What's this?

When I turned up at my children's primary school this morning I was approached by a five year old carrying this:

(Click on the picture for a bigger version)

He wanted to know if it was a cannon ball. I had no idea but here's the facts:

• It was dug up in Hoole, Chester.
• There are loads of them both big and small.
• It was very heavy.
• There was some rust but not much.

Any ideas?

Comments

[Rich at Osprey]

When I was a kid I was playing in a marshy creek in Norfolk and I found a perfectly round cannonball stone in the mud. This was really exciting and I kept it for a few years, despite the smell, until eventually my aunt took it to Norwich Museum who identified it as a piece of stone smoothed by glaciers in the ice-age. Not as exciting as I expected but seeing the pictures above really reminded me of it.

[Gary Smailes]

Thanks Rich!

After a bit of research I am starting to suspect it is not a cannonball though I don't have the heart to tell the child.
For me it looks too new. I also suspect its lead and cannonballs tend to be iron. I spoke to the child's mother and she says they have balls of about ten different sizes, the one I saw being the biggest. It turns out the material has come for a demolished bridge in Hoole, Chester.
I now suspect that it has an industrial, not military origin.

http://www.chesterwiki.com/Hoole_Bridge_footpath_and_cycle_lane

[Rich at Osprey]

Tricky. Do you tell him or let him preserve his dream? Although the building of the bridge could be weaved in to an exciting story in itself.

[Tony Bowerman]

Hmm, interesting.

Looks like a Civil war cannonball to me. I was recently shown one (which I photographed) that was found near the site of a Civil war skirmish at Townfields, behind Tiverton Hall, in Tiverton, Cheshire.

It was 2.5 inches in diameter and cast from solid iron.

What's the range of Civil war cannon fired from Chester's outworks towards Hoole?

[Gary Smailes]

Tony - I had an email from the Military Museum in Chester yesterday, which suggested it might me a cannon ball after all. More research I think...

[Mark Chambers]

Hmmm,
perhaps you could wean the lad who found it onto a better kind of cannonball?
Point him at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AsId-qVIb4

What did the Military Museum say btw?

Mark

[carpet cleaning seattle wa]

I am suspecting it is a cannonball during the war. There are dug up sights that have signs of metal or solid balls like this one. This may not explode but I am sure that this can be a good contribution to our history. Also, maybe there are still other artifacts that can be found within the vicinity where this is found.

[Carpet Cleaning Crownsville]

I would rather say that it was not a cannon ball. I think it was made of a heavy metal and just being turned into a round shaped metal.