A message, an expensive alcohol or something else: The story of what was in the Seaview Street bottle

A bottle found in a Cleethorpes building full of liquid, with one question on everyone’s mind. What’s inside?

In 2024, during heritage works at Sea View Street, part of the National Lottery Heritage funded Townscape Heritage (TH) project for Cleethorpes, contractors discovered something rather unusual, a bottle full of liquid buried in the ground. Although it may sound unusual, it was common for sailors to leave urine in a bottle and bury it at home as a superstition for a safe home coming, or for  people to ward off evil spirits from their home.

After being retrieved from the property and agreed with the property owners, it was taken to Conservation of Cultural Heritage department at the University of Lincoln for preservation.

Here, it was the chosen object for third year student, Zara Yeates, who spent three months uncovering the mystery of the bottle. The biggest question of all, what was inside?

A history of Cleethorpes

Over the past 200 years, a lot has changed in Cleethorpes. In the 1801 census, it had a population of 284 from 60 houses and in the 19th century, Cleethorpes transformed from a collection of hamlets into a large fashionable town.

In the 1841 census, it shows the town was originally spelt Cleathorpe, split into the three districts of Itterby, Oole and Thrunscoe.

Sea View Street resided in the parish of Itterby and Cleethorpes was known for businesses selling oysters and a blacksmiths. During this time, well known establishments such as The Fisherman’s Arms didn’t even exist and the only surviving shop is that of Hermes Antiques which opened in the early 1800s.

Discovering the bottle

Ongoing works at 35-37 Sea View Street, a former grocers and newsagents, saw CAG Developments Ltd conducting excavation by hand. Plans included restoring the front façade and a full reroofing before being refurbished internally by the property owners.

Too small to get large machinery in, the builders were excavating the foundations for a rear extension manually, when they came across the bottle buried around 1m deep in the clay. At the same time, project manager Carol Heidschuster had also arrived to review progress, and retrieved the bottle for safekeeping.

Realising its significance, she decided the bottle should be taken to the Conservation of Cultural Heritage department at the University of Lincoln for preservation.

The face behind the bottle

In October 2024, third year students were asked to choose an item to work on, with options including the likes of historic posters, old crucifixes and of course, the bottle.

Excited to uncover the truth about it, Zara Yeates, from Winchester, relished the chance to find out more.

After spending a number of years in retail, Zara’s love for cultural heritage grew after many visits to National Trust sites. Working at Hinton Ampner, a country house estate in Winchester, Zara got to know various departments, including those who maintained and restored the building and its contents.

Within a month, she’d decided to go to University to study Conservation of Cultural Heritage, and within two months, she was applying to Lincoln University.

When asked why she is so fond of Conservation, she said: “It’s about preserving items for future generations. I love learning about history and making sure people can learn about them for years to come.”

She added: “I first fell in love with conservation when I went to the Mary Rose on a school trip aged nine. From that moment on, it was something I have always been interested in.”

XRF to X-ray: the method to the madness

Over three months, Zara used a range of methods and machines to work out all she could about the bottle and its contents.

Using an X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF), Zara worked to determine the elemental composition of the bottle. With this, she could see what elements the glass contains, and use the information to hopefully narrow down where it was made and when.

Additionally, Zara put the bottle under UV light to see if it was fluorescent (giving off a visible bright light). Glass manufacturers often included various minerals during the manufacturing process to give their glass certain qualities or colours; for example, uranium oxide was frequently used as a glass colourant from between the late 1800s to mid-twentieth century.

To keep the cork fresh and the contents of the bottle intact, Zara spent a period of time consolidating it. This involved spraying the bottle with water periodically and securing the iridescence on the bottle using specialist glue and a syringe.

What’s in the bottle?

After countless tests and many other methods, Zara hoped she was finally closer to the truth.

She said: “This bottle has been a great project and I’ve absolutely loved it. I’ve spent months cleaning it to brighten up the levels of iridescence which has led to the discovery of an opalescence.

“To the naked eye, it probably looks like dirt, but it’s just another layer of this wonderful object.”

She added: “After countless tests using UV light and X-rays, we believe we may have discovered what’s in the bottle.

“We can now say, almost definitively, that it is urine.”

With the ultimate question answered, Zara is hoping to learn more about the glass itself. “Now I’ll be looking at finding out the minerals in the glass to hopefully figure out where and when the bottle was made.”

The bottle will also be on display at the course’s end of year exhibition in June before being returned to the property owner.