Manhole dig yields nineteenth century artefacts

Quality nineteenth century ceramics and glassware have been discovered more than 1.5 metres underground in Richmond.

The discovery was made while SCIRT’s McConnell Dowell delivery team was trenching this month in Sorensens Pl, off Swanns Rd, in order to build a manhole. Deep inside a circular 19th century brick-lined well the crew found ceramics and glass bottles, ash, charcoal and the bones of animals. 

The bricks of the well appeared at a depth of 1.48m and went deeper than 2.45m depth needed for the manhole. Since then two other rubbish pits have been discovered in the cul de sac with similar material to the first find in the well.

A 19th century clay smoking pipe has been unearthed during a manhole dig.

SCIRT work stopped immediately to notify archaeological specialists about the discovery of the brick well and its contents.

Archaeologist and artefacts specialist Jessie Garland, of Underground Overground consultancy, says as well as a selection of alcohol, food and pharmaceutical bottles, there were stemmed drinking glasses which have not often been found in nineteenth century Christchurch.

“These, coupled with the ceramics, might suggest that the family who owned this material had reasonable means.”

The selection of ceramics including tea and tableware and elaborate serving dishes displayed decorative styles popular around the mid-nineteenth century and which fell out of fashion after the 1870s, she says. These patterns include Willow, Wild Rose, Dresden Vignette and other motifs depicting rural landscapes.

One of the clay smoking pipes found has “T Milo” stamped on the stem referring to Theophilus Milo, a tobacconist and pipemaker in London around the 1860s and 1870s.

The SCIRT work site is located within the boundary of a recorded archaeological site – the nineteenth century site of the Sorensen family. Sorensens Pl is named after Danish-born Henry Bylove Sorensen (1845-1923) who was a prominent local auctioneer and also a city councillor off and on for about 20 years. He purchased several acres of land in the area in May 1882.

Historic plans show that the location of his house, which was demolished around 1942 when Sorensens Pl was formed, was located not far from where the well was exposed.

Underground Overground director Katharine Watson says the archaeological material could belong to the Sorensen family. Research will help establish if that’s the case but is not always conclusive.

“We don’t often find rubbish pits below the road. It adds to a sense of discovery,” she says.