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Description: | An iron cannon ball of post-medieval (probably English Civil War) date (1600-1700AD). The cannonball is sub-spherical with a diameter of c. 4.3 inches [4 inches 3/16]) or 110mm. It weighs 6.8 kilograms (15lbs). It is made of iron which has been presumably cast - although the seams cannot be seen. The ball is of a mid-brown orange colour with areas of flaking and active corrosion. The cannon ball is in fairly good condition; however, there are a number of areas which exhibit pitting, denting, and grazes. This damage is as a direct result of the exposing of casting flaws by corrosion which has forced areas of metal away from the surface. If the ball has been fired then it hasn't been damaged - suggesting it didn't hit anything substantial. The size of the ball suggests that it was possibly for a 5.5 inch bore cannon called a Culverin (or possibly a demi-culverin) which fired a ball weighing approximately 15-18 lb (Bailey, G. 2000: Finds Identified, Greenlight Publishing: pages 94-95). The findspot lies in an area which was raised during the civil war - the exact nature of this clearance isn't straightforward as some properties were deliberately dismantled by the royalist strong hold (presumably to provide clear ground outside the town walls) whilst other areas were destroyed by the parliamentarian Sir Michale Woodhouse during preparations of the siege on the 24th April 1646 (Farraday 1991 pp172-176). The findspot therefore could indicate at least one cannon of this size being used - either within the wall or outside by the besiegers.John Barratt, a local authoprity on the civil war in South Shropshire comments that "I'm a little surprised if the Royalists had a gun as heavy as that in the garrison defences. They were not terribly rare, but on the other hand they were not very numerous either. Certainly Woodhouse borrowed them from Shrewsbury for the sieges of Hopton Castle and Brampton Bryan. Of course the other possibilities are that the shot was not deposited in your garden as a result of being fired, but by other means. Maybe a shot "lost" when the heavy guns passed through en route to or from Brampton Bryan? On the other hand, a culverin could have remained in Ludlow after those operations were completed. Alternatively, of course, maybe the Parliamentarians did have one at the siege in 1646 - though I doubt that". | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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