Ginger beer in Dunkeld

I am currently studying a History pathway on an Arts and Humanities degree and have an interest in the museum sector, hence getting involved with work experience at the Dunkeld Community Archive. In the process of learning about the 3D imaging of objects, I have created this 3D model of a stoneware ginger beer bottle from the archive. I have enjoyed the experience of learning about the software and the steps involved as well as seeing the finished results. For researching information about this object, I used a number of sources. The starting point was the description notes on the bottle in the archive’s collections and from there I found some information about William Cuthbert from the 1891 and 1901 Scotland Censuses available on ancestry.co.uk. I found out about the Buchan pottery from specialist pottery websites.

This ginger beer bottle was found in a garden in Brae Street, Dunkeld. It was used by William Cuthbert in his production of ginger beer in the late 19^th to early 20^th Century. Ginger beer was invented in England in  the mid-18^th Century, at the time of the colonial spice trade.

William Cuthbert was born in Dunkeld around 1860 and produced ginger beer at Springwells, Brae Street, Dunkeld where he was an aerated water (soft drinks) manufacturer around the 1890s to early 1900s. During his time working there, he was also an Inspector of the Poor and a registrar. By 1916, William had moved to Canada with his family.

The bottle itself was made by A. W. Buchan & Co., a family pottery company in Portobello, Edinburgh that also produced vases and various types of jars from 1867 to 1972. Buchan ginger beer bottles were used across the world by companies from Scotland – such as the one in Dunkeld – to Novia Scotia, Canada.