Woburn Sands Area Bottles

After postcards, local bottles are the most sought after collectables.  These are the examples I have found so far.

Little and Large from The Swan	Close-up of the small version

The full story of Down and Needham can be found on another page on this website, but they were wine and spirit dealers who were also agents for Phipps Brewery in Northampton.  Their premises at the top of Russell Street were known as “The Eagle Malting”, and is still a wine and spirit merchants today. Both the examples of flagon I have seen read “DOWN & NEEDHAM WINE & SPIRIT MERCHANTS WOBURN SANDS” and are printed in blue, which is quite unusual. There is a 3 gallon size, with the blue print on face of flagon, and also a gallon size with the blue print on a white background on the shoulder of the flagon. Both made by Buchan, Portobello Edinburgh.  I know of two other examples of the version with the text on the face, but have never seen another with the text on the shoulder.

Small flagon and Ginger Beer	Large flagon

Down and Needham also produced a ginger beer bottle, marked “DOWN & NEEDHAM CELEBRATED  HOME BREWED GINGER BEER WOBURN SANDS”  It comes in the standard two tone colour, with an internal screw stopper marked “DOWN & NEEDHAM WOBURN SANDS”.  The bottles were made by Bourne, Denby.  The print on these is black. 

There are many glass bottles from Down and Needham.  I believe that William Needham was producing his own mineral waters first, before going into partnership with Frederick Down, after the death of Frederick’s brother and business partner, Henry, in 1891.  Therefore, the bottles with only an “N” under them were from Needham only, and other with “D&N” must have come later.  Frederick then died in 1902, so it was a fairly short partnership, but they had time to branch out with premises at Bedford by the River Ouse.

Codd style bottles can be identified by their marble stopper. The Codd bottle was filled upside down, so that as soon the filling stopped, the marble fell down against a rubber washer to seal the bottle. Pressure inside the bottle kept the marble pressed against the top of the bottle. To open the bottle, the marble was pushed in, where it would fall into the neck chamber below. If the opened bottle is held the right way, the marble is held inside the neck chamber when the bottle is tilted up for drinking. Many of these bottles were destroyed when children would routinely break open the bottle to get the marble inside! This closure device was invented by Hirram Codd, hence the name.  It also gives us the English slang term “Coddswallop” for talking rubbish, as real beer drinkers considered these non-alcoholic beverages to be useless, as the contents were just a load of “Coddswallop!”. Coloured glass versions, or those with coloured marbles, command some extremely high prices, but all the Woburn Sands varieties are plain glass, sometimes called aqua, which can have a slightly green tinge to it.

These are large and small size versions of a codd bottle marked “WOBURN SANDS MINERAL WATER WORKS”.  It has a large “N” on the base.  The large size also has the number “9966”, while the smaller has the number 10012.  WOBURN SANDS arches over the top, MINERAL WATER is across the middle, and WORKS arched under the bottom.
	Earliest codds from Woburn Sands?

Then there are large and small versions of “THE WOBURN SANDS AERATED WATER COMPY” codd. The text is in a circle around two pointers and a central spot, looking a bit like a compass. There is a Niagara patent on back of the bottle.  The same text and design features on the only Hamilton-style bottle from Woburn Sands. This is one of three found in a cellar in Leighton Buzzard a few years ago. The torpedo-shape bottle was patented in 1809 by William Hamilton of Dublin. The curved bottom had the advantage of forcing the bottle to lie on its side keep the liquid in constant contact with the cork and thereby prevented it from drying out and the leakage of air; its shape allowed it to be much stronger than conventional flat bottom bottles of equal weight so it was less likely to crack or break under pressure of the carbonation; it was easier to pack in crates and it is hard to set down an opened bottle till you finished the contents, so customers drank faster!

"Compass Point" design codds	"Compass Point" Hamilton

	These are codds marked “BEDFORD & WOBURN SANDS AERATED WATER COMPANY”. The text is written vertically around the bottle. This has “D&N” on the base, and a J. W. Dobson makers mark. This comes in large and small sizes.
Vertical text codds

Next is a ½ pint internal screw shouldered bottle marked “DOWN & NEEDHAM WOBURN SANDS”. There is an eagle with spread wings motif in centre of text, the name of their malting.  There is also another version as above, but the text reads “DOWN & NEEDHAM BRIDGE WORKS BEDFORD”

Eagle motif, Woburn Sands and Bedford	Usual internal screw stopper

	“DOWN & NEEDHAM BRIDGE WORKS BEDFORD” also appears on a miniature brown bottle, and another codd with a “D&N” base and “TT&Co Ltd”. Miniature spirit bottle
Bridge Works, Bedford codd

Lastly from Messrs. Down and Needham, there are pint and ½ pint internal screw shouldered bottles marked “DOWN & NEEDHAM BEDFORD & WOBURN SANDS”, with the text vertically around the bottle.
	Vertical internal screw bottles, one with 'pinch-top' stopper, which also has 'Down & Needham' on it.

The other local firms who used bottles for advertising were few and far between. There are ½ pint internal screw clear bottles marked “J. BELLAMY WOBURN SANDS” with the number “375” or “J.L&Co- C” on the base. I have not discovered who J. Bellamy was. The only J. Bellamy on the 1901 census was listed as a 'Brick Burner'. By the style of the bottle, it looks like a grocers shop perhaps? Some acid etched milk bottles from Bakers of Station Road and C. C. Green, Woburn Sands, make a change from all the embossed glassware.

J. Bellamy	C. C. Green - Dairy milk bottle
Bakers Dairy 1/2 pint	One I am still looking for....a milk bottle from the Aspley Hill Diary

Also, somewhere, there may be a very nice etched soda siphon to go with this metal top I have, marked “HORTON AND BAYES WOBURN SANDS 268”.  The remains of the glass neck are still inside the top, and it was clear glass, but if they bothered to have the tops stamped with their name, I am sure the usually acid etched bottle would have been very ornate. Horton and Bayes were the chemists who preceded Bathurst’s, in the same shop that remains a chemist today....And lastly for Woburn Sands, I know of a stoneware hot water bottle, transferred “GEO. TANSLEY IRONMONGER WOBURN SANDS”. 

Soda syphon top, do you have the bottom half?		Hot water bottle

Other local villages:

There is a flagon for Wavendon, one gallon in size, marked “GEO. E. KING PRIMROSE VILLA WAVENDON BLETCHLEY”, with a Doulton potters mark.  Primrose Villa is a few doors up from the ex-Leathern Bottel pub, now Wavendon Arms.  The King family were brewers and farmers in Wavendon for many generations.

There is a flagon for Woburn, 1/4 gallon in size, marked “J BARR BEDFORD ARMS WOBURN” with a Doulton & Watts potters mark. Barr was at the Bedford Arms between 1861 and 1864.

Woburn flagon	Wavendon flagon

I am not aware of any bottles from Aspley Guise or Bow Brickhill.  If you have any example of local bottles not listed here, please let me know, and I can add a photo if you don't mind.

I would like to especially thank Northants Bottle Collecting Club for their help over the years in acquiring some of these examples.