Time capsule from Bridewell, 1791

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

52313

Title

Glass jar time used as a capsule buried with the foundation stone of the Edinburgh Bridewell, 1791

Description

A clear glass jar with lid. Used as the container for coins which were buried in 1790-1791 within the foundations of Bridewell prison and were found when the Bridewell prison was being extended in 1883.

Accession number

HH6403/9/2004

Copyright

The City of Edinburgh Council Museums & Galleries

The foundation stone for the Bridewell was laid on 30th November 1791 accompanied by a grand procession and full masonic honours. The Bridewell was Scotland’s first ‘new’ penitentiary where facilities and treatment of prisoners were far removed from those of the dilapidated and overcrowded old Tolbooth. This new model prison put prisoners to work in activities such as spinning and weaving, and the sale of this work helped to pay for the prison.

As part of the laying of the ground-breaking ceremony two glass time-capsules cast at the Glass House of Leith, were laid into the foundations. One contained coins of the reign, each encased in glass and in the other bottle were deposited two rolls of vellum, containing the names of the present officers of the Grand Lodge, and the present Magistrates of the city, together with an Edinburgh Almanack, and a copy of each of the Newspapers published in this city, viz the Caledonian Mercury, Evening Courant, Edinburgh Advertiser and Edinburgh Herald.

The bottles were carefully sealed up and covered with a piece of copper and upon the under side of the copper were engraved arms of the city of Edinburgh, the arms of the Right Hon. The Earl of Motton, Grand Master Mason of Scotland, the arms of Masonry, and the arms of the Right Hon. James Stirling, Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Upon the upper side of the plate, a Latin inscription. The jars were placed within the foundation stone.

In February 1883, when work was being undertaken at the Calton Jail site, workmen unearthed the Bridewell foundation stone and one of the time-capsules.

This handwritten letter in our collection from J. B. Collinson, architect, dated 8th February 1883, and signed by A. Beatson Bell, Chairman of H.M. Prison Commissions for Scotland, explains the circumstances when the time-capsule was discovered and states that the Earl of Roseberry, who was under-secretary of State for the Home Department, instructed that the stone and its contents were to be replaced. The stone and its contents were rediscovered when the Bridewell was demolished in the 1930s.

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