Highlights of the British Collection: East Oxford Archaeology
Object Biographies: Cap from a Civil War Powder Charger
by Christine Turley
WHAT COULD THIS BE?
During January 2013, whilst washing finds from an archaeology site (Minchery Priory MF3011) in Cowley, Oxford, we came upon the above object. We (Mandy Bellamy & Chris Turley) thought that it looked like a ‘squashed lid’, or maybe an ‘amulet’ that may have held ‘holy water’.
It seemed to be made of lead. The working was very fine, there were metal loops soldered to the top, it was quite small only 2.5cms by 1.5cm and weighed…….. We looked at pictures on the ‘portable antiquities scheme, data base’ but could find nothing that matched – at this time we were calling it a small lead vessel. Having done all we could to find out what it was it was placed in a ‘small finds’ bag labelled MF 3011 and taken back to ArkT for cataloguing.
Minchery Priory had been a religious site peopled by Nuns in the 14th/15th century’s we felt sure that this was an artefact from this period but could find nothing to corroborate this.
What it was
A few months along, and after all the finds washing had been done and sorted I (CAT) emailed Jane Harrison (group co-ordinator) to ask if anyone had discovered what the object was? I included photos and trench code for the object. Jane asked some of her contacts ‘what could this be?’. When the answer came back we were all taken by surprise.
It was a CAP from an English Civil War powder charger (also known as an Apostle as there are 12 of them) dated to between 1642 – 1646.
The ECW (English Civil War) musketeer wore a Bandolier from shoulder to hip, this Bandolier held approximately 12 powder flasks enough to prime a lead shot for his musket. Twine was threaded through the loops so that this little cap when taken from the flask would not get lost. Each day the Musketeer would refill the flask and refit the cap – the cap was designed to KEEP HIS POWDER DRY this could mean life of death to a soldier, as with damp or wet gunpowder this would not fire the shot in the musket, leaving him and his colleagues unprotected. The musket barrel would have been around 1.4 metres long and would fire a lead shot weighing around an ounce. Both Royalist and Parliamentarian soldiers had Musketeers. There were many ECW battles fought in and around Oxford. So who might have dropped our object?
Royalist or Roundhead?
After searching through many web sites on the internet I found that:
The Essex Regiment, under the designer of the New Model Army, 3rd Earl of Essex Robert Deveraux, had crossed the river Thames at Sandford in May1644 and, passing by the Minchery Priory, had camped not far away at Bullingdon Green.
The Priory by this time was in private hands and owned by the Powell family who were described, as Recusant Welshman and so followers of the Roman Catholic faith. It was recorded that the Powell family lived at the Preceptory in Sandford on Thames, so would certainly have known of the arrival of the Earl of Essex and his troops.
It could be supposed that, being strictly Protestant a troop of soldiers were ordered to check that no items of an idolatry nature were still housed in the priory, or maybe they just stopped for refreshment on a hot spring day (end of May 1644), we are not likely to know unless we could find a first hand account of the time.
Who made it?
At first I was sure this object would have been made by the troop Amourer – this person would be the one to kit out the troops at the time. The New Model Army as devised by Robert Deveraux were highly trained and proficient at what they did. These were not ordinary yeomen seconded to the army by their local landlord. Using a musket took training and strength, plus a good eye sight. “Wait till you see the whites of there eyes before firing” was a phrase coined so that you could not miss the quarry you were trying to shoot. Any later and you could get shot yourself and any earlier and the musket shot would not reach the quarry, as they had a limited firing range (about 50yards). Despite being the NMA, camp followers were still needed. These included women – needed for cooking, tending the wounded, washing and – entertaining the troops. Also among the camp followers were the heavy horses, wagons and carts. These carried equipment, (pikes) food and fodder for men and horses and very important among these was the TINKER. The Tinker was the worker of metal and it would have been the Tinker who made our object. He would also have been responsible for making lead shot using a devise such as this hand mould from the Ashmolean's collections:
The Tinker would also have mended pots and pans used by the women for cooking. Throughout the 17th and 18th century the Tinker travelled from village to village sharing his skills with anyone who could pay. The name Tinker came about due to the tinkling noise he made as he travelled the roads.
Where possible troops were ‘garrisoned’ and many followers stayed in the garrison – there was one such garrison at Abingdon – it was used by both Parliamentary troops and Royalist troops – though not of course, at the same time.
It was from this garrison that Robert Deveraux and the Essex regiment left in May 1644 to cross the river at Sandford on Thames and thus to Bullingdon Green passing/resting at Minchery Priory probably by then a hostelry or ale house and where a Musketeer dropped the one thing that could keep his powder dry.
THE LEAD CAP FROM HIS POWDER FLASK.
I also gathered information on:
Robert Deveraux, 3rd Earl of Essex creator of the New Model Army.
Edmond Powell and some of his family
Sources:
Jane Harrisons’ friend/colleague who identified the Cap
Picture of the Bandolier www.bandoliers.co.uk Valentines, Long Marston, Stratford upon Avon CV37 8RG 01789722434 paul@paulmeekins.co.uk
Victoria County History, Sandford, Manor Houses
Musket and Tinker information Lordrobarts.com
Wikipedia for information on Oxford and the Civil War
Royal Armouries Jonathan Ferguson and Curator Emeritus, Graeme Rimer
)
Further Information
Find out more about:
- British ......Collections at the Ashmolean Museum
- British Collections Online - searchable database of the collection
July 2014
