The outline and general character of the celt shown in Fig. 115 may be taken as representative of one of the most common forms of English socketed celt. This particular specimen differs, however, from the ordinary form in having a ridge or ill-defined rib on each face which adds materially to the weight and somewhat to the strength of the instrument. It was found near Dorchester, Oxon. A nearly similar celt found in Mecklenburg has been figured by Lisch.[399] [Illustration: Fig. 116.—Reach Fen. ½] [Illustration: Fig. 117.—Reach Fen. ½] A larger celt of the same general character, found with a hoard of bronze objects in Reach Fen, Burwell Fen, Cambridge, is shown in Fig. 116. This may also be regarded as a characteristic specimen of the socketed celts usually found in England, though the second moulding is often absent, and there is a considerable range in size and in the proportion of the width to the length. No doubt much of this range is due to some instruments having been more shortened by use and wear than others. The edge of a bronze tool must have been constantly liable to become blunted, jagged, or bent, and when thus injured was doubtless, to some extent, restored to its original shape by being hammered out, and then re-ground and sharpened. The repetition of this process would, in the course of time, materially diminish the length of the blade, until eventually it would be worn out, or the solid part be broken away from the socketed portion. Celts of this general character, plain with the exception of a single or double beading at the top, occur of various sizes, and have been found in considerable numbers. In my own collection are specimens (3 inches) from Westwick Row, near Gorhambury, Herts, found with lumps of rough metal; from Burwell Fen, Cambridge (3¼ inches), found also with metal, a spear-head like Fig. 381 and a hollow ring; from Bottisham, Cambridge (3 inches), and other places. In the Reach Fen hoard already mentioned were some other celts of this type. They were associated with gouges, chisels, knives, hammers, and other articles, and also with two socketed celts, one like Fig. 133, and two like Fig. 124, as well as with two of the type shown in Fig. 117, with a small bead at some little distance below the principal moulding round the mouth. One of them has a slightly projecting rib running down each corner of the blade, a peculiarity I have noticed in other specimens. The socket is round rather than square. I have other examples of this type from a hoard of about sixty celts found on the Manor Farm, Wymington, Bedfordshire (3¾ inches); from Burwell Fen, Cambridge (4 inches); and from the hoard found at Carlton Rode, Norfolk (4 inches). This last has the slightly projecting beads down the angles.