The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments, of Great Britain and Ireland.Evans, John
History
The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments, of Great Britain and Ireland.
Evans, John
Bronze age -- Great Britain; Bronze age -- Ireland; Great Britain -- Antiquities
Others with raised lines on the sides are preserved in the museum at
Edinburgh. One of these was found near the citadel at Leith.[498]
One (3½ inches), ornamented with four longitudinal lines on each
face, was found in the parish of Southend,[499] Cantire. Another (4¼
inches), with traces of five ribs, three down the middle and two at
the margins of each face, was found at Hangingshaw,[500] in Culter
parish, Lanarkshire.
A third celt from Bell’s Mills is shown in Fig. 165. This is of the
variety without the loop, and closely resembles that from the Carlton
Rode hoard, Fig. 160, the main difference being that the neck is of
decagonal instead of octagonal section.
Moulds for celts of other patterns have also been found in Scotland,
as will subsequently be seen. A modern cast from some moulds found at
Rosskeen, Ross-shire, has been engraved by Professor D. Wilson.[501]
It is of hexagonal section, and is ornamented on each face by two
diverging ribs starting from an annulet close below the moulding round
the mouth, and ending in two annulets about two-thirds of the way down
the blade, which expands considerably, and has a nearly flat edge.
[Illustration: Fig. 166.—Leswalt. ½]
For the use of Fig. 166 I am indebted to the Council[502] of the
Ayrshire and Wigtonshire Archæological Association. The original
was found in a peat-moss near the farm-house of Knock and Maize, in
Leswalt parish, Wigtonshire, and is now in the cabinet of the Earl of
Stair. Its analogies with that found at Kingston, Surrey (Fig. 142),
are very striking, while at the same time it closely resembles the
type exhibited by the mould from Ross-shire already mentioned. The
occurrence of instruments of so rare a form at such a distance apart
is very remarkable; but if, as appears probable, the celts of this
type are among the latest which were manufactured, and may possibly
belong even to the Late Celtic period, their wide dissemination is the
less wonderful.
Socketed celts have been found in very large numbers in Ireland,
upwards of two hundred being preserved in the Museum of the Royal
Irish Academy; and numerous specimens are to be seen in other
collections, both public and private. Mr. R. Day, F.S.A., of Cork, has
upwards of forty in his own cabinet. The Irish celts vary much in size,
the largest being a little over 5 inches long, and the smallest less
than an inch. The most common form is oval at the neck, and expands
into a broad cutting edge. There is usually some kind of moulding round
the mouth, giving the end of the instrument a trumpet-like appearance.
The effect of the moulding is not unfrequently exaggerated by a hollow
fluting round the neck, as in Fig. 167.
[Illustration: Fig. 167.—Ireland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 168.—Ireland. ½]
Celts of this and some of the following types have been figured by
Vallancey.[503]
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