Cannon Ball

[dingdong]

Many thanks chef Geoff for your prompt reply,I shall get down the library,many thanks once again,DW is a great forum!!

[dingdong]

Hi ace(Paul)what is the weight of that cannon ball,the one that I found was exactly 7ozs,it looks identical to the one you found,many thanks.

[150aceboy]

Hi ace(Paul)what is the weight of that cannon ball,the one that I found was exactly 7ozs,it looks identical to the one you found,many thanks.

Hi mate, I will have to get back to you, as I don't have it here with me, Lovedoc has it.
I'll get in touch with him, so he can add it to the post for you.
Cheers Paul 

[TheLoveDoc]

hi dingdong, its just over 16 ounces ............just over a pound fella.

[nobby]

Alright lovedoc
reason im asking is that ive done a little detecting around llan and we had a load of musket balls from the mountain........was wondering if there was a civil war battle up there

[TheLoveDoc]

Hi nobby, I too have had a few musket balls but not as many that I would say there was a battle in the area they were found. Ive never heard of any battle where they showed up mate but there was one on another farm which the farmer has already declined permission due to detectorists going there in the past and then not showing him what they had found so he put a stop to it im afraid..... fair enough I guess.

I was told though that the actual battle was between some Romans and Celts and there is a burial mound but its a no go.

[Chef Geoff]

One reason that recording of these groups of musket balls and cannon shot is very important is that the fighting part of the civil war lasted for five years with hundreds of thousands of men on the move right across the country not only armies but baggage and supply trains along with patrols and scouting parties, the likelihood of a chance encounter was very high and the number of unrecorded skirmishes must be in the thousands and these finds can help to map them.
If that shot has been fired then it's not that surprising that there are no musket balls in the same area as a matchlock musket had an effective range of around 50 to 75 yard whereas a cannon of that bore (Falconet?) could fire up to a mile so you could easily be on the next farm to the one holding the musket balls?

[dingdong]

Hi to all,I have a question with regards to any regulation size regarding the size of musket and cannon balls.just recently ace Paul posted a photograph of lead shot,it weighs in at just over one pound,I also recently found a lead shot of 7ozs,when you consider also the enormous variation in sizes of musket balls,were the barrels of these weapons roughly cast and bored out?how many sizes were made,was there any standards at all,also,why were there so many variants in cannon barrell diameters?

[Chef Geoff]

if your talking about the civil war period then the musket ball diameters don't fluctuate a great deal but enough to stop you using someone else's but you could use wadding if to small, the reason at least at the beginning is that the different groups of men were still being mustered and armed in the age old way of by the lord of the manor and so locally made arms in Newcastle were bound to be different to those from Cornwall.
Artillery was still somewhat in its infancy and as the years had gone on different size shot had been found to do different jobs your's and Paul's are anti personnel shot which would have been fired against troops at a low trajectory to skim along very much like a stone on water with the hope of taking as many soldiers with it as you can, obviously a 1lb shot isn't going to do much to a stone wall and so a larger cannon was required and for very thick walls siege mortars were needed to reach those inside with the largest, Roaring Meg, having a shot diameter of 15.5 inches Also the greater the distance then the more powder you needed but this meant that a larger and stronger barrel was required.

[dingdong]

Cheers Chef Geoff,thanks for a very interesting and informative answer to my questions regarding bore sizes of musket and cannon.and yes my interest was regarding the civil war.By the way,do you have any information,or where I can get it regarding a colonel BRERETON,one of Oliver Cromwell's staunch supporters,be grateful if you do,again, many thanks.

[Chef Geoff]

I know of Colonel Brereton as he was made the scapegoat during the Bristol riots but I think you mean Major General Brereton and though it depends what information you actually want you couldn't do better than his letters published as "A Journal of the English Civil War: The Letter Book of Sir William Brereton"

[dingdong]

Big thanks Chef Geoff,yes that's the guy,Sir William Brereton,that's my weekend reading,ah well its a bit to cold for detecting,well it is for me!!!
Thanks again.