Objects from our Collections and Other Tales

The Witch Bottle from Renhold.

BEDFM 8835.

Bellarmine Jug 17th Century.

From Renhold. Miss A Henley.

Walking under the trees and past the tall brick building of the museum, you might be surprised at what you can find inside The Higgins Bedford. Peeking out from behind the glass of the Curiosity Cabinet in the Collectors’ Gallery sits an unassuming jug with a bearded face and round belly.

Formally, he’s known as a Bartmann bottle but more casually he’s named as a Bellarmine Jug. Stoneware characters like him were made in Germany throughout the 16^th and 17^th Centuries. They were first used to store drink and later they were used to decant wine. However, somewhere within the 17^th Century they acquired a more unusual use.

At the height of a period of superstition and paranoia, Bellarmine Jugs were employed as Witch Bottles. These were counter-magical devices that were used to protect individuals and households from unwanted spells and misfortune. They were often thought to trap and imprison evil incantations inside.

Traditionally, a folk healer would prepare the bottle by filling it with all sorts of ingredients. This could include a combination of the victim’s urine, hair and nail clippings. This was then mixed with a variety of rosemary, red wine, pins and needles, seawater, sand, thorns and oil. It was thought that any evil doing was to be impaled by the sharp objects, drowned by any liquids and sent away by the rosemary. After this, they were buried under fireplaces or hidden away in walls – they’ve even been found planted in the foundations of houses, thrown away in rivers and stashed in attics. For the spell to work fully, the bottle had to remain hidden and unbroken.

Our Bellarmine Jug is part of the Bedford Modern School Collection and was found in Renhold by Miss A Henley in March 1940. Which begs the question, why was this curious bottle buried here, in Bedfordshire? 

Come back soon for more or pop down to The Higgins to unlock more tales from other mysterious objects.

Written by Curatorial Volunteer Bronte