It came from a house clearance of an old house here in Devon.
I still get the feeling of a reused piece of ships timber or ceiling beam. It was turned on a lathe. but possibly a fairly crude one. For sure the 'chisel' used to cut it left tiny lines, thousands spiralling around it.
It feels like its got great age.
I wondered if it was some naval or slavery item. I did a google image search for 'slavery club'......... that didn't go so well