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Bronze wheel sheave

90A0023

This bronze wheel is a sheave from a rigging block and was found in the starboard scourpit outside the Mary Rose

Bronze wheels were used for heavy-duty or critical work, so this may have been part of one of the main blocks used to raise and lower the yardarms. This is one of the less ornate sheaves found, but it is unusual in that it had nine spokes, normally sheaves would have some symmetry.

It also has the broad arrow mark on it, usually considered to have been introduced as a government marking dating from the 17th century, but was in use much earlier. While this could be put down to this being a later object that somehow made its way into the site, several other objects, including a gun carriage, also feature this mark.