19th century marmalade jar
Museum of London Archaeologists excavated over 13,000 well-preserved 19th and 20th century Crosse & Blackwell pickle pots, glass bottles and jam jars from the Crossrail site at Tottenham Court Road, formerly the site of Crosse & Blackwell’s premises.
The discovery offers a peek into the past and the development of products which still sit within kitchen cupboards around the world today.
The finds included glass bottles for Mushroom Catsup, ceramic bung jars for mustard and Piccalilli and delicately painted white jars for Preserved Ginger. Archaeologists also found white earthenware jars for Pure Orange Marmalade, Household Raspberry Jam and Plum Jam, some of which still bare their original labels. They illustrate the ambitions of one of Victorian Britain’s most prolific and enduring enterprises and evidence the development of British tastes.