CAPITAL Theatres has revealed what was found after opening a 119-year-old bottle found hidden in the walls of the King’s Theatre last year.
The relic was found when photographer and historian Mike Hume reached behind a decorative crown above the stage, whilst on a tour of the building.
A video posted yesterday shows the team slicing into the bottle to reveal a note inside.
The bottle and note had been untouched since 1906 – the same year the King’s Theatre opened.
In December last year, Mike discovered the glass bottle inside a plaster crown at the centre of the King’s Theatre proscenium arch, which reaches above the stage.
This was only possible due to the current restoration works taking place at the venue, which are set to be completed next year.
When the bottle was found, the Scottish Conservation Studio were tasked with removing the plaster seal and bottle top, but were unable to remove the scroll of paper without potentially damaging it.
Yesterday, the theatre shared that the bottle had been opened by Laura Clair, a glass technician from the Edinburgh College of Art.
A video shows Laura using a small diamond blade to carve around the bottom of the bottle where the glass is the thickest.
Eventually, the bottom comes off and the team are able to extract the piece of paper folded inside.
Capital Theatres states the note is dated October 1906 and contains a list of the construction staff who worked on the theatre, including architects, plasterers and apprentices.
Mike, who found the bottle, said: “This is the sort of discovery everyone hopes for on a project of this scale.
“When the builders of the King’s Theatre placed this special trinket at the very centre of it, they intended to honour the local people who built the theatre.
“It’s astonishing to think that this time capsule of history has been hidden in plain sight for nearly 120 years, silently bearing witness to the countless famous faces – and Edinburgh community performers – that have graced the stage of the King’s.”
One such name is the Kirkcaldy-based Swanston and Davidson – the family of whom donated some of John D. Swanston’s artefacts to The People’s Archive, which is collated by the King’s Theatre to tell the hidden histories of those who worked there.
Some of these include a catalog of images of the plaster moulds in the King Theatre’s interior, such as the cupids on the front of the boxes, as well as a postcard of Swanston in uniform during the First World War.
Another name is George King Senior whose son George King Junior also worked on the theater as an apprentice plasterer.
The glass bottle will also be in The People’s Archive, which will be available to view digitally from April this year, and will contain over 2,700 historically significant items.
Fiona Gibson, chief executive of Capital Theatres, said: “The redevelopment of the King’s has been a thrilling journey from the very start.
“Finding a note from 1906, the very year the theatre first opened its doors, is apt as we prepare for the next chapter in the theatre’s rich history.
“This remarkable find offers a poignant connection to the generations who have passed through the ‘Grand Old Lady of Leven Street’, the histories of which we will explore when The People’s Archive launches later this year.”
Abby Pendlebury, heritage engagement manager at Capital Theatres, said: “We knew we had something really special when the bottle was uncovered.
“For 119 years, the bottle was waiting behind the crown – something that every audience member has seen since the theatre first opened in 1906.
“The significance of the message is that the list of names ranges from managers and directors to draughtsman, architects, and plasterers – people working on the site who were so proud of what they had built.
“There is pride and ownership in this note. Now we have the histories of those who made ‘the people’s theatre,’ which we will proudly share as part of the King’s origin story in The People’s Archive and through new displays at the theatre when it reopens.”