My Tin Cup Project.

You will recall that I posted some information on the 18th century tin cup, and that the remains of original tin cups had been found. The handles had been soldered on, yet the cups were found without their handles. It was thought reasonable that the owners had probably put the cups on the fire to boil water or cook food, and the solder had melted and the handles had fallen off. A wire bale handle was found with these cups, so the owner had obviously made a new wire handle for his cup.
Based on this information I set about making a tin cup out of a modern food can. Modern tin cups do not have soldered handles, they are crimped into the top and bottom edges of the cup. I did the first circle and twist fine, but when I came to complete the bail handle on the bottom of the cup, the wire broke! Rather than scrap it and start again, I decided that it could have happend to anyone and cut my losses and finished with what I had. No matter what I did I was going to finish up with two ends of the wire having sharp edges, so I bound the bail handle with leather. If I ever use it on the fire, the leather will burn, but I can do that if I have to. Actually if I only place it on a rock on the edge of the fire it will still work and the leather will not burn.

Early to Mid 18th Century Tin Cups.

Apparently up until 1740, all tin plate used in the New World was imported from England. I had great difficulty in tracking down any information on tin cup use in the 18th century, and was starting to look for alternative vessels, but then I found this PDF http://nativeamericansofdelawarestate.com/Bloomsbury/19__0013.pdf

It sais that handles on these cups were soldered on, and not an integral part of the cup. Samples found had no handles, so it is likely that these cups may have been placed on the fire to boil water or for cooking, and the heat melted the solder and the handles fell off. This point is important, because (1) it means that modern made tin cups are not the same as 18th century cups, and (2) if you are going to use your cup on the fire, there is no point in adding a handle in the first place.
This means if you can find a modern tin which is about 4 inches in diameter by 3 inches high, you have youself a tin cup. ( I note that the tuna cans in our pantry are about that size!).

"A wire bail handle appeared to belong to the tinware" (quote in above PDF). This is refering to the two tin cup remains that were found without handles. So was this a wire bail as in a bail on a kettle, or was it a bail as in a makeshift handle? Either would seem appropriate and something that could/would have easily been done given that the cups had probably previously been used on a fire, and that the handles had fallen off.

 You can see what appears to be a tin cup in his right hand. 17th century.

Late 16th century found on the Mary Rose.

Three 17th century drinking jugs, courtesy the Museum Of London.

Leather Black Jack.

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Interesting Historical Info.

Hogarth.
There is an old Hotel/Pub in Marble Arch, London, which used to have a gallows adjacent to it. Prisoners were taken to the gallows, (after a fair trial of course) to be hanged. The horse drawn dray, carting the prisoner, was accompanied by an armed guard, who would stop the dray outside the pub and ask the prisoner if he would like ''ONE LAST DRINK''. If he said YES, it was referred to as “ONE FOR THE ROAD” If he declined, that prisoner was “ON THE WAGON”

Tanning Pits

 They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery.. If you had to do this to survive you were, "Piss Poor", but worse than that, were the really poor folk, who couldn’t even afford to buy a pot, they "Didn’t have a pot to Piss in" & were the lowest of the low.

This is how I was bathed as a child in front of the open kitchen fire. Our 18th century family home was very cold on the upper floors.

                                     
Here are some facts about the 1500’s: Most people got married in June, because they took their yearly bath in May and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell, brides carried a bouquet of flowers, to hide the body odour. Hence the custom today, of carrying a bouquet when getting married... Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs, thick straw piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

 There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom, where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top, afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

 The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt... Hence the saying, "Dirt Poor." The wealthy had slate floors, that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh, until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold.

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day, they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight, then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: ''Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot, nine days old''

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon, to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "Bring home the Bacon." They would cut off a little, to share with guests and would all sit around talking and ''Chew the fat''.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning & death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided, according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or ''The Upper Crust''.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road, would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of ''Holding a Wake''.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So, they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, thread it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night, (the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, ''Saved by the Bell'' or was considered a ''Dead Ringer''.

This information was sent to me by a close friend in England.
Thanks Gwyn, much appreciated.