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Lead Bandolier Cap

Posted on 10th October, 2008 by Bruce Williams

Lead bandolier cap

The lead bandolier cap was retrieved from the excavations at the former FPS factory in Old Market, Bristol in May and June 2005.

The object is a lightly corroded cap from a wooden or leather gunpowder case. The case would contain a measured charge of gunpowder for one shot from a musket or pistol. The lead cap was lightly corroded and vaguely cylindrical in shape with a flat top containing two loops with circular holes (for attachment to suspension cords) and a twisted rim with a pronounced lip. The bandolier cap is grey with some white concretions measuring 32mm x 22mm x 16mm and weighs 18gm. The gunpowder flask was nicknamed ‘Apostle’ as a musketeer would keep twelve such flasks tied to a leather bandolier slung around the body. Dates to the seventeenth century and may be linked to the redoubt fortifications at nearby Lawfords Gate which was in use in the English Civil War of the 1640s.

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