During excavations of a unit just north of the Sacristy, a ferrous can key was recovered.
In 1795, Napoleon, spurred on by the number of troops that were suffering from hunger, offered a prize to anyone who could develop a method of preserving food for the French army. Over a decade passed before the process of canning was presented to Napoleon. Within a year, King George III awarded a patent for preserving food in “vessels of glass, pottery, tin or other metals or fit materials.” A little over a year after that, the first tin can manufacturing factory was opened in England.
The first versions of the tin can were heavy and expensive, and were used only for feeding the military. During the 1820s, the production of the tin can expanded to the United States. During the 1840s and 1850s, events such as the Gold Rush and Western Expansion recognized the need to improve the canning process to make them more readily available and safer.
