Published in Windlesora 32 (2016)
© WLHG 2016
The Friends of the Windsor and Royal Borough Museum have recently purchased a Bellarmine Jug for the museum, where it is currently on display. It dates from about 1650 and was found by a man working for the water-board at Bray lock in the early 1950s. It is 22.5cm tall and shows a bearded face on the neck, and a medallion below.
These jugs were manufactured in Germany where they are called Bartmann jugs; always with the face of a bearded man, a Bartmann in German. They were used for storing and transporting liquids.
So why Bellarmine? It is thought to be named after Cardinal Roberto Bellarimino, (1542 – 1621) an ardent opponent of Protestantism and a teetotaller, who was made fun of with his bearded face on a jug mostly containing alcoholic beverages.
Windsor Local History Group 