On my last fly fishing trip to the River Yarrow I found an interesting bit of local history.
A piece of a Silver Jubilee cup holding an image of Queen
Mary (1910) and the white bowl of an old Victorian clay smoking pipe, which was
amazingly still intact.
This link shows a better image of how the cup would have
been when new:
Here's the clay pipe bowl....
The wheat ear pattern of the pipe is quite well preserved, seeing as it has been lying on the rocky banks of the Yarrow for many years. What are the chances of a wandering farmer or angler not cracking this delicate piece of local history?
You can still almost smell the tobacco as the pipe's owner smoked it whilst strolling along the old stream all those years ago.
Hi I found your blog when trying to age a pipe that I recently found on a steep sided woodland floor Mine identical and comes from near Bath, UK. Any idea what age these might be? I appreciate yours is an oldish blog but it would be great if you spotted my comment! Many thanks P.
ReplyDeleteI should think Victorian era or earlier mate but am not expert.
DeleteMy granddaughter found this same wheat pattern pipe last week while we were mud larking in Lancashire, from my research so far it seems it was made from around 1830s to just after the 1900s, there are slight variations by other makers, I'm still trying to find the maker to get a some more accurate info if there is any available.
ReplyDeleteSean Aloysius
Possibly linked to Joseph Arch’s nineteenth century agricultural union.
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