Stinkpot

3D Model

Stinkpot found at Corfe Castle.

A 17th-century firepot or ‘stankpot’ – an English Civil War stink bomb. Similar examples exist in the Netherlands and analysis of their contents reveals the presence of noxious substances, including sulphur, pitch and pepper seeds. A fuse was suspended from each handle; this was lit and the pot was lobbed through a window or over a wall like a hand grenade, where it would break and ignite. The fumes would cause panic and confusion – an assault on the senses – making the defenders more vulnerable to attack. Grenades were widely used by both sides during the English Civil War and there are surviving examples of ceramic and metal hand grenades from this period. However, this is the only known stinkpot of its kind in Britain and it may be a Dutch import. Corfe Castle suffered a number of sieges before it surrendered and was ‘slighted’ (deliberately damaged to deny its use to the enemy) in 1646.