Bottle tops

I get the mickey taken by some of you lot over my obscure collections but they all have a purpose. This morning I was photographing an ebonite pop bottle top found on the Ullswater lakeshore near Pooley Bridge for a future lakes guide article. The emblem on the top is of the boathouse at the northern end of the lake. The ginger beer bottle ebonite screw cap top is probably about 100 years old and was introduced to replace the old 'Codd' bottles, the sort that the kids used to smash to get at the marble or 'muggle' in the neck.

There are a number of this style of boathouse around the lake but none as well known as the one at Pooley Bridge. Being a stop on the Ullswater Steamers some local entrepreneur obviously decided it was a good logo to advertise his wares. It's nice when an old find links with the present so neatly!


Duke of Portland Boathouse

One of the most photographed structures in Cumbria.

It originally belonged to the 3rd Duke of Portland (1738-1809, British Prime Minister 1783). He was involved in a nine-year legal battle with Sir James Lowther over a land claim in Carlisle and had to sell his Cumbrian assets to save himself from bankruptcy. The case began in 1767 and dragged on until a final judgement in his favour in 1776. Portland died on 30 October 1809 at the age of 71.