Lead bullets

Contributed by Ceredigion Museum

Lead bullets, probably made during the siege of Aberystwyth Castle during the Civil war, in about 1645.

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It is possible that these were being made just before the end of the seige.These lead bullets were found during excavations on Aberystwyth Castle during the 1980s.
They were probably made at the end of the British Civil War, during the winter of 1645-1646, when the Castle was held by Royalists (who supported Charles I) and was besieged by the Parliamentarian troops (the Roundheads, who supported Cromwell).
Similar bullets were used for at least another two hundred years, for example, in pistols used by Custom officers and highway men.
Lead ore was a very important export from north Ceredigion. Thousands of Welsh and Cornish people were involved in mining, crushing, sorting and the transport of the ore to the port of Aberystwyth. It was then taken to Swansea to be smelted and use in many different products. The mining and processing of the lead may well have killed as many people as the bullets which were made from it.

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