Most unusual fishing weight.

[Sewin]

If my guess at identification is correct, this is one of, if not the most, unusual and heaviest fishing weights I have found.
Found deep in black mud/sand on a beach, not far from a river estuary.
The fishing weight in the picture for size comparison is 3oz, the inscribed item weighs a massive 13.5oz.
I have found recently, not too far away, weights with holes as attachment points, but they are not anything like this.
Is it a fishing weight?
What does the writing mean-if anything?
One friend has suggested it may have a religious connection: 'Boulugor'.
Somewhat different to finding gold rings and just as exciting.
Really looking forward to opinions etc.

Minutes after posting a friend emailed me with this:
Delpierre
4 Rue Du Havre
Boulogne
Sur Mare

Anyway, still very interesting. And thanks Mick.

[Sewin]

Thanks Glenfiddich, great idea.
Had a grade 9 French 'O' Level result, which was the lowest grade one could get haha.
The address still exists and one can see it on Google Earth.
At a guess, the lead was inscribed about a 100 or so years ago.
No printer at the moment, but it will be a task I would like to do.
If I have done this correctly, here is the address.

[mcbain]

It could be a fishing net weight with id etched into it so other fishermen know who owns what when they are stretched out for repair on dry land.
I have seen similar tags but usually ona steel plate attached to nets but never in lead
Ger.

[Sewin]

That's a likely identification of the item. But how did it get to South Wales? Caught (no pun intended ) on the keel of a boat and brought unintentionally and unbeknown to the boat's captain and crew over the channel to Wales?

[oldartefact]

think that the fishing net weight is a very good call...
if it were an ordinary weight I would give a kings ransom to see the rod that was able to cast it!!!

[craghopper]

That's a likely identification of the item. But how did it get to South Wales? Caught (no pun intended ) on the keel of a boat and brought unintentionally and unbeknown to the boat's captain and crew over the channel to Wales?

French fishing boats used to come up around the N Wales coast in the 60s/70s .I used to fish from a small boat at Red Wharfe Bay Anglesey and have good catches of Plaice ,the French would come in quite close and drag the seabed with their nets they ruined the fishing just took everything in the small mesh nets and the Plaice disappeared. So much for the distance they were supposed to stay offshore they didn't abide by the rules remember the Cod war.

[Sewin]

The type of net is unlikely to have been a trawler net; more likely to be a set net, stake net, trammel net, tangle net or gill net, used on the shore/close inshore (say in a sheltered bay) and not towed behind a boat. The 'weight' could also have been the ID tag on a set line or longline.
A few friends have now handled the item and think it is at least a 100 years old, if not a little bit more.

[Christoph1945]

There was something similar on here the other day; only one or two letters on it though.