Pharmacy bottles from the Tar Yard

In 2008 volunteers digging a new drain in the Tar Yard hit the old privy pit and pulled out 143 bottles. These four are the best of them. All four are embossed “Brisco, Chemist, Tarrow”, so the ropewalk’s workers were buying their remedies three streets away.

The tallest still smells faintly of camphor. It held a liniment for strained backs, which in a rope works was probably not rare. The others held cough mixture, eye drops and something the label calls “Tonic”.