Deliberately Concealed Garments

Sittingbourne Cache

admin — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 16:04:31 +0000

The Sittingbourne Cache is the collective name given to a large group of artefacts found within the fabric of an old public house in Sittingbourne, Kent, in the south-east of the UK, shortly before the building’s demolition. The cache, consisting of over 500 artefacts, is the largest reported to the DCGP. The finds were uncovered by a group of amateur historians (who were documenting the building) in three main locations in the building: in the voids on either side of a stepped, brick chimney flue; under floorboards in a first floor room at the front of the building; and, under floorboards in another part of the building. Most of the finds were found alongside the chimney flue; examples include shoes, a felt hat, fabric scraps, scraps of leather harness, rope, the remains of clay pipes and lots of paper scraps. The under floorboard finds include two garments found in the same location: a pair of stays (corset), dated circa 1620/1630 and what may be the lining from a pair of breeches of similar date. The stays may be the second oldest pair in the UK.

For more information about the Sittingbourne Cache see:

EASTOP, D. 2007. Sound recording and text creation: oral history and the Deliberately Concealed Garments Project. In: M. HAYWARD and E. KRAMER, eds. Textiles and Text: Re-establishing the Links Between Archival and Object-Based Research. Postprints of the Third AHRC Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies Conference, 2006. London: Archetype, 65-70. pdf

EASTOP, D. 2006. Outside in: making sense of the deliberate concealment of garments within buildings. Textile, The Journal of Cloth and Culture. 4 (3), 238-255. pdf

Caputh Cache

admin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 04:51:24 +0000

This collar was found in a pre 1850, rural farm dwelling in Caputh, Perthshire. It was discovered in 1993 whilst renovation work was being undertaken. Continue reading →

Hursley Cache

admin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 04:50:28 +0000

This cache was concealed in a thatched cottage, in Hursley, Hampshire. It was hidden near the chimney and discovered in 1971. The owners of the house donated the shoes to the Archaeology department at Hampshire County Council Museums Service in 2001. Continue reading →

Cuckfield Cache

admin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 04:49:26 +0000

The tricorn hat was found concealed in a property in Cuckfield, Sussex. The discovery was made during the 1980's, when the house was being converted into flats. The owner donated it to Cuckfield Museum in 1998, where it is currently displayed. Continue reading →

Cupar Cache

admin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 04:48:01 +0000

This cache was found concealed in a former farmer's cottage in Cupar, Scotland, in April 2001. The discovery was made while the owners of the property were undertaking electrical renovations. Continue reading →

Birmingham Cache

admin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 04:46:52 +0000

This hat was found in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, in 2001. The discovery was made by a builder, while work was being undertaken to create a new gallery space for the 20th Century art collection. Continue reading →

Pontarddulais Cache

admin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 04:44:53 +0000

This corset was found in a thatched cottage in the village of Pontarddulais, West Glamorgan, Wales. Pontarddulais is an industrial settlement, but was formerly an agricultural area. The owners of the cottage discovered the corset when they were undertaking renovation work in early 2002. It was concealed behind a thick stone wall to one side of the fireplace and was found lying on soil. Following its discovery the corset was donated to the Museum of Welsh Life, St Fagans, Cardiff.

Abingdon Cache

admin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 04:42:53 +0000

This cache was discovered in 1994. It was concealed in the attic space of a house in East St.Helen Street, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in a wall cavity filled with hops. The house is owned by Oxfordshire Preservation Trust, who uncovered the group of objects while undertaking restoration work.

Lawshall Caches

admin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 04:40:58 +0000

Two concealed caches have been found by Mr and Mrs Harber at their property in Lawshall, Suffolk. Their house was originally a farm dwelling and is thought to date from between 1520 and 1550. The first cache was found in 2000 in a gap between a tie beam and a window sill, the second in 2001, at the side of the ground floor chimney stack. The Harbers run courses on the care and repair of timber-frames buildings from their home and the two caches are used to demonstrate the types of objects people may find concealed in a building.

Stockbridge Cache

admin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 04:36:23 +0000

This shoe was found concealed in a cottage in Stockbridge, when the property was being demolished. The Southampton based company demolishing the house gave the shoe to Test Valley Area Trust, who donated it to the Archaeology department at Hampshire County Council Museums Service.