Mystery Object and What To Do With It

[Cubist]

Evening all,

A few days back I was transplanting a some young trees that had decided to grow in some inconvenient places when the object below came out of the round trapped between the tines of my favourite garden fork.

After careful, arms length, scrutiny to make sure it was not going to go BANG I cleaned off the bulk of the attached soil and clay to find that its made of cast steel and weighs around 4 pounds (circa 2 kilos for the youngsters). It is 8.5 inches long and tapers from about 3 to 2 inches in diameter. Internally it is around 2.5 inches tapering to 1.75 inches. Being curious about its purpose I cleaned off the bulk of the scabby rust and gave it a quick coat of wax in the hope of revealing some detail that may provide a clue.

Sadly, my curiosity has not been assuaged so any ideas out there about what this is and what it may have been used for?

Also, any ideas or suggestions concerning how it could be re-purposed or turned into a decorative piece - other than a paperweight?

Cheers,
Cubist

Thought of the day - Advancing years is defined by going out to do one thing and coming back having done something else.

 

[Owain]

Soda blast and lacquer if you want to return to fresh metal.

Mount upright on a small wooden base and you have a vase or candle-stick

 

[Kearn]

I'd assume it fitted into something, based on the flange lip towards the thicker end and that it wasn't meant to rotate based on the spine, but also needed to be removable. And presumably held something given the hollow and weight - maybe a wooden pole which wedged into the reducing diameter. But that's all I've got...

In terms of what to do with it, candle stick is a good shout, albeit maybe a tricky sized candle to find. Assuming no hole at the narrow end, then a lamp base isn't so easy, but could work well, maybe a bit deco in style.

 

[CliffordPope]

I remember the family excitement when I dug this up a few years ago. It was fun pretending that it was a live shell as I acted out getting everyone to stand back before attacking it with a spade.
I think mine's something hydraulic from a bulldozer, but I've no idea about yours. Tip from an iron-age battering-ram?

 

[LucyLokitt1750]

For some reason I can't see your picture on my computer. But the description reminded me of something we found in the garden of our Victorian terraced house a few years ago. Once we'd satisfied ourselves that it wasn't a shell, we cleaned it off and realised it was a sash window weight -long, and sort of torpedo shaped with a hole in one end. This made sense given that the original sashes had been removed from the rear of the house by a previous owner to make way for yucky UPVC ones. So presumably they thought they'd just chuck this lump of metal into the garden!

 

[philpjuk100]

Moved a stone trough to find it was standing on three bricks and a canonball!

 

[Cubist]

I think mine's something hydraulic from a bulldozer

The tapering bore of mine suggest some similar function and I did find it near to an outbuilding for which the land had been levelled.

Moved a stone trough to find it was standing on three bricks and a canonball!

Coo, you seem to have some unfriendly neighbours there.

But you have given me and idea for mine - perhaps a cannon?

 

[Abi Cott]

That could look cool, and wouldn't be to tricky to achieve

 

[malcolm]

Evening all,

A few days back I was transplanting a some young trees that had decided to grow in some inconvenient places when the object below came out of the round trapped between the tines of my favourite garden fork.

After careful, arms length, scrutiny to make sure it was not going to go BANG I cleaned off the bulk of the attached soil and clay to find that its made of cast steel and weighs around 4 pounds (circa 2 kilos for the youngsters). It is 8.5 inches long and tapers from about 3 to 2 inches in diameter. Internally it is around 2.5 inches tapering to 1.75 inches. Being curious about its purpose I cleaned off the bulk of the scabby rust and gave it a quick coat of wax in the hope of revealing some detail that may provide a clue.

Sadly, my curiosity has not been assuaged so any ideas out there about what this is and what it may have been used for?

Also, any ideas or suggestions concerning how it could be re-purposed or turned into a decorative piece - other than a paperweight?

Cheers,
Cubist

Very intrigued and I don't know the answer but have asked elsewhere: https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/what-is-this-old-rusty-8-inch-pin-thing.86699/

Is it hollow and thread inside?

 

[philpjuk100]

Moved a stone trough to find it was standing on three bricks and a cannonball!

Coo, you seem to have some unfriendly neighbors there.

We think that scots soldiers may have been billeted at the house during the siege of Newark the garden is full of ordinance,My neighbor remembers the previous owner knocking nails into the fence with this.

 

[philpjuk100]

After finding this we dug some test pits with the help of a local archaeology club and found a lot of civil war "stuff", cannon and musket balls, Scottish coins, clay pipes but more interesting was the finds that show habitation over a long time, medieval pot and a stone age /bronze age flint arrow head.

 

[philpjuk100]

The arrowhead was found in a disturbed layer which may have been flood defences but it excited me! no Roman and no viking,they must have passed up the river to their camp at repton but left no evidence.

 

[Cubist]

Very intrigued and I don't know the answer but have asked elsewhere: https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/thr ... ing.86699/

Is it hollow and thread inside?

Cheers Malcolm, Yes its hollow but the interior is heavily rusted and so far no evidence of a thread that I can see. The Post Leg Vice is an interesting thought, they are fairly common in our local junk shops so I'll take a look the next time I'm mooching.

Theres a forum for Mig Welding aficionados? :shock: Who'da thunk.

 

[Cubist]

After finding this we dug some test pits with the help of a local archaeology club and found a lot of civil war "stuff", cannon and musket balls, Scottish coins, clay pipes but more interesting was the finds that show habitation over a long time, medieval pot and a stone age /bronze age flint arrow head.

As most of my finds have been booze and medicine bottles, busted pottery and assorted bits of iron I can clearly see, evidenced by your photos, that the holes I'm digging are not deep enough. Fircroft has stood here for around 500 years though so if I carry on digging in odd places who knows - maybe I too can get a bunch of archeologists to come and landscape the garden for me.

By the way, what is this?



Looks like a giants Plumb bob - but I suspect it may be part of something deadly sometimes used with a cannon.

 

[philpjuk100]

Crotal bell,for hanging around animals neck (no I don`t know why!). I did need the archaeologists to identify the finds and point out disturbed areas in the pits,the pits are a metre square by 1.2 metres deep unless you find something that stops you or it fills with water. We dug the first pit on our own on a spot where there had been a greenhouse I first found some modern plastic toy parts and then a Victorian penny clay pipes and then some musket balls so i explained to my wife how we were "digging back in time" so we continued and at the bottom found a digital watch!

 

[Cubist]

Crotal bell,for hanging around animals neck (no I don`t know why!). I did need the archaeologists to identify the finds and point out disturbed areas in the pits,the pits are a metre square by 1.2 metres deep unless you find something that stops you or it fills with water. We dug the first pit on our own on a spot where there had been a greenhouse I first found some modern plastic toy parts and then a Victorian penny clay pipes and then some musket balls so i explained to my wife how we were "digging back in time" so we continued and at the bottom found a digital watch!

Ah how easily a photograph can lie, despite the adage to the contrary. A Crotal Bell eh, and there I was thinking that it may have been a nasty item of ammunition used by cannoneers which consisted of two cannon balls conjoined by a length of chain. Again though you captured my interest and I've done some more digging but this time in the depths of Wikipedia rather than the garden. It seems these Crotal Bells would be added to the harnesses of horses used to tow wagons or carriages and were intended to warn the drivers of similar vehicles on narrow lanes that a wagon was approaching from the other direction.

Curiously I was recently discussing some concerns expressed regarding the danger to pedestrians and cyclists posed by electric cars; and also the plans of some manufacturers to install noise makers. During this I suggested that electric cars, sans noise makers, should be equipped with Wire Wheels so that bits of cardboard or plastic could be affixed as we did with our bikes many moons ago to make that annoying but loud buzzing sound. No need for that now; they can fit Crotal Bells instead.

I still have not worked out how the remains of digital can be found deeper in the ground than the peeps and musket balls you mention. I know theres a simple and rational explanation but who knows - maybe the Time Team can help or possibly Doctor Who.

 

[philpjuk100]

Just disturbed ground, there was the remains of a Victorian greenhouse there which seems to have been removed in the 1970s,I think that was built over an earlier midden,I expect the watch must have been lost by the previous owner when digging deep (it was about a metre down),The archeologists were looking for the site of the original village which is supposed also to be near the river upstream but lower down and used to flood so the village was moved in the early 1500s to higher ground,The archeology group has done geophys and field walking on the supposed site but found nothing but the dig in our garden and our neighbours produced a lot of medieval and earlier finds mostly green glaze and midland purple pot back to iron age/bronze age pot and flint so it now seems the village was here all the time!,I like archaeologists, they seem to live on cake and beer!

 

[Abi Cott]

Having qualified in Archaeology in an earlier life I can confirm they live on cake and beer and a fairly lurid sex life.

Stratigraphy is the issue you're discussing and whether it's disturbed or not is pretty obvious to the trained eye. Ditches filled over time, trenches backfilled with more recent material. Post holes, wall foundations. It's all pretty normal and exactly what a trained archaeologist is supposed to look for.

Its not uncommon to find artefacts in back fill. They are still of interest because they have rarely moved far from their original deposition location, but of course fin ding them in nice tight stratigraphic layers is preferable.

In classic Hutton terminology (he's a geology bloke) "the present is the key to the past" when you dig a hole for a fence post what do you do with the spoil?

 

[Cubist]

Thanks both for the explanations; obvious really when you think about it, doh.

I would on occasion enjoy watching Tony Robinson and the Time Team digging up someones garden and can well imagine that they too were more than fond of beer and cake, as am I, but I really do not want to imagine them in the context of a lurid sex life. Not the I'm a prude, honest, I'm just sensitive to disturbing images.

Anyway, I'm off to lay some hedges in the hope that playing with a chainsaw will be distracting.

 

[philpjuk100]

Oh arrrr!