Odd Staffordshire

The 'Witch Bottle', or 'Belamine Jar', was unearthed in September 2009 by a team from Oxford Archeology exploring the old Tipping Street car park site in Stafford town centre.

It had been dug up in preparation for the possible building of new offices for the County Council and a shopping centre. It's believed the jar was buried in the foundations of what used to be a back room at the Turk's Head Inn.

The jar stands at around 6 inches high, and has a grotesque gargoyle design on the outside, designed to scare off witches.

Superstition

There are many myths and legends about how you can ward away witches and evil spirits. They include carrying rune stones in your pocket, and sprinkling salt by your windows, doors, and entrances into your house.

In the 17th century people took to filling the Bellarmine jars - which originally come from Germany - with a mixture of urine, nail clippings and hair.

They would then bury them under the floorboards in the belief it would frighten away evil spirits.

The ugly face that appears on the neck, actually gives the bottle its name too. The design was meant to represent Cardinal Bellarmine, one of the Roman Catholic leaders of the counter-reformation, who may have been seen as a bogeyman in protestant England and Germany.

Perfect condition

The team from Oxford Archaeology is analysing the contents of the bottle to see what could've been inside it.

"This is a beautiful example of an exceptionally unusual jar," says County archeologist Steve Dean. "It is in perfect condition, and although the stopper has disappeared the jar was found upright and so some of the contents may survive."

"It really sheds light on the way Staffordians thought during that period. They were extremely superstitious times when most people really believed in witches and would have gone to great lengths to protect themselves."

The team also unearthed some Anglo Saxon pottery kilns suggesting Stafford could have been as much as a major player as it's neighbour Stoke-on-Trent in the production of pottery.

The town, of course, is more famous for it's shoe making industry, and archeologists also found some leather waste, which they say shows a shoe maker would have worked at number 14 or 15 Tipping Street, during the medieval period.

On display

If you want to see the Witch jar, it will be on display at Tipping Street on Sunday October 25, between 10am and 4pm. The archaeological site will be open to have a look round with experts from Oxford Archaeology team on hand to answer questions.

The Bellarmine jar will also be on display at Shugborough during its Halloween evening on Saturday October 31.