Two shipwrecks off the Isle of Wight have been named among English Heritage's Most Fascinating Sites for 2022.
The 16th and 17th century Shingles Bank Wreck sites off the Isle of Wight have been granted the highest level of protection.
Their remains include cannons and lead ingots and have shed light on trading at the time.
The Shingles Bank in the Needles Channel is a well-known navigational hazard for ships entering the Solent from the west.
It is thought that both — known as NW96 and NW68 — became stranded on the banks before sinking.
Archaeological remains of these vessels include several cannons, a large anchor, at least 50 very large lead ingots with unidentified markings and stone cannonballs.
The ingots are a fixed size and weight and would have been used as currency for trade – so they could be made into a variety of products including bullets, lead flashing on roofs and pipes.
Initial research suggests the lead ingots from the NW96 were cast from a furnace known as a ‘bole’.
Boles fell out of use from around 1580, suggesting the vessel dates from the 16th or very late 15th century.
This theory is supported by the presence of stone cannon balls, which were replaced with iron shot and were no longer used by the end of the 16th century.
Analysis of the cannons indicates that one of them from the NW68 wreck was cast in Amsterdam between 1621 and 1661, which helps place it as a mid-late 17th century armed vessel, probably of Dutch origin.
This indicates the ship could have been associated with the Battle of Portland in 1653, when the fleet of the Commonwealth of England was attacked by the Dutch Republic during the First Anglo-Dutch War.
The Netherlands was the maritime and economic power in the world during this period so this site could help further our knowledge of 17th century seafaring activity.
The finds are being investigated by archaeologists from the Maritime Archaeology Trust and Wessex Archaeology, along with their finders, Martin Pritchard and Dave Fox.
With the addition of these two wreck sites, there are now 57 Protected Wreck Sites in English waters.
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