“Lost Secrets of the Past: A 117-Year-Old Message in a Bottle Discovered in Edinburgh’s King’s Theatre!”
Cruikshank was the contractor who originally built the theatre, which meant the note had likely been deposited in the gap at the time of the theatre’s construction in 1906.
“This is the sort of discovery everyone hopes for on a project of this scale,” Hume said in a statement from Capital Theatres.
“It’s astonishing to think that this time capsule of history has been hidden in plain sight for nearly 120 years, silently bearing witness to the countless famous faces — and Edinburgh community performers — that have graced the stage of the King’s.”
Capital TheatresGlass technician Laura Clair sawing away at the plaster seal on the bottle containing the message.
Unable to open the bottle, theatre bosses sent it off to experts at the Scottish Conservation Studio so that the letter could be safely removed. Now, a full three months later, glass technician Laura Clair has opened the bottle and Capital Theatres has revealed the content of the message inside.
A Message From The People Who Built King’s Theatre In 1906
Capital TheatresThe opened bottle, thanks to Laura Clair and the Scottish Conservation Studio.
Once the note was out of its glass container, experts had to use special techniques and chemicals to unstick the paper from itself. Thankfully, the process worked, and they were able to see the message’s content.
What they found was a list of names, starting with William Stewart Cruickshank, the builder behind the King’s Theatre. The note was dated October 1906 — just two months before the theatre opened to the public.
