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| Hundreds of items from Georgian coffeehouse unearthed in Cambridge | Hundreds of items from Georgian coffeehouse unearthed in Cambridge |
| (4 months later) | |
| Clapham’s Coffeehouse closed down 250 years ago, no doubt to the anguish of its regulars who met at the site in Cambridge to swap news and gossip, as well as drink cups of coffee and delicate china bowls of tea. | Clapham’s Coffeehouse closed down 250 years ago, no doubt to the anguish of its regulars who met at the site in Cambridge to swap news and gossip, as well as drink cups of coffee and delicate china bowls of tea. |
| Against the traditional image of a Georgian coffeehouse, they also drank ale and wine and consumed hearty meals, or revived their drooping spirits with nourishing glasses of calf’s foot jelly. | Against the traditional image of a Georgian coffeehouse, they also drank ale and wine and consumed hearty meals, or revived their drooping spirits with nourishing glasses of calf’s foot jelly. |
| The proof has come from the excavation of an old cellar in the city that was stuffed with bottles, bowls, crockery, cups, jars, pewter tankards and teapots from the lost premises. | The proof has come from the excavation of an old cellar in the city that was stuffed with bottles, bowls, crockery, cups, jars, pewter tankards and teapots from the lost premises. |
| The tense truce between detectorists and archaeologists | |
| It is the greatest haul of material ever retrieved from a single coffeehouse, and has given the archaeologists new insights into how such premises operated – more genteel than a tavern, but a little more rough and ready than those that sold only coffee, tea or chocolate. | It is the greatest haul of material ever retrieved from a single coffeehouse, and has given the archaeologists new insights into how such premises operated – more genteel than a tavern, but a little more rough and ready than those that sold only coffee, tea or chocolate. |
| Clapham’s was run for almost 40 years by a husband and wife team until it closed in the 1770s when Jane Clapham was widowed and sold the premises. | Clapham’s was run for almost 40 years by a husband and wife team until it closed in the 1770s when Jane Clapham was widowed and sold the premises. |
| It was so well-known that a verse from a student journal commends it as an essential stop to discover what was really going on: “Dinner over, to Tom’s or Clapham’s I go; the news of the town so impatient to know.” | It was so well-known that a verse from a student journal commends it as an essential stop to discover what was really going on: “Dinner over, to Tom’s or Clapham’s I go; the news of the town so impatient to know.” |
| Its site is now part of St John’s College, which paid for an excavation before recent building work. To the surprise of the archaeologists, material filled an old cellar: the hoard included more than 500 objects, many astonishingly well preserved given that they had been discarded as rubbish and used as landfill. | Its site is now part of St John’s College, which paid for an excavation before recent building work. To the surprise of the archaeologists, material filled an old cellar: the hoard included more than 500 objects, many astonishingly well preserved given that they had been discarded as rubbish and used as landfill. |
| There were serving dishes, jugs and bottles, storage jars, bowls, cups of every size and shape – including straight-sided coffee cans and tall chocolate cups – sauce boats and 18 jelly glasses in which calf’s foot jelly would have been served. | There were serving dishes, jugs and bottles, storage jars, bowls, cups of every size and shape – including straight-sided coffee cans and tall chocolate cups – sauce boats and 18 jelly glasses in which calf’s foot jelly would have been served. |
| Also discovered were the foot bones from cattle that would have been boiled down to extract it. There were also oyster shells and other meat and fish bones, suggesting that the customers ate beef, chicken, goose, hare, rabbit, mutton and pork, as well as eel, herring and mackerel. | Also discovered were the foot bones from cattle that would have been boiled down to extract it. There were also oyster shells and other meat and fish bones, suggesting that the customers ate beef, chicken, goose, hare, rabbit, mutton and pork, as well as eel, herring and mackerel. |
| Craig Cessford, from Cambridge University’s archaeological unit, said: “Coffeehouses were important social centres during the 18th century, but relatively few assemblages of archaeological evidence have been recovered and this is the first time that we have been able to study one in such depth. | Craig Cessford, from Cambridge University’s archaeological unit, said: “Coffeehouses were important social centres during the 18th century, but relatively few assemblages of archaeological evidence have been recovered and this is the first time that we have been able to study one in such depth. |
| “In many respects, the activities at Clapham’s barely differed from contemporary inns. | “In many respects, the activities at Clapham’s barely differed from contemporary inns. |
| “It seems that coffeehouses weren’t completely different establishments as they are now – they were perhaps at the genteel end of a spectrum that ran from alehouse to coffeehouse.” | “It seems that coffeehouses weren’t completely different establishments as they are now – they were perhaps at the genteel end of a spectrum that ran from alehouse to coffeehouse.” |
| New underwater discoveries in Greece reveal ancient Roman engineering | |
| The number of tea bowls – far more than of coffee cups – and the impressive haul of 38 teapots suggests that coffee drinking was already on the wane: the rise of tea would cause many of thousands of traditional coffeehouses to close. | The number of tea bowls – far more than of coffee cups – and the impressive haul of 38 teapots suggests that coffee drinking was already on the wane: the rise of tea would cause many of thousands of traditional coffeehouses to close. |
| There was precious little evidence of reading, although coffeehouses had been famous as places where expensive newspapers and journals could be shared. Although the paper rarely survives, the archaeologists found none of the metal clips used to hold pages together that have been found at nearby sites. | There was precious little evidence of reading, although coffeehouses had been famous as places where expensive newspapers and journals could be shared. Although the paper rarely survives, the archaeologists found none of the metal clips used to hold pages together that have been found at nearby sites. |
| “We need to remember this was just one of thousands of coffeehouses and Clapham’s may have been atypical in some ways,” Cessford said. | “We need to remember this was just one of thousands of coffeehouses and Clapham’s may have been atypical in some ways,” Cessford said. |
| “Despite this, it does give us a clearer sense than we’ve ever had before of what these places were like, and a tentative blueprint for spotting the traces of other coffeehouse sites in archaeological assemblages in the future.” | “Despite this, it does give us a clearer sense than we’ve ever had before of what these places were like, and a tentative blueprint for spotting the traces of other coffeehouse sites in archaeological assemblages in the future.” |
| The archaeologists published their findings in the journal Post-Medieval Archaeology. | The archaeologists published their findings in the journal Post-Medieval Archaeology. |
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