Bog Iron?

Tiercel Dave

I'm burning turf from South Galway( lat=53.04, lon=-8.32) both in an open fire and a range. When I'm cleaning out the ash from the range I'm coming across a metal 'clinker', pieces about 75mm x 40mm, irregular in shape and fused together. I could put up a photo but it's not much to look at.Any ideas or information. Dave

Riamfada

Possibly something deposited in the upper levels of the bog since the IA and then subsequently cut? Could be slag. Stick up a picture anyway.

katarin

Could be bits of equiptment or machinary lodged in the turf from cutting or even tracked into it. If the bog's been cut for a couple of decades, things get dragged around on wheels or pulled from ditches. Iron tends to fuse itself onto things when left for just a few years in wet soil, and rust around so that the original pieces just become ferrous nothings, and aren't recognisable. Maybe a pic would help, good spot in the ashes though.

Tiercel Dave

Better late than never!








Some of the pieces are slightly attracted to a magnet!

Cailleachdubh

Looks like bog ore to me (i.e. natural iron ore that occurs in bogs). Is it kind of heavier than it looks if you know what I mean?!

seandalaiocht

It could be bog ore, but it looks more like slag to me, possibly with adhering vitrified clay (from a furnace/hearth lining).

It may possibly be from bog ore that has been heated in your fire, though its unlikely you'd be getting temperatures high enough for slag formation in an open fire.

If its slag deposited in a bog it could potentially point to nearby smelting, the depth at which it was cut would give you an idea of its potential age: anywhere between c.600BC right up to the eighteenth century.

I put up a post a while ago about bog ore from an Irish bog:
http://www.seandalaiocht.com/1/post/2009/12/bog-iron-ore-gone-prospecting.html

katarin

If it's not bog ore, I'd put my money on it being a piece of a hoe or some cutting implement for cutting turf.

Tiercel Dave

Just a quick reply here. It is weighty enough, a 'metal' weight rather than plastic, clay or whatever. I'm getting this constantly, it's not a one off piece, though I get more from the gassy blacker turf! And i'm burning the same turf in an open fire and a Stanley range but only find the deposits in the range which would be enclosed and presumeably burn 'hotter'. Thanks for interest and replies!

4gun

we get the same stuff in some of our turf down in north kerry, is it machine turf you are burning, they can dredge up some clay from the bottom of the peat deposit. I often wonder if it is because of the iron content of the peat that gives the red ash when its burnt