Latest news with #ZoeBrown
BBC News
14-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Pontypool: Vegetable plot dig unearths crop of vintage bottles
Scratching the surface of a planned vegetable plot in a back garden has been a journey of discovery for one a mound of earth and nestled away for decades on a property in Pontypool, Torfaen, were more than 1,000 vintage bottles. Some beer bottles and medicinal glass jars have been brought to the surface - but their existence in just one spot is "puzzling", said mum-of-two Zoe Brown."We started digging and found there's loads of rubbish - we went a metre down and found a whole bottle and thought this is really cool - maybe there's more stuff."It got absolutely out of hand." Zoe said after they moved the family decided to "do the house up a bit at first" but there was a nice outdoor space to decided to work on that, and "maybe grow some veg".Upon finding the bottles she said she emailed a lady who told her that before the war people had to get rid of their own rubbish, and said "if you go any deeper you will find out more". "There's quite a lot all over the place, we found an old wall there as well. Glasses were popping up we were picking them out, there's over 1,000 bottles altogether - we picked loads out but some of them are still in the garden."After using a mechanical digger and finding more than they anticipated - Zoe decided to call it a day."I washed hundreds of them out and my boy Reg and my little girl Tilly chose the ones they liked." As well brewery bottles from Abersychan, Rhymney, Newport and Cardiff there were also vintage bottles featuring Abergavenny's Morgans and Evans."There's loads of brewery ones - and little jars like the ones from Boots the Chemist with little tablespoon marks on the side, and one find was like a bottle of hair gel with a comb marking on it - where you dip the comb in and wash your hair."I emailed some auction places but there's too much to go through. We wheeled them up to the back of the garden - some of them had liquids in them so we had to be careful."Zoe added: "We've got loads of flowers there now- rather than grow veg because of the liquids we found. We knew the area had glass in it because when it rains glass keeps on popping up."Part of you wants to keep going but where do you cut off? It got to the point where it's level and that's enough. "There's easy 1000 little jars and bottles which have come out."
South Wales Argus
14-05-2025
- South Wales Argus
Over 1000 antique bottles dug up from Pontypool Garden
36-year-old mum of two Zoe Brown just wanted to dig a veg patch with her family when she started finding buried rubbish and bottles hidden in her garden. Zoe said: 'We moved in a year ago. The kids and I are budding gardeners and want to be able to grow our own veg for Christmas. 'Last weekend we decided to dig up the veg patch, we dug down a metre deep trying to find clear soil, but it was absolutely riddled with rubbish.' Tillie Woodhouse 4 with sibling Reg Woodhouse 3 and over 1000 vintage bottles (Image: Zoe Brown) Zoe added: 'We were pretty annoyed at the start but then we found the Morgans and Evans Abergavenny brewery bottle and thought it was really cool! From there it just became a family effort. 'My little boy and his dad were on the digger; my daughter and I were on picking and wheeling. 'We were digging the glass up by the bucket load, so it went from horror to excitement pretty quick!' Over 1000 antique bottles dug up from Pontypool Garden (Image: Zoe Brown) Most of the bottles found were old brewery bottles some of which from brewers in Merthyr, Rumney, Newport and Cardiff. However, alongside old alcohol bottles the family also discovered 'poison bottles' many dating back to the Victorian era. Zoe explained: 'We have found out that the poison bottles were most likely medical bottles, they made them green and ribbed because many people years ago were illiterate. 'The colours indicated that it was poison, it changed then under the poisons act because the colours of the glass were attractive to children.' Old beer bottles from a Newport Brewery hidden in a Pontypool garden (Image: Zoe Brown) The family's new project has been time consuming. Zoe said: 'It's taken us this weekend to wash them all. Some still have their lids on so we left them. There's over 1000 bottles. 'Apparently before WW2 people were responsible for their own rubbish so that's probably why there was so much in one place!'
