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Description: | A complete Post Medieval gunflint with lead casing from a flintlock gun. The flint is square in plan and is enclosed on both faces and one side by a sub-rectangular folded lead holder. The three visible edges of the flint show signs of working, both controlled and uncontrolled fractures, the other edge is obscured. The edges of the lead are rounded and there is a small hole present in the folded side of the lead holder. This hole was presumably part of the mounting mechanism. A hairline crack is present along the fold.The gunflint measures 22.60mm long, 24.24mm wide and 11.55mm thick; it weighs 16.7 grams. There is no documentary evidence for when or where sparks from flint were first used to fire gunpowder, but flintlock guns were being used in France from about 1600. There is a written record of an order received by London gunsmiths in 1661 to provide 15,000 'flintstones cutt' for the garrisons in Tangier and Ireland. This gunflint may have been associated with the local activity in during the Civil War, but they continued being used throughout the 18th century, especially during the Napoleonic Wars. It was not until the reign of William III that the flintlock became the main regulation firearm for the British Army. The knapped flint was used within the musket mechanism to produce a spark and would last between 20-25 shots before it had to be replaced, ' Clive Bond, PAS Guide to the Identification, Assessment and Recording of Lithics: PAS, pp163-164'. Bailey (2000) illustrates similar examples on pages 69 & 71, Figs.3,4 & 9, which likely date from the 17th century.This is one of three examples of gunflint and lead holders currently recorded on the PAS database. The other two records are HAMP-F19E84 and SUSS-EC86A4.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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