Russian Lead Hemp Bale Seals - TORPOINT CORNWALL

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Russian Hemp Bale Seals from

The Torpoint Site in Cornwall

(15 seals found to date with 0 seals awaiting upload as of 22nd March 2019)

Discovered by Dean Stephen Marriott in 2016 on the foreshores
surrounding Torpoint and others in a channel after a massive tide!

The first mention of Torpoint in known records is on an old print of the harbour dated 1734. There are records dated 1745 of masons and carpenters from Torpoint repairing Antony church. Torpoint developed apace after 1750 due to the Dockyard. Expansion was driven by the need to expand the Navy. Ship building and repair required workers from the Torpoint side of the river as Plymouth at that time was a difficult place to reach directly from the Dockyard and housing was limited nearby. Other factors which speeded the development of Torpoint were the construction of Lime Kilns, wharf, a warehouse and a quay. By 1774 as well as Lime Kilns there were a ropewalk, shops and a place for spinning. The next ten years saw even more development. Warehouses had been built and ships came in from foreign countries with their goods. Goods to and from East Cornwall were more easily shipped from the Torpoint side of the river rather than making the journey from Plymouth via Gunnislake. This development however was stopped by the customs and excise because they were not able to police this trade sufficiently. see Torpoint Town Council link http://www.torpointtowncouncil.gov.uk/menu_page.php?id=2

One seal found at Torpoint was a very rare Kronstadt seal

Kronstadt was the Port for St Petersburg.

There was a shallow 8' to 9' depth barrier on the Neva river up to St Petersburg so large vessels were loaded and unloaded at Kronstadt (St Petersburg Port) and then shipped up the river on a light draught barge. It is important to note that although the hemp seals have SPB on them this does not mean the seals were shipped from St Petersburg as the ports of Konigsberg, Kronstadt, Libnau, Memel, Narva, Pernau, Revel, Riga, Tilsit and St Petersburg all used SPB as an indication of a hemp seal before the year 1829. And they all used NP for flax.   Kronstadt also had its own seal with a crossed anchor and grappnel which could well have been a Customs Tax or Military Seal for the Fortress...

КРЖД belt buckle
Кронштадская
крепостная
Kronstadt Fortress
КРЖД Kronstadt Fortress Railway is the railway network that existed on the island of Kotlin from the 1860s until the end of the 20th century and performed transport functions on the territory of the Kronstadt fortress. Railroad tracks on the island appeared in the 1860s. There was a very strange feature: the Port and the factory warehouses were different gauge from 600 mm to 1250 mm between the forts. Originally the railway track was narrow gauge with trolleys moved manually. Since 1891, at the city port there was a narrow gauge railway length of 26 kilometres. The Fortress RailRoad had a length of 16.5 kilometres with four stations and four locomotives. By 1917, there were 11 stations on both roads. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge

The RailRoad inside the city
in the Northern Barracks

Konshtadt Seal 1779

The Vicinity of St Petersburg

The crossed anchor and grapnel of

St Petersburg appears to be used by

other associated districts of the oblast.

The crescent shape has nothing to do with

Islam but is the bottom of an anchor

wherein the Christians anchored their faith

in Jesus Christ .. meaning these were

Christian seals or associated with the

administrative region of St Petersburg.

----------------------------

Seal 1782 T04 has an unusual

*T* notation under the date.

The reason for this is not clear

but it may be a Customs Tax seal.

T = TAMOЖHЯ (Tamozhnya)

--------------------------------

Inspectors and Posts
from Torpoint, Cornwall

   ..

I.Azonov          1782 161

    Churokov        1782 371

    Eroslavtsov    1780  127

    Kudryaev        1798   22

Luchnikov      1781  126

    Nosatov         1782 183

    Ormanov         1781   30

  T.Ret'ekov       1782  400

    Shaliv          1782   22

    Sushnikov       1782 N354

    Sushnikov       1789 N354

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Posts / Inspectors / #
from Torpoint, Cornwall

..

   22 Kudryaev      1798#01

   22 Shaliv        1781#02

   30 Ormanov       1781#03

  126 Lunchikov     1781#01

127 Eroslavstov   1780#01

161 Azonov.I      1782#04

183 Nosatov       1782#02

N354 Sushnikov     1782#05

N354 Sushnikov     1789#01

371 Churakov      1782#03

400 Ret'ekov.T    1782#01

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

How the seals got

into the fields

The discarded stalks of the flax with

a bale seal still attached were highly

prized as fertilizer by local farmers

and they were spread on to the land

mixed in human & animal excrement.

#

OBVERSE click thumbnail

REVERSE click thumbnail

KX

01

KPOHШTДT
(KRONSHTDT)
crossed anchor
and grapnel 1779

unreadable

blank

there are other letters on the obverse which are unreadable

KX

02

НОВГOPOДCKOИ
(NOVGORODSKOI)
X anchor & grapnel 1780 Christian anchor base

unreadable

blank

Novgorodskoi is a trading region upstream of St Petersburg

The crescent shape is the bottom of an anchor ..wherein

the Christians anchored their faith in Jesus Christ.

see http://www.peacehavens.co.uk/BSRIVERSEA.htm

Lead Hemp Bale Seals

#

OBVERSE click thumbnail

REVERSE click thumbnail

.

1780

1780
T01
IDS
908

ДП = DP
ЕРОСЛАВЦОВЬ
(EROSLAVTSOV)
H127

SPB
HPRH
1780
Anchor

127

post

Rein

Hemp

1781

1781
T01
IDS
909

ДП = DP

ЛУЧHИKOB

(LUCHNIKOV)

H126

SPB
ПCRH
1781

126

post

Rein

Hemp

1781
T02
IDS
961

AЛ = AL
ШAЛИВЬ
(SHALKOV)
H22

SPB
AHRH
1781
Anchor

22
post
Rein
Hemp

1781
T03

ДП = DP
OPMAHOBЬ
(ORMANOV)
H30

SPB
OFRRH
1781
Anchor

30
post
Rein
Hemp

1782

1782
T01
IDS
910

ДC = DS

Т.РЕТЬЕКОВЬ

(T.RET'EKOV)

H400

SPB
ПCRH
1782

400

post

Rein

Hemp

1782
T02
IDS
911

ДП = DP

НОСАТОВЬ

(NOSATOV)

H183

SPB
MMAH
1782

183

post

Hemp

1782
T03

ДП = DP

ЧУРАКОВЪ

(CHURAKOV)

H371

SPB
IMRH
1782

371

post

Rein

Hemp

1782
T04

ДП = DP
И.АЗОНОВЬ
(I.AZONOV)
H161

SPB
HPRH
1782
*T*

161

post

Rein

Hemp

1782
T05

ДП = DP
СУШHИKОВ
(SUSHNIKOV)
N354

SPB
MMRH
1782

N354

post

Rein

Hemp

1782
T06

ДП = DP
СУШHИKОВ
(SUSHNIKOV)
N354

SPB

IBRH

1782

N354
post
Rein
Hemp

178?

178?
T01
IDS
938

distorted

SPB
BORH
178?

??

post

Rein Hemp

1789

1789
T01

ДM = DM
СУШHИKОВ
(SUSHNIKOV)
N354

SPB

MMRH

1789

N354
post
Rein
Hemp

1798

1798
T01
IDS
962

A:C = AS
KУДPЯEBЬ
(KUDRYAEV)
H22

SPB

HKRH

1798

22
post
Rein
Hemp

Modern Cyrillic Alphabet
A=A, B=V, Б=B,   C=S, Ч=CH, Д=D,   E=A, И=E,
Ё=O, Э=EH, Ф=F, Г=G, H=N, K=K, Л=L, M=M,
O=O, Ө=F,Th. П=P, Р=R, Ж=ZH, Ш=SH, Щ=SHCH,
T=T, Ц=TS, У=U, Ю=YU, Я= YA, ѣ=YE, Х= KH,
З = Z, IЬ Ы = Y, Ь Ъ= ' "end of a male name

Here is an archaic Cyrillic letter U used on some seals which we can not find on any Cyrillic alphabet .. meaning that we have to print the modern У=U

Related History
of Torpoint

Early clay pipes c1650-1750. Notice the small bowls, as the tobacco price was very high back then! Also a nice shard of Bellamine jug (c1650) these are very valuable when found complete. All found on the foreshores of Torpoint!

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Found at Torpoint .. An inner disc from a four-disc armorial seal - "crown over triple rose, flowering plant motifs to sides ....... A series of these seals, with inner discs c.40mm or just under in diameter, which are integrally cast with the devices (one with the arms of the realm and the other with a large, crowned rose), was in use from the reign of Elizabeth I to that of George I. The inner discs occasionally retain traces of gilding, which may well have originally been present on all these seals. The precise function of this series of large, well-produced seals, presumably issued as part of the Alnage system, and its relation to the much commoner, smaller four-disc series remain enigmatic."

LINKS TO EVERYTHING ELSE

Copyright 2022 © Ged Dodd

aka PeaceHavens Project

Click here for the terms
of free copy & share &
supporting your Project