Have you ever found a piece of an old clay pipe?

Perhaps it was a small white stem in a garden, a broken bowl on a footpath, or a fragment picked up while walking somewhere you've known for years.

Clay tobacco pipes turn up in all sorts of places, and because they were once so widespread, their fragments are now familiar archaeological finds. The National Pipe Archive describes them as ubiquitous objects that were used throughout society, and their short working lives mean they can also be particularly useful for dating and interpreting archaeological sites. Pasted text

One of our volunteers, John, recently found a particularly interesting example in the general Guisborough Forest and Hutton area and has now donated it to Land of Iron.

At first glance, it looks like another broken white clay pipe. Look a little closer, though, and this one has quite a story.

Italy's Hero

Moulded onto one side of the bowl is the portrait of a bearded man, accompanied by the words: ITALY'S HERO

The figure is Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Italian patriot and military leader who played a major role in the movement that led to the unification of Italy during the nineteenth century.

Turn the pipe over and another word appears: LIBERTY The two sides belong together.

Garibaldi became enormously popular in Victorian Britain, where he was celebrated as a romantic figure associated with freedom, national independence and political reform. His fame spread well beyond newspaper reports and political meetings. His name and image appeared on commemorative and everyday objects, including clay tobacco pipes.

British pipe manufacturers certainly produced Garibaldi-themed pipes during the nineteenth century, although we do not currently know who made this particular example. The Science Museum Group collection includes a mould and stopper for a “Garibaldi” clay tobacco pipe made by John Pollock & Co. of Manchester.

Based on its form and subject, the Land of Iron pipe is most likely to date from the second half of the nineteenth century.

Everyday objects with something to say

Clay tobacco pipes were produced in enormous numbers. They were relatively inexpensive, fragile and frequently broken or discarded, which helps explain why pieces of them still turn up so often today. But they weren't always plain.

Manufacturers decorated pipes with everything from famous people to political causes and topical events. That decoration means an object that might otherwise seem ordinary can tell us much more about the society that produced and used it.

The National Pipe Archive notes that decorated pipes can help archaeologists explore social ideas and allegiances as well as simply date an archaeological deposit. Its collections include nineteenth-century decorative bowls and examples commemorating political causes and well-known personalities. That makes John's pipe particularly interesting.

Was its original owner fascinated by Garibaldi and his politics? Did they simply choose a pipe featuring one of the great celebrities of the age? We don't know. What we do know is that somebody smoked it. The pipe shows clear signs of use before much of its stem was lost.

Clay pipes and Cleveland's miners

Clay pipes were also part of everyday life in Cleveland's industrial communities. We can see that in Land of Iron's own photographic collection. Historic photographs of ironstone miners show men with clay pipes, including the recently donated photograph of miners at Upleatham Mine.

That does not tell us that John's pipe belonged to a miner, and we cannot know who its original owner was. But it does place objects like this firmly within the world inhabited by Cleveland's ironstone communities.

A cheap, everyday smoking pipe could carry the face of one of the nineteenth century's most famous international figures while being used here in industrial Cleveland. That is quite a journey for such a small object.

Have you ever found one?

For many people, the most familiar part of this story may not be Garibaldi at all. It may simply be the pipe.

Clay pipe fragments have been picked up from gardens, fields, paths, beaches and old industrial sites for generations. Lots of us will have found one without giving it much thought.

So we'd love to know: Have you ever found a clay pipe or pipe fragment?

Perhaps you've found a decorated bowl, a maker's mark, or even collected different examples over the years. Let us know what you've found and where you found it. Sometimes even the most ordinary-looking object has a story waiting to be uncovered.

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