Shipwrecked treasure trove discovered off Arran’s coast

Over the course of three dives, Graeme lifted all the selected items and brought them back to the surface by hand. After bringing his finds back to dry land, cleaning them up, and doing some research, he discovered the pottery was made by Bell’s Pottery in Glasgow.

“The internet is a wonderful thing, and we found loads of information about Bell’s and then found out that the Hunterian Museum, the oldest public museum in Glasgow, had a collection of Bell’s Pottery.

The Hunterian Museum facilitated a meeting with the potter and artist Ruth Impey, who has been building a museum to celebrate pottery from Glasgow.

Speaking about the collection of Bell’s pottery, Ruth said: “The most interesting thing when I saw all the pieces that Graeme had brought into the Hunterian is just the amount of different types of ware that are there.

“A lot of people don’t know that Glasgow had a huge pottery industry, and in the 19th century, it was kind of the centre of Scotland’s pottery industry, and Bell’s Pottery, which all these pieces are, was the largest and probably best known of Glasgow’s potteries.”

Ruth explained that pieces of pottery are well preserved because they were buried in the mud at the bottom of the sea. She said: “Graeme had to dive down to 53 metres to retrieve these items. So it’s quite an extraordinary feat in itself. We don’t know enough about the history of where the cargo was going yet, but we are doing more research.”

The pottery is in Graeme’s hands now while he works with Receiver of Wreck (RoW), a team that deals with voluntary salvage wreck material across the UK, to research the ownership of the pottery and find a home for it.

Speaking to the Banner, Graeme said he has hopes that some of the pottery he helped discover will be displayed on Arran and he has discussed this with both RoW and Ruth.

But for now, the formal process with RoW will continue and hopefully, one day, residents on Arran will be able to see and experience a portion of the treasure that lies just off the island’s east coast.