[Myrddin]

My great grandfather's house in Wales had a slate roof. It was held in place with bars of lead affixed to a framework. The lead mines were a source of employment for small Welsh boys between ages 4 and 11. After that time, they grew too big at adolescence to fit in the mines. The older boys tended sheep.

There is a Welsh variant of the Italian calzone that includes a bread "handle". The miners handled only that "handle" when eating the stew stuffed bread, then tossed away the "handle". Even then they were quite aware of the consequence of consuming lead.

[George from New England]

And how long did all the “lead handlers” in your family, live to be?

[afraidfortherepublic]

There is a Welsh variant of the Italian calzone that includes a bread "handle". The miners handled only that "handle" when eating the stew stuffed bread, then tossed away the "handle". Even then they were quite aware of the consequence of consuming lead.

And would that be called a "pastie"? A very popular food in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula, thought to have been brought here by Welsh miners.