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The PeaceHavens Project
https://www.facebook.com/groups/PeaceHavensProject/
We go seal hunting for 200 year old Russian flax bale seals - not this cutie
pie .
 
Website design, and photos by Ged Dodd -
Director of The PeaceHavens Project.
(Updated
June 2022 for the Lancaster Maritime Museum)
What is the PeaceHavens Project?. This
is an ongoing project involving the finding with metal detectors
and the identification of Russian Lead Flax and Hemp Bale Seals
and Lead Trading Tokens from the disused Flax Mills at Aked's High
Mill, Bentham Mills, Brompton Mills, Folly Ghyll Mill, Kinghorn
Mills, Knaresborough Mills, Little Patrick Mill, Penny Bridge
Mill, West House Mills and other sites and museums throughout the
British Isles. For many decades in the 18th & 19th centuries,
Russia was by far the world's greatest exporter of flax and hemp
plants via the ports of Archangel, Konigsberg, Kronstadt, Libnau,
Memel, Narva, Pernau, Revel, Riga, St Petersburg, Tilsit, Windau
and Great Britain was Russia's major customer.
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History for the beginnings of the
PeaceHavens project ..
In the Spring of 2013 Ged Dodd, (Jed Dodd) aka PeaceHavens, was
searching on a friend's land a mile away from Bentham flax mill
when he
 stumbled
on an unexpected lead seal which turned out to be an 1826 Russian
lead flax bale seal .. another half an hour's search turned up 27
more .. The finds were recorded on uTube but no one could help
identify them .. especially as the seals were written in the
Cyrillic alphabet .. so .. because Ged had a holiday farm in
Bulgaria and he could read Cyrillic he started to make a database
of seals from Bentham which now has over 1400 entries and then for
other mills in the north of England and Scotland which to date
have given us over 7500 entries, and this has enabled him to
rewrite the rules on Russian lead flax bale seals of the 18th/19th
century. Ged put a page on Facebook offering to translate flax
bale seals and for people to join the Project.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/PeaceHavensProject/
The PeaceHavensProject are now the leading authority on the identification
of Russian Lead Flax and Hemp Bale Seals with many new, unknown &
unique seals being added every day onto the database, and we are
rewriting the books. Thanks must be given to the Project team of
detectorists who have diligently worked the sites of Aked (Whinny
Hill), Bentham, Little Patrick and West House Mills ... Jackie
Smith, John Tichen, Johnny StormCrow, Paul Pablo Jackson, Neil
Jones, with Andrew and Carol Jones .. and to the many farmers who
have welcomed us onto their land.
It must be stressed this is an on going project .. and is subject
to change with every new piece of information received .. the soft
lead seals are notorious for being distorted and damaged .. so
every single new find could give that one missing letter needed to
get the full picture .. and it does get your name on the
historical database. We have 1000's of videos showing every seal
found by the PeaceHavens Project members throughout the UK on
http://www.peacehavens.co.uk/BSVIDEOHISTORY.htm
Some two hundred years ago the seals attached to the bales which were stored in
the Customs House on St George's Quay at Lancaster in Lancashire. The Customs
House is now the Lancaster Maritime Museum and the seals have
returned home.
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