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.

If you get the local archaeologists in you will get the garden dug over for you.

Ooh how interesting! The midlands was a hotspot for English Civil war battles!

On top of spaghetti, all covered in cheese, I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed. It rolled down the garden …

@TreacheryPepper looks like an Iron pyrite nodule.
Right size and shape.
We were put right on what they were by a local museum.
Naturally occurring.

We thought they were meteorites!

its not a musket ball, as those are 50 cal, so much smaller.
it’s grape shot. Usually a dozen or so would be loaded in a small canon and fired at infantry to for maximum carnage.

I have zero suggestions but place marking as I now need to know the outcome.

Pyrite nodules here

So probably from Civil War era and worth around £4

pastimescollectables.co.uk/shop/curios/an-english-civil-war-grapeshot-sold-each/

Your mum should see if her home is built on an old battlefield.

I would say either small cannon ball or one made of tin foil that's rusted...

Musket or blunderbuster ball. Google the local history of the area your mum lives in or go visit a local museum & ask them.

How did the pub & metal ball conversation go? I did think it could be a musket or Blunderbuster ball but might be too big so maybe it is a mini cannon ball.
Hope you find out & can let us all know.

Just place marking for the answer. This type of thread is exactly why I hang about on MN.

(Loved the "it's a 21st century lime" answers).

I have a few of these I dug up in my garden, but apart from being pretty heavy I've no idea what they are...off to Google musket ball

If that's a lime looks a bit bigger than a musket ball (I have quite a few) but it definitely lead shot. I have a falconette canon all about the size of a very small like. Try. Giving it a (gentle) tap with a hammer to see if some of the crud comes off. Sometimes it helps to soak in wd40

Sorry for typos.
I have a falconette canon ball which is about the size of a small lime (these were used in small manoeuvrable canons).
A musket hall is about the size of a marble.

It's definitely too big to be a musket ball.

It weighs 229g

I'm working 12hr shifts for the next three days so don't have time to go to a museum. I might try emailing a picture to the museum?

I don't know of any nearby civil war battles. The Jacobite Rebellion (Bonnie Prince Charlie's lot) troops passed nearby. I don't know if that could be relevant.

We aren't bothered how much it is worth in monetary terms, especially since my mum's house is rented so it wouldn't belong to her any way!

I don't know for sure but I'd say it was too spherical to be a pyrite nodule.

It's magnetic so not made of lead.

No idea but I am intrigued so just going to pop myself here, sorry

Toseland · Yesterday 19:28
We think it's either a falafel or a small cannon ball used by Minion cannons

don’t be silly, minions always use bananas. Well known fact! Not limes!

Hello! Nerdy metal detectorist here! Love a bit of dirty ol' metal.
Looks like a cast iron canister shot to me. Mid-late 1800's, maybe. Like a mini cannonball. They're also called 'solid shots' or 'grape shots'. Nice find!
I'd love to wave a metal detector over the rest of your garden. Who knows what treasure you might be standing on! 😁Hope you find more!

👉www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/multiple-size-civil-war-iron-canister-1843545537

As long as it's not a live grenade. There was panic recently near us when a WW2 grenade was handed into a local museum. Everywhere had to be evacuated and the bomb squad called in.

My first thought was IKEA meatball.
I’m a bit peckish…

We were doing some work in the stores at a museum I worked in some years ago when one of our volunteers opened a box, shut it quickly and suggested that we might want to take it to the local RAF base for disposal (he was ex-RAF). I don’t remember the details but the box contained some sort of shell which was potentially dangerous. At least we knew the land mines in the other store were deactivate (but no one had any idea why we had either of them)!

I don't know, but I had something identicle as a kid.. Can't remember where it came from, I'm 53, and had forgotten it's existence until now.