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
In the spear-head shown in Fig. 417 there is no trace of a rivet-hole
in the socket, the end of which, however, is broken, and the two
oval orifices in the blade are placed one somewhat below the other.
This specimen is in Canon Greenwell’s collection, and was found at
Blakehope, Northumberland.
[Illustration: Fig. 419.—Winmarleigh. ¼]
The more truly characteristic spear-heads of this class have two
crescent-shaped or lunate openings, one on each side of the midrib
containing the socket, which thus is made, as it were, to reappear
in the middle of the blade. There is usually a rivet-hole in the
projecting part of the socket below the blade, so that these openings
must be regarded as ornamental, or else as intended to diminish the
weight of the weapon.
The original of Fig. 418 was found about 1847, near Whittingham,
Northumberland,[1283] in company with some other spear-heads and two
swords, and is now in the possession of Lord Ravensworth. The surface
of the blade is ornamented by being worked into steps or terraces, and
the socket by bands of parallel lines.
A rather longer specimen was found, together with a plain leaf-shaped
spear-head and five socketed celts, at Winmarleigh, near Garstang,
Lancashire.[1284] By the kindness of the curators of the Warrington
Museum I am enabled to give it as Fig. 419. It is 19½ inches long.
There are small ridges by the side of the midrib and round the margin
of the openings.
Another like it, but only 15¼ inches long, was found with a socketed
celt near Middleham, Yorkshire.
Some fragments of spear-heads of this character were found with other
bronze antiquities in Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh.[1285]
The same form has occurred in Ireland.[1286] A fine example (14
inches) from a hoard at Dowris, King’s County,[1287] is in the British
Museum.
A spear-head of this type, about 8 inches long, is in the Boucher de
Perthes Collection at Abbeville.
A spear-head smaller than Fig. 419, but of the same general character,
is shown in Fig. 420. It was found in Burwell Fen, Cambridge, about
1869. There is a double bead along each side of the midrib, and the
blade is in two steps or terraces. Around the crescent-shaped opening
the beading is grained or milled transversely. A projection is carried
down along the socket from the blade, so as to allow the rivet-hole to
be made in it. The socket extends to within 1½ inches of the point.
[Illustration: Fig. 420.—Burwell Fen. ½]
A spear-head of nearly the same size, with the openings somewhat
smaller, but ornamented in a similar manner, was found with
celts, palstaves, gouges, swords, scabbards, &c., at Guilsfield,
Montgomeryshire,[1288] in 1862. Another, broken, was found at the same
time. Another was in the hoard at Little Wenlock, Shropshire,[1289]
but does not appear to have been ornamented. There was a fragment of
another, plain, in the Broadward[1290] find.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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