Bottle found at Rochester Independent College identified as anti-witch device

A 17th Century bottle discovered at a school 17 years ago has been identified as a rare anti-witchcraft device.

The bottle was found during an excavation at Rochester Independent College in Kent in 2004.

Experts say the "witch bottle" would have been used by someone who believed they had been cursed.

The Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), which has verified the find, said the stoneware vessel would be filled with a person's hair or urine.

It would also contain objects thought to protect an individual from magic, such as pins, thorns or nails, and it would be be placed somewhere in the person's house.

Artists Kate and Fleur Alston, in collaboration with history teacher Ellen Crozier, are being credited with making the breakthrough which lead to its identification.

They spotted the bottle at the school when they were recently invited to do some metal detecting in the school gardens.

The stoneware bottle is the 147th of its kind to be found in England and is the only known example never to have had its contents examined.

It will now be X-rayed at the University of Hertfordshire to try and discover exactly what it contains.

Nigel Jeffries, from MOLA, said: "What makes this bottle special is that the contents of these bottles have either been lost or have already been conserved and studied.

"The Rochester example represents a unique opportunity to study a bottle with its contents in-situ."

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