After months of suspense, specialists unveiled the contents of a 119-year-old message found inside a glass bottle during renovation work at Edinburgh's King's Theatre. The bottle, which had become glued together with age, required experts to use special techniques and chemicals to separate it.
The glass bottle was initially discovered in December 2022 by Mike Hume, a theatre donor and enthusiast. While on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Edwardian-era building, Hume reached into a gap behind a decorative cornice. Standing on a 40-foot-high scaffold next to the theatre, he pulled out the bottle.
"There was all sorts of crumbling plaster and other things in there, then my hand fell on this solid object that I pulled out... and it turned out to be a glass bottle," Hume said. He used his phone to photograph the folded note inside the jar, on which he could distinguish a name written in ink: "W S Cruikshank," the name of the man who built the Edwardian theatre.
Unable to open the bottle themselves, theatre directors sent it to the Scottish Conservation Studio. There, paper conservation specialist Helen Creasy opened it. The note inside, dated 1906, contained a list of the names of those who helped build the King's Theatre, including the Edinburgh theatre builder William Stewart Cruickshank.
The first name on the list was William Stewart Cruickshank, and the note also included architect John Daniel Swanston, who opened his own practice in 1895 and specialized in theatre and cinema design. Other individuals mentioned were draughtsman John Alexander Cameron, plaster foreman George King, foreman William Begg, and plasterers John Hutchinson, Andrew S Law, and William Hunter.
"I find it fascinating that we have a list of plasterers and draughtsmen," said Pendlebury, the theatre's heritage engagement manager, who judged its state of preservation as "incredibly impressive." She expressed delight at the "absolutely fortuitous" and "incredibly exciting" discovery. "It's showing how personal this was to so many people and how there is a real human connection going back. It's just really beautiful to see," Pendlebury noted.
BBC Scotland News asked the genealogy service Findmypast to help uncover the identities of the men who left the note. "Unexpected discoveries like this can offer a fascinating window into the past," said Jen Baldwin, a research specialist at Findmypast. She explained that these men were "a group of highly skilled craftsmen from diverse backgrounds, who came together to create one of Edinburgh's most cherished and iconic creative spaces, entertaining the public for over a century."
"It really was like a scene out of Indiana Jones," said Mike Hume. The bottle's top was sealed with plaster to ensure it remained tightly closed, and although it was embedded in plaster, Hume noticed that a note was inside.
The King's Theatre in Edinburgh is undergoing a £40.7 million redevelopment project, which includes installing two lifts, widening staircases, upgrading the auditorium, and adding a new control room and ventilation system. The theatre is expected to reopen in spring 2026. Capital Theatres plans to display the research results, along with the bottle and the note, in a new exhibition space once the theatre reopens.
"The most magical thing for me is that everyone who sat in that auditorium and watched the stage saw it, and it's this jewel that has been hidden all this time," Pendlebury declared.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.