Provenancing iron ore from the Bristol Channel Orefield: the cargo of the Medieval Magor Pill Boat

Abstract

Abstract A boat (built c. 1240) foundered with a cargo including iron ore, close to the settlement of Abergwaitha , seaward of the modern Magor Pill (Gwent). Excavation in 1995 recovered 180 kg of mixed powder and lump ores. A source within the Bristol Channel Orefield may readily be determined from the mineralogy and texture of the lump ores. Provenancing within the orefield is more problematic. Various lines of evidence constrain the likely source of the ore as Glamorgan; including textural evidence that the ore was emplaced within substantial cavernous porosity, petrological evidence that the ore was within the Carboniferous limestone, and the presence of quartz. This raises the intriguing question of why a cargo of ore was apparently travelling towards the major ore sources in the Forest of Dean. An explanation is suggested by the likely date for the cargo of 1250–1280, during the northward expansion of the de Clare Lordship of Glamorgan, into Meisgyn (including most orebodies west of the Taff Valley) in 1246, and Is Caiach (including those east of the Taff Valley) in 1267. The de Clares are known to have undertaken large-scale iron smelting in Trelech (Gwent) in the period c. 1240–1290. It is possible that ore from the newly secured sources was shipped to Trelech for smelting during this period of insecurity.

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