

21/9/1989

Fourth day digging this week; back at Newmarket to finish off the area from yesterday. Had to clear two foot of loose bricks and clinker before I got to the concrete layer that I then sledge hammered and broke up. I cut out a large area right up to one of the bed walls and then dug down into about three feet of ash. Finds were immediate with an amber marbled Potts codd closely followed by a sick star premier. Plenty of stoneware came out (you could sell it then!)and I bottomed the hole with six further codds including Dobson’s and bulb necked variations. A common woods lid came out just under the capping, but more interesting I could see the base of a blue codd sticking out to my right.Definately the base of a waddy and it was firmly wedged in. I took the ash off above the bottle but it moved when I did it so it was obviously another broken one. It came out broken at the retainer and would be put in the crate back at home with the other broken ones! I cleared out the hole again exposing the final wall of ash before reaching the wall and managed to get a good coloured gosnells lid and a Caleys, Norwich transfer before leaving for home.

 

23/9/1989

Had been in casualty until late last night following a leg injury playing football yesterday, but was still round Shaun’s by 5am to pick him up. Got stopped by police routine check on Shaun’s estate who couldn’t believe we needed pick axes, sledge hammers and a jemmy just to dig up old bottles!

We dug together because I had a sore leg and shared our finds.Didnt dig a great deal of quality but did amass a number of Hamilton’s, stoneware, another Dobson’s Wadsworth premier and one good lid that was a Whittaker and Grossmiths ambrosial shaving cream.

Highlight of the day was seeing the great, Late John Kings collection that comprised of different coloured Wadsworth blues and coloured lips all dug by him from Newmarket.

 

14/10/1989

Digging Newmarket at every available time we can. Picked Shaun up and arrived on dump at 5.30am.We were soon sledge hammering and pick axing the capping in the dark when two visitors arrived-the police! What were we doing and why were we doing it in the dark? Luckily, with the aid of a few bottles lying about we were able to explain and after taking our names they wished us luck and left! Word had got out about Newmarket by now and not soon after a machine arrived hired by lads from Leek closely followed by another machine hired by diggers from even further North.

Lots of new faces started to show up and with all the activity it wasn’t long before the first blue was dug-Ron from Leek getting it with the machine. A good green lip Potts came out by hand and everyone’s expectations were naturally high. Our hole certainly looked good with loads of chards in a rich looking ash but by 10am we had just a pile of bulk to show. Luck can change at the turn of a fork and ours did just that with a damaged green lip then a good coloured marble Potts and a Raes, Newmarket lid. Further tunnelling under produced a good amber ink and a burgess lid with a nice French figural pipe found in our spoil afterwards.

Sitting having a coffee we were both knackered and decided we had finished for the day.” Do you mind if I have a go in there said Joan from Norwich?” Go ahead Joan but its finished.......5 minutes later out she flew with a mid blue prices candle!!! If it had been anyone else we would have been less than impressed but her enthusiasm for digging and getting stuck in all we could do was just look at each other and laugh and blame each other for missing it! Win some, lose a lot!

The two policemen later returned to see what we had found and ended up picking up the loose bottles left on top............ bet they wouldn’t nowadays.