Record ID: MAS-100009
Object type: SHOT
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Essex
Workflow stage: Published
This is an assemblage of six round cast iron and stone projectiles of varying sizes. Due to the ubiquitous nature of their design, it is difficult to accurately date cannonballs with any certainty. This issue is compounded by the wide variation in designs and calibres of the cannons that fired them and the lifespan of the weapon, with obsolete designs often still in use on merchant ships long after they had fallen out of service with the various navies of Northern Europe, who also used captured weapons on their vessels. Cast iron cannonballs are thought to have appeared at some point d…
Created on: Wednesday 28th September 2016
Last updated: Thursday 13th April 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100036
Object type: SAUCER
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
Workflow stage: Published
Pewter bowl measuring 15 inches in diameter by 2 1/2 inches in depth. This find is a pewter dish or saucer (the term 'saucer' is used here to describe vessels used to contain sauces, in order to disguise or enhance the taste of food), probably dating somewhere between the 16th and 18th centuries - there are very similar examples, for instance, in 16th century contexts from Nonsuch Palace in Surrey (Rosemary Weinstein, 'Pewter vessels', in Biddle 2005). That doesn't mean that this vessel is a high-status object - saucers and dishes were among the most commonly made pewter items, and wo…
Created on: Tuesday 25th April 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 26th September 2017
No spatial data available.

Record ID: MAS-F100110
Object type: POST
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: East Sussex
Workflow stage: Published
Heavily eroded and abraded timber fragment with marine borer and growth present. As it is so worn, it is difficult to tell what type of wood it is and whether this fragment was originally completely shaped and worked, or just partially worked to achieve its function. The timber does not exhibit any evidence or staining from fastenings, however, there is one hole that could have been a fastening point at some stage. It is thought that this fragment may be a broken post or groyne timber that has come from a beach rather than material relating to a wreck. Groynes are wooden barriers bui…
Created on: Wednesday 23rd August 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 8th May 2018
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-O100179
Object type: ORDNANCE
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Dorset
Workflow stage: Published
This find consists of 12 lead balls varying in diameter between c. 15 mm and 21mm. All appear unfired and bear the mould lines and sprue marks from being hand moulded in a 2 part mould. The balls themselves are in fair condition, though some bear concretion/encrustation. Images of the finds were sent to Charles Trollop, an expert in historical ordnance, who advised that in all likelihood these are English Standard Musket (0.775 " or 19.79 mm) and Carbine (0.615 " or 15.64 mm) Balls. These standards relate to most of the black powder/smooth bore period from the 17th to 19th centuries.
Created on: Friday 1st June 2018
Last updated: Thursday 26th March 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-O100189
Object type: NAIL
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Greater London Authority
Workflow stage: Published
The find consists of 8 iron nails and an unidentifiable object that contains one further nail and is made of, or covered in, what appears to be fur. The nails range in length from 135 - 175 mm, and c. 10 - 20 mm in width at their widest point below the head. All 8 nails have a rose type head and taper to a broad point. These features suggest that the nails were hand wrought, rather than cut or wire, a method where each nail is manufactured individually by hand on a blacksmiths anvil. The invention of the slitting mill c. 1590 simplified this process by manufacturing iron rods from whi…
Created on: Wednesday 13th June 2018
Last updated: Monday 30th March 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-O100169
Object type: KNIFE
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Isle of Wight
Workflow stage: Published
Double edged blade covered with concretions, around 25 mm wide and 280 mm long. Displays iron oxidation, and the item has not been preserved well. The blade is roughly 200 mm long and the thicker handle is approximately 80 mm long. Following consultation with Henry Yallop of The Royal Armouries museum, this object can only be discribed as roughly the shape of a common blade form , i.e. roughly lenticular, and about 25 mm broad. What is not clear is whether it was once the complete blade, or that this is part of one, or alternatively that it was the part of another forged object, and o…
Created on: Saturday 20th January 2018
Last updated: Thursday 26th March 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100052
Object type: JUG
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
Workflow stage: Published
One badly damaged ceramic jug with marine encrustration. The vessel is probably stoneware, but possibly glazed redware as there appears to be the characteristic 'orange peel' texture of salt-glazed stoneware visible in the photo, with the 'reeding' that you get round the rims of stoneware vessels. If this is the case it is almost certainly German in origin. The rounded shape would place it somewhere in the second half of the 16th century or first half of the 17th century.
Created on: Tuesday 23rd May 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 3rd October 2017
No spatial data available.

Record ID: MAS-100020
Object type: JAR
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
Pottery sherd: a rim sherd from a Post Medieval glazed redware flanged bowl with a horizontal looped side handle. The sherd dates to the 17th/18th century. The manufacture and origin of the sherd is unknown due to the mass production of this type of kitchenware.
Created on: Tuesday 13th December 2016
Last updated: Monday 3rd April 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100134
Object type: HANDLE
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
Workflow stage: Published
The stem of a silver fork or spoon with a hallmark pattern. The set of four hallmarks located together on the piece of cutlery indicates it was made later than 1781, when this practice was first introduced. Based on this image, this type of spoon/fork is possibly a Fiddle pattern - this refers to the shape of the handle - and is a type introduced in the 1780s and still in production today. The Fiddle pattern means that there are shoulders on the stem near the bowl, which is seen on this example. The lower end of the stem juts out around 90 degrees but this example may have been worn d…
Created on: Monday 23rd October 2017
Last updated: Monday 30th March 2020
No spatial data available.

Record ID: MAS-D100051
Object type: DRINKING VESSEL
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
One ivy leaf patterned teacup marked with the Davenport logo. This transfer printed refined ware (either pearlware or whiteware) cup dates to the 19th century. John Davenport acquired his own pottery in 1794, initially producing cream coloured blue-printed earthernware. Within 12 years the company's reputation and the quality of its porcelain was such that the future King George IV was ordering services from the company. John Davenport retired in 1830 and the company was continued to be run by his sons and their children until 1887 when the factory closed and the company was acquired b…
Created on: Sunday 21st May 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 26th September 2017
Spatial data recorded.