Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow . While reading about galls, I found a reference to iron gall ink being used in ancient documents. One of the four copies of the Magna Carta, the one at the Lincoln Cathedral in England, is officially described as iron gall in on parchment. Certain oak galls are high in tannin, one of the ingredients used in ink production from ancient until relatively recent times. The best tannins were produced from Aleppo galls,