Record ID: MAS-6105BA
Object type: FIREARM
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
This gun is a QF (quick firing) 6-pounder Hotchkiss, a light 2.25 inch (57 mm) naval and coastal defence gun from the late 19th century. The design appears to be pre-1890 as it does not have the recoil system that was introduced at that time. The original 1885 Mk I was a built-up gun with a vertical sliding-block breech. The name comes from the French manufacturing company, Hotchkiss, who were the major supplier of light QF guns in the world. This type of gun became a standard torpedo defence weapon; many navies bought this same type of gun (Friedman 2011).
Created on: Monday 25th July 2016
Last updated: Friday 26th August 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-100004
Object type: CLAY PIPE (SMOKING)
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
All three white pipes here are complete, and are of the short or 'cutty' form. Two carry relief moulded decoration featuring Masonic emblems (incorporating the crossed compass and square), while the third is in the form of a male head, wearing a thin-brimmed cap, possibly a military figure. Pipes with Masonic emblems were made from the mid-18th century in the UK, but remained popular into the early 20th century, while the male head falls into a group of more elaborate decorative pipes with bowls moulded in the form of human heads and animals, common in the late 19th and early 20th cent…
Created on: Thursday 28th July 2016
Last updated: Tuesday 29th January 2019
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-1F5444
Object type: BEAD
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
Twenty-six long drawn beads with a single cylindrical central perforation extending along the length of the bead. Varying in size, the beads measure approximately 25 mm in length and 8 mm in diameter, and some signs of wear are visible. The beads all have an opaque white core, cased in opaque red, cased in opaque white and finally cased in translucent blue on the exterior. The inner layers form a star pattern. The diameter cross-section is roughly cylindrical in the centre, whilst at the upper and lower ends the cross-section changes to become faceted in an octagonal shape, allowing th…
Created on: Wednesday 3rd August 2016
Last updated: Friday 30th September 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-100007
Object type: SPOON
Broad period: MODERN
County: Devon
Workflow stage: Published
This spoon is made of a metal alloy, possibly copper alloy, and was probably originally plated. Its manufacture would have been cast. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) crest is stamped into the end of the spoon. The crest features the RAAF monogram with a laurel wreath surmounted by a crown. This crest is the same style as that used for cap badges and is modelled from a Royal Air Force (RAF) crest. The more widely adopted RAAF crest was commissioned and designed in 1937 and accepted in 1939. It is composed of the imperial crown mounted on a circle featuring the words 'Royal Austra…
Created on: Thursday 8th September 2016
Last updated: Wednesday 14th December 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-100008
Object type: MAMMAL REMAINS
Broad period: UNKNOWN
County: Northumberland
Workflow stage: Published
This tooth is a cattle (Bos spp) molar from the upper jaw. It has four crescentic cusps (polycuspid) forming a square crown, as well as four root elements. These characteristics are typical of selenodont teeth which are found in ruminant herbivores (e.g. cattle, goats, sheep, or deer). Viewed from the side, the crown of the tooth forms triangular profiles which, in combination with ridges, makes the sideways jaw motion of ruminants an effective way to break-up tough plant matter. Thus their function as crushing and grinding teeth. The alternating layers of enamel, dentine and cementum…
Created on: Monday 12th September 2016
Last updated: Tuesday 27th September 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-100011
Object type: CLAY PIPE (SMOKING)
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
This is a very worn example of a 'cutty' (short) pipe (total length 115 mm) with a round-based spurless bowl imitating a briar pipe, and decorated with multiple 'thorns' - small pointed protrusions around the stem and bowl. This type of bowl was in use between c. 1850 and 1910 (Atkinson and Oswald 1969: type 30), and the thorn design was one of the many decorative types popular during this period (e.g. Ayto 1994:11; Hammond 2009: figure 7). Clay tobacco pipes were manufactured (using two-piece moulds) in huge quantities in many towns and cities around the UK and were also imported fro…
Created on: Wednesday 28th September 2016
Last updated: Wednesday 12th October 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-O100028
Object type: BOTTLE
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Isle of Wight
Workflow stage: Published
A bottle made from dark green/black glass, bearing a protruding cork. It has a slightly concave body, flaring moderately at the base, leading to gently rounded shoulders with clear definition where they intersect with the neck. The neck itself is broadly straight, tapering slightly where it meets the finish. The finish is of either a double oil or brandy type. The bottle is reminiscent of a spirit bottle of the squat cylinder style, though vessels of this style were used to contain a variety of products beyond beers, wines and spirits. Bottles of this type were manufactured from at lea…
Created on: Saturday 25th February 2017
Last updated: Friday 21st February 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-O100030
Object type: CANNON BALL
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
Workflow stage: Published
Spherical ball composed of sandstone or igneous rock such as granite. The shot measures 50 mm in circumference and would date to the post medieval period. Stone shot was carved by hand using chisels and picks, often being finished once on board a vessel. The use of stone was phased out around the 1630s when iron became a more favourable choice for shot.
Created on: Tuesday 7th March 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 15th August 2017
No spatial data available.

Record ID: MAS-D100032
Object type: WATER CRAFT EQUIPMENT
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
Workflow stage: Published
A wooden belaying pin, approximately 0.4 m in length. Belaying pins are either solid metal or wooden objects used on sailing ships to secure the running rigging. They are still seen today on traditional square rigged ships and replica vessels. More modern sailing vessels have tended to replace them with fixed cleats. Their design has little changed, comprising a rounded handle and cylindrical shaft of varying length and thickness, dependant on the workload placed on it. The shaft would fit into holes in pinrails, which lined the inside of the bulwarks around the base of the ship's mas…
Created on: Tuesday 14th March 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 26th September 2017
No spatial data available.

Record ID: MAS-D100038
Object type: BOTTLE
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
Four glass bottles that are all square, mould-blown 'case bottles', with a typical tapering profile. The square shape enabled them to be packed more efficiently in a case than round bottles, and the tapering profile stopped them from sticking when removed from the case. These were used for gin (although undoubtedly also sometimes for other spirits or wine). Square case bottles were made in Europe from the middle of the 17th century, but the tapering form seems to have become more common in the 19th century. From the 1880s the bottles were machine made, and the rims properly finished - …
Created on: Sunday 21st May 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 26th September 2017
Spatial data recorded.