Peter
>A quick glance at a list of lead pigs from the Roman occupation period
>suggests the majority found were around 80kg.
>
I did a quick conversion and yes that is about the size of the
Shropshire pigs.
>Which does indicate that they were not moved by packhorse.
>
Suggests that carts were used. Could that be another reason for the
Romans building such good roads in remote areas?
>Later practice probably involved lighter pigs - however some 'Roman' pigs were around 40-50kg,
>
I wonder if anyone has done any research on pig size? Was it in fact a
common sense dictat that the more remote and difficult to use cart
transport, the lighter the pig?
>As to the smelting technology used - I doubt anyone can give you a
>definitive answer. A few hearths have been investigated which appear to
>suggest a small blast(?) furnace but recently a wind blown (bole) hearth
>apparently of Roman occupation date was excavated in mid Wales.
>
Yes I was considering if they used boles. A reference in Hooson's
Mining Dictionary of the 18th century mentions there being a great
number of boles on the Stiperstones Hills which are above the Roman lead
mining area. I think I need to get out and start searching for remains.
By the way, the free web hosting site I used has a limit on daily access
so if you cannot get in try the following day. I would put the pics on
my own website except that they are memory hungry (a total of 14mB). If
someone has access to a website without an access limit and the ability
to upload via FTP then I will gladly move the files to there.
Adrian
--
Visit the following sites for references to all kinds of mining subjects
British Mining Database <http://www.ap.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/bmd/bmd.htm>
Shropshire Mines Trust <http://www.ap.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/smt/smt.htm>
Snailbeach Mine <http://www.ap.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/sbeach/sbeach.htm>
Tankerville Mine <http://www.ap.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/tank/tank.htm>
Friends of Bersham Colliery <http://www.ap.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/bct/bct.htm>
Caves & Mines of Cyprus <http://a4.012webpages.com/cyprus/cyprus.htm>
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