My mum found this in the garden...

[TreacheryPepper]

My mum moved into a rental property last year. The garden was in a bit of a state when she moved in, and she's been gradually digging areas in preparation for seeding a lawn. She's removed loads of crap from the soil, but yesterday came across this.

It appears to be made of iron and is very heavy for its size. It's like a small cannon ball.

Has anyone come across anything similar?

Lime included for scale.

I'd say it was a small cannon ball as it's too big for a musket ball.

It's way too small and light to tether a goat to...

you can speak to your local finds liason officer for confirmation. they are very friendly! Usually found in local museums.

I asked DH who's a weapon's nerd and he's quite confident that it is a canister shot, ie a mini cannon ball. Sometimes cannons were used more like shotguns so were loaded with canister shots, multiple smaller balls, rather than a single cannon ball. Or so nerdy DH says. Having now googled 'canister shot' I think he might be right.

A small cannonball, like this one.
www.facebook.com/LondonMudlark/posts/small-cannon-ball-found-recently-on-the-thames-foreshore-londonmudlark-mudlark-m/1848089258589246/

I think it’s a ball bearing type thing. We find them a lot when we get type 1 delivered to patch up the drive (rocks and cement powder). They use them in quarries to break stuff up to a manageable size. I have about 80. I painted them white and dotted along sides of drive.

It could be a cannon ball but iron and steel balls were also used in industry for crushing minerals like chalk - randomly dug up balls are probably more likely to be the latter. Do you have civil war battle sites near you or chalk/mineral quarries? Might be worth a chat with your local museum.

Shamelessly place marking

Nice to see so much interest! I've never had a thread show up in active before!

We're in the East Midlands, and the town did see some Civil War action, but I reckon the area my mum lives in would have been farm land back then. The house is 1930s.

It's definitely too big for a musket ball. DH, an ex engineer reckons it's too big to be a ball bearing, but he has been known to talk shite so I won't rule it out. We pondered the possibility of it being a meteorite, but concluded the shape is too uniform. Whatever it is is badly rusted so could've been a bit bigger originally.

There are old army barracks nearby but they didn't open until the 1870s, so it's probably unrelated.

😂😂😂😂

I agree, I think canister shot/grapeshot

collection.rrm.co.uk/objects/4568

Is it from a Cannonette (as per Blackadder)

Thanks for starting this thread @TreacheryPepper , I am now fascinated!

It's a medieval Scotch egg.

Just spat out my tea at that 🤣

Tell her to contact the portable antiquities scheme - someone there will be able to identify it for her.

Hubby says it's definitely not a musket ball as they would have been made from lead. He reckons it is from a small bore cannon. Probably civil war era. (he's a bit of an ECW nerd)

Get in touch with the Sealed Knot (civil war re-enactment)- they’ll probably have a weapons expert.

is it from the top of a gate post ?

I hate to be the fun sponge but you should get it checked just to be on the safe side, same as with any old ordinance you find.
www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2009/04/what-not-do-old-cannonball

Slag

(usual mystery metal/stone answer...bit round though)

Ooh, I want to know what it is. Looks like a cannonball but I know nothing about this kind of thing.

Nah, that's 1970s gobstopper. Give it a wash and it'll be good as new.

It's a lime

<helpful>

Damn someone beat me to that quip

😂😂😂