Meanwood Civil War 'Balls' ?

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Jogon
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Joined: Wed 21 Dec, 2011 1:28 pm

Post by Jogon »

Has anyone of our 10083 (or the 53 online) users found any of these or met someone who has?Does Leeds Museum or Thoresby have an inspectable collection of them?£1 reward for information leading to

String o' beads
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Joined: Wed 06 Feb, 2008 6:09 pm

Post by String o' beads »

My Dad.'We also played a lot on Woodhouse Ridge on Meanwood Road. One time we were swinging on a rope tied to a tree next to Meanwood Beck behind the cricket ground when one of the lads landed in the water. He was scuffing his shoes on the ground when he unearthed some small round balls. At first we thought they were rabbit droppings but they turned out to be metal. Many years later I read that someone had found musket balls in the area and had found out that there had been a skirmish on the Ridge during the Civil War involving General Fairfax’s troops.'http://oldleeds.wordpress.com/

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tilly
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Joined: Mon 11 Jan, 2010 2:32 pm

Post by tilly »

You could not mistake musket balls for rabbit droppings they are at least the size of a marble and some are a lot bigger could have been pistol shot.Musket balls are not that uncommon I have found a few myself with a detector but to find two hundred I find hard to believe unless they had been dropped in a batch.If they had been fired it would take a hell of a long time to find two hundred on the site. And that's with a metal detector.    
No matter were i end my days im an Hunslet lad with Hunslet ways.

claireblue
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Joined: Tue 03 Jul, 2012 2:21 pm

Post by claireblue »

The only thing about this site being so blooming comprehensive is that it takes up all of the Google searches when you trying to find where you originally read something!!But anyway Walter Gill was the guy who discovered over 200 musket balls over a good few years. There is an old guy who walks his dog on the ridge who remembers him and I have chatted to him a few times about it. He lives at the top of the ridge and says he found a cannon ball in his back garden!here's the link to the original page from SL for people who have not read it, really interesting.http://www.secretleeds.com/forum/Messag ... ID=437With regards to a handful being found at the bottom of a sometimes very fast flowing river over 450 years later, is it possible they could have been something else from a later industrial process?Gill also refers to a YEP article on 27th June 1974, would that be too far back in the archives to uncover?    

claireblue
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Joined: Tue 03 Jul, 2012 2:21 pm

Post by claireblue »

In other 'Meanwood Ridge Finds News'.......The new path that they are making at the bottom by the bandstand has thrown up some interesting items, mainly glass and some pottery. I have found a piece of a torpedo shaped glass bottle that says 'Ilkley Aerated Water Company' on it and a small bottle saying Evan Williams - which is a whiskey.Would guess they would be around 1920s, but does anyone know; were areas like the ridge used as a tip around that time?Bits of really thick, sometime warped glass seem so many in number that they must have been dumped in some quantity.Or is it possible that the company laying the path has shifted earth there from somewhere else, it all seems close to the surface (as my poor dog will vouch for where he cut his paw last week!)What, where, how??!!

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