I recently had an enquiry from Norway (Helge Sørheim, senior curator, Museum
of Archaeology, Stavanger <[log in to unmask]>) regarding a 13th century
lead mortuary cross with runic inscriptions found near Stavanger and the
possibility of there being similar examples in Britain.
There was certainly an increased use of lead in construction work, much of
it ecclesiastical, at that period. Is anyone aware of its use in mortuary
crosses in Britain?
The suggestion has been made in the past that English lead was traded in the
medieval period as far afield as Scandanavia although there is little or
nothing in the English documentary record for such trade; exports to
Normandy, yes, but nothing that I am aware of for Scandanavia. However, I
gather there was little exploitation of lead or lead/silver deposits in
Norway before the 17th century.
Peter
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Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen,
Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 07831 427599
University of Exeter - Department of History
School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list.
See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/mining-history.html for details.
Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/
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