Embedded Files
3842 sherds of pottery found during the digs have been washed, recorded, and analysed.
These fragments - the remains of two stoneware flagons - were found in King Alfred Terrace during the 2023 dig.
One piece showed the name J. Rendle, Wine & Spirit Merchant, Winchester.
This inscription has enabled us to discover a little of James Rendle's story.
Local directories show that James Rendle took over the license of the Post Office Tavern, 3 Parchment Street (on the corner of St George's Street and Parchment Street) in 1859.
The first license to this Winchester Brewery Company tavern had been issued in 1851.
James Rendle is listed as an Ale and Porter merchant in The Kelly Guide (1875), Whites Directory (1878) and Master’s Winchester Directory (1881).
Image - Gilbert Charles Rumbold (1896-1974) City of Winchester Trust
On both the 1861 and 1871 census, James Rendle is living at 3/4 Parchment Street with his wife Harriet and is shown as a Licensed Victualler / Publican.
Widowed in 1878, James remarried in February 1880 and is shown on the 1881 census at 3/4 Parchment Street with his wife Charlotte, who later gave birth to their daughter, Margaret, in June 1881.
James died aged 49 in August of the same year.
Probate records from 1881 show that James left £916 12s. 10d. (the equivalent of around £100,000 today)
By 1891, Charlotte (53) is shown on the April 1891 census as a servant in Lymington and her daughter (9) as a boarder in Owslebury.
The Post Office Tavern was closed and demolished in the 1950s to allow for the widening of St. George's Street.
The flagon found during the Hyde900 dig is likely to date between 1859 and 1881.
This intact example of a James Rendle flagon is viewable online in the Hampshire Cultural Trust collection.
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