FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS.
FLAT celts, or those of simple form with the faces somewhat convex, and
approximating in shape to the polished stone celts of the Neolithic
Period, have been regarded by several antiquaries as being probably
the earliest bronze implements or weapons. Such a view has much to
commend it, but, as already observed, it may be doubted whether in the
earliest times, when metal was scarce, it would be so readily applied
to purposes for which much of the precious material was required, as to
the manufacture of weapons or tools of a lighter kind, such as daggers
or knives.
Among celts, however, the simple form, and that most nearly approaching
in character to the stone hatchet, was probably the earliest, though
it may have been continued in use after the introduction of the side
flanges, the stop-ridge, and even the socket. Some celts of the
simplest form found in Ireland are of copper, and have been thought to
belong to the period when the use of stone for cutting purposes was
dying out and that of metal coming in; but the mere fact of their being
of copper is by no means conclusive on this point.
A copper celt of the precise shape of an ordinary stone celt, 6 inches
long and 2½ inches wide, which was found in an Etruscan tomb, and is
preserved in the Museum at Berlin, appears to have been cast in a mould
formed upon a stone implement of the same class. It has been figured
and described by Sir William Wilde.[140] I have not seen the implement,
nor am I aware of the exact circumstances of the finding. Celts may,
however, like the flint arrow-heads inserted in Etruscan[141] necklaces
of gold, have been regarded with superstitious reverence, and it does
not appear to me quite certain that this specimen was ever in actual
use as an implement, and was not placed in the grave as a substitute
for a stone hatchet or _Ceraunius_.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.—Cyprus. ½]
However this may be, some of the earliest bronze or, possibly, copper
celts with which we are acquainted, those from the excavations of
General di Cesnola in Cyprus, and of Dr. Schliemann at Hissarlik,
are of the simple flat form, and justify Sir W. Wilde[142] in his
supposition that the first makers of these instruments, having once
obtained a better material than stone, repeated the form with which
they were best acquainted, though they economized the metal and
lessened the bulk by flattening the sides. The annexed cut, Fig. 1,
shows a celt from Cyprus in my own collection, which in form might be
matched by celts of flint, though it must be acknowledged that the type
in stone is rather that of Scandinavia than of Eastern Europe or the
Levant. A slight ridge in the oxide upon it seems to mark the distance
that the narrow end penetrated the handle. Numerous tools or weapons
of the same form were found by Dr. Schliemann[143] in his excavations
in search of Troy. They were at first thought to be of copper, but
subsequently proved to have a small per-centage of tin in them. A
number of flat celts, some short and broad, and others long and narrow,
were found at Gungeria,[144] in the Mhow Talook, about forty miles
north of Boorha, in Central India, many of which are now in the British
Museum. On analysis Dr. Percy found them to be of pure copper. The
same form was found at Tel Sifr, in Southern Babylonia. Some from that
place, and from the island of Thermia,[145] in the Greek Archipelago,
are also in the British Museum. Nearly similar instruments, said to
be made of copper, have been found in Austria,[146] Denmark,[147]
Sweden,[148] Hungary,[149] France,[150] and Italy.[151] I have one 3¾
inches long, from Royat, Puy de Dôme. A large and thicker specimen is
in the Museum at Toulouse. They have usually a small per-centage, 0·15
to 2·08 of tin in them.[152]
I have already, in the Introductory Chapter, made some remarks on the
probability of a copper age having, in some part of the world, preceded
that of bronze, and need here only repeat that the occurrence of
implements in copper, of the forms usually occurring in bronze, does
not of necessity imply a want of acquaintance with the tin necessary
to mix with copper to form bronze, but may only be significant of
a temporary or local scarcity of the former metal. I may also add
that without actual analysis, it is unsafe, from appearance only, to
judge whether copper is pure, or whether it has not an appreciable
per-centage of tin in it.
In treating of the different forms and characters of bronze celts, and
of the places and circumstances of finding, I think it will be best
first to take those from England and Wales, then those from Scotland,
and lastly those from Ireland. I begin with those which have been found
in barrows in England.
Fig. 2 represents a flat celt found in a barrow in the parish of
Butterwick, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, by the Rev. Canon
Greenwell, F.R.S., F.S.A.[153] It lay at the hips of the body of a
young man, at whose right hand the knife-dagger (Fig. 279) and the
bronze drill or pricker (Fig. 225) were found, accompanied by a flint
knife formed from a broad external flake.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.—Butterwick. ½]
In front of the chest were six buttons, five of jet and one
of sandstone, two of which are figured in my “Ancient Stone
Implements.”[154] The handle of the celt or axe-head could be plainly
traced by means of a dark line of decayed wood, and to all appearance
the weapon had been worn slung from the waist. “The blade is of
the simplest form, modelled on the pattern of the stone axe, and
may, it is probable, be regarded as the earliest type of bronze axe
antecedently to the appearance of either flanges or socket. It is 4
inches long, 2⅜ inches wide at the cutting edge, and 1⅛ inches at the
smaller end. It had evidently been fixed into a solid handle to a
depth of 2 inches.”
A very similar discovery to that at Butterwick was made by the late
Mr. Thomas Bateman in a barrow upon Parwich Moor, Derbyshire,[155]
called Shuttlestone, opened by him in June, 1848. In this case a
man of fine proportions and in the prime of life had been interred,
surrounded by fern-leaves and enveloped in a hide with the hair
inwards. Close to the head were a small flat bead of jet and a
circular flint (probably a “scraper”). In contact with the left arm
lay a bronze dagger, much like Fig. 279, with two rivets for the
attachment of the handle, which had been of horn. About the middle
of the left thigh was a bronze celt of the plainest axe-shaped type.
The cutting edge was turned towards the upper part of the person,
and the instrument itself had been inserted into a wooden shaft for
about 2 inches at the narrow end. The celt and dagger are engraved in
the _Archæological Association Journal_,[156] and the former in the
_Archæologia_.[157] It is about 5½ inches long, and in form much like
Fig. 19.
In a small barrow named Borther Low,[158] about two miles south of
Middleton by Youlgrave, Mr. William Bateman discovered a skeleton with
the remains of a plain coarse urn on the left side, a flint arrow-head
much burnt, a pair of canine teeth of either a fox, or a dog of the
same size, and a diminutive bronze celt. In the catalogue of the
Bateman Museum[159] this is described as “of the most primitive type,
closely resembling the stone celts in form,” and 2 inches only in
length. It is there stated to have been found with a flint spear, but
this seems to be a mistake for an arrow-head.[160]
Dr. Samuel Pegge,[161] in his letter to Mr. Lort already cited,
mentions that “Mr. Adam Wolsey the younger, of Matlock in Derbyshire,
has a celt found near the same place A.D. 1787, at Blakelow in the
parish of Ashover, with a spear-head of flint, a military weapon
also.” Not improbably this was an axe-head of the same class.
A celt of much the same character as Fig. 2, but in outline more
nearly resembling Fig. 19, 4⅜ inches long and 2⅜ broad at the cutting
edge, was found in company with two diadems or lunettes of gold such
as the Irish antiquaries call “Minds,” at Harlyn, in the parish of
Merryn, near Padstow, Cornwall, and is engraved in the _Archæological
Journal_.[162] The objects were found at a depth of about six feet
from the surface, and with them was another bronze article, which
was unfortunately thrown away. This was described by the man at work
on the spot as “like a bit of a buckle.” The discovery was quite
accidental, and no notice seems to have been taken as to whether
there were any traces of an interment at the spot, though the earth
in contact with the articles is described as having been “of an
artificial character.”
It is a celt of this kind which is engraved by Plot[163] as found near
St. Bertram’s Well, Ilam, Staffordshire. He describes it as “somewhat
like, only larger than, a lath-hammer at the edge end, but not so on
the other,” and regards it as a Roman sacrificial axe.
One (4⅛ inches) was found on Bevere Island, Worcestershire.[164]
Others of the same kind have been found near Duxford, Cambs,[165]
near Grappenhall, Cheshire;[166] the Beacon Hill, Charnwood Forest,
Leicestershire;[167] and, near Battlefield, Shrewsbury,[168] in
company with a palstave without loop, some sickle-like objects,
and other articles. One, 9 inches long and 5 inches broad at the
cutting edge, found in the ruins of Gleaston Castle, Lower Furness,
Lancashire, is engraved in the _Archæologia_.[169]
The celts found on Baddow Hall Common,[170] near Danbury, Essex, one
of which was 6 inches long and 3½ inches broad at the edge, seem to
have been of this character.
I have seen specimens of the same type from Taxley Fen,
Huntingdonshire (4¾ inches long), in the collection of Mr. S. Sharp,
F.S.A.; and from Raisthorp, near Fimber, Yorkshire, in that of Messrs.
Mortimer.
In Canon Greenwell’s collection are three (about 4¾ inches) found at
Newbiggin, Northumberland, and others (about 5½ inches) from Alnwick
and Wallsend. A specimen in the same collection (5¼ inches), found at
Knapton, Yorkshire (E. R.), has a slight ridge along the centre of the
sides, which, as well as the angles between the faces and the sides,
is indented with a series of slight hammer marks at regular intervals.
Mr. Wallace of Distington, Whitehaven, has one (6½ inches) from Hango
Hill, Castleton, Isle of Man.
I have myself celts of the same class from the Cambridge Fens (4⅝
inches); Sherburn Carr, Yorkshire (5⅝ inches), found with another
nearly similar; Swansea (4¼ inches, much decayed); and near Pont
Caradog, Brithder, Glamorganshire (6¼ inches), found with three
others, and given to me by Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., in whose
collection the others are preserved.
A few of these flat plain celts have been found in France. Some from
the departments of Doubs and Jura are engraved by Chantre.[171]
One from Normandy,[172] figured by the Abbé Cochet, seems to show
some trace of a transverse ridge. One from the Seine is engraved
in the “Dictionnaire Archéologique de la Gaule.” Another was found
in Finistère.[173] Others are in the Museum at Narbonne[174] and
elsewhere. The form is also found in Spain, both in bronze and what is
apparently copper. I have specimens from the Ciudad Real district.
The plain flat form like Fig. 2 is also occasionally found in Germany.
One from Ackenbach, near Homberg, is figured by Schreiber.[175]
With nearly straight sides like Fig. 27, the form is not uncommon in
Hungary. Some of these are very thin.
Others of nearly the same form, but thicker, have been found on the
other side of the Atlantic in Mexico, and many of the copper celts of
North America are also of the plain flat type with an oblong section.
This circumstance to my mind rather proves that the form is the
simplest, and therefore that most naturally adopted for hatchets, than
that there was of necessity any intercourse between the countries in
which it has prevailed.
Many of the flat celts are ornamented in a more or less artistic
manner on the faces, or the sides, or on both; but before proceeding
to notice any of them, it will be well to mention another variety of
the plain celt, in which the faces, instead of being nearly flat or
uniformly convex, slope towards either end from a transverse ridge near
the middle of the blade. This ridge is never very strongly defined, as
the total thickness of the blade from ridge to ridge is rarely more
than half an inch. The plain variety is somewhat rare in Britain, but
one ornamented on both faces will be described, under Fig. 5, and an
Irish example is shown in Fig. 35.
A large doubly tapering celt (8 inches) was found at East Surby,
Rushen,[176] Isle of Man. Some of those already mentioned partake of
this character. In Hoare’s great work a specimen from the Bush Barrow,
Normanton,[177] is engraved as being of this plain doubly tapering
type; but from the more accurate engraving given by Dr. Thurnam[178] it
appears that this instrument has flanges at the side, like Fig. 8, and
must therefore be spoken of later on.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.—Moot Low. ½]
I now proceed to consider some of the flat celts ornamented with
patterns probably produced by punches, as will subsequently be
mentioned. The first which I adduce was found with an interment, and
the ornamentation is so slight that it is a question whether the celt
ought not to rank among those of the plain kind.
The late Mr. Thomas Bateman in 1845 found what he described as “a fine
bronze celt of novel form” and “of elegant outline” near the head of a
contracted skeleton in a barrow called Moot Low,[179] about half-way
between Alsop Moor and Dovedale, Derbyshire. “It was placed in a
line with the body, with its edge upwards.” By the kindness of Mr.
Llewellynn Jewitt, F.S.A.,[180] I am enabled to give a figure of this
instrument in Fig. 3. As will be seen, it has slight flanges along
the sides, and the upper part is ornamented with short vertical lines
punched in.
That shown in Fig. 4 was found in Yorkshire, and is now in the
British Museum. The patina upon it has been somewhat injured, but
the ornamentation upon the faces is in places very well preserved. It
consists of numerous parallel lines, each made up of short diagonal
indentations in the metal, and together forming the pattern which will
be better understood from the figure than from any description. The
sides are ornamented by having two low pyramidal bosses drawn out upon
them, leaving a long concave hexagonal space in the middle between
them. This celt has already been figured, but on a much smaller scale,
in the “Horæ Ferales.”[181]
[Illustration: Fig. 4.—Yorkshire. ½]
This style of ornamentation on the sides is more common on Irish than
on English or Scottish celts. One, however, 5½ inches long, of the
doubly tapering form with lunate edge, having the central portion of
the blade ornamented with a series of lines in a chevron pattern, and
having the sides worked into three facets of a pointed oval form,
was found at Whittington,[182] Gloucestershire, and was presented
by Mr. W. L. Lawrence, F.S.A., to the Society of Antiquaries. The
ornamentation is much like that on Fig. 7, but between the ornamented
portion of the blade and the edge there is a curved hollow facet, the
ridge below which runs nearly parallel with the edge.
[Illustration: Fig. 5.—Weymouth. ½]
The celt shown in Fig. 5 might perhaps be more properly placed among
the flanged celts, as, without having well-developed flanges along
the sides, there is a projecting ridge running along either margin
of the faces, in consequence of the sides having been somewhat
chamfered, or having had their angles beaten down by hammering. It was
found on Preston Down, near Weymouth, Dorsetshire; but I do not know
under what circumstances. It has become thickly coated with a dark
sage-green patina, which has in places been unfortunately knocked off.
The beautiful original ornamentation of the celt has been admirably
preserved by the patina. The greater part of the surface has been
figured with a sort of grained pattern like morocco leather, probably
by means of a punch in form like a narrow blunt chisel. The faces of
the blade are not flat, but taper in both directions from a ridge
rather more than half-way up the blade. Along the lower side of this
somewhat curved ridge, and again about an inch above the cutting edge,
a belt of chevrons has been punched in, having the appearance of a
plaited band. Below the lower band the surface has been left smooth
and unornamented, so that grinding the edge would not in any way
injure the pattern. The upper part of the blade has at the present
time exactly the appearance of dark green morocco with “blind-tooling”
upon it. No doubt many blades which were originally ornamented after
the same fashion as this specimen have now, through oxidation or
the accidental destruction of the patina, lost all traces of their
original decoration. On this, where the patina has been destroyed,
nothing can be seen of the graining.
I have a flat celt from Mildenhall, Suffolk (6 inches), in form like
Fig. 6, the greater part of the surface of which has been grained in a
similar manner, though the graining is now almost obliterated.
In the collection of the Duke of Northumberland[183] is a large celt
which appears to be of the flat kind, with the side edges “slightly
recurved,” and with the surface “elaborately worked with chevrony
lines and ornaments which may have been partly produced by hammering.”
It was found in Northumberland.
Another belonging to James Kendrick, Esq., M.D., found at Risdon,[184]
near Warrington, is described as being “ornamented with punched lines
in a very unusual manner.” Another, of which a bad representation
from one of Dr. Stukeley’s drawings is given in the _Archæologia_, is
said to have been found in the long barrow at Stonehenge.[185] One 4½
inches long, the faces ornamented with a number of longitudinal cuts,
was found near Sidmouth.[186]
[Illustration: Fig. 6.—Read. ½]
In some instances the faces of the celts have been wrought into a
series of slightly hollowed facets. One such from Read, Lancashire,
is in the British Museum, and is engraved as Fig. 6. The central
space between the two series of ridges and also the margins of the
faces are ornamented with shallow chevrons punched in. The sides
have been hammered into three facets, and this has produced slight
flanges at the margins of the faces. These facets are ornamented with
diagonal lines. This celt was found with two others, apparently of
the same kind, and is described and engraved in Whitaker’s “History
of the Original Parish of Whalley.”[187] The author says that these
instruments were from 9 to 12 inches long, and had a broad and narrow
end, but had neither loops, grooves, nor any other contrivance by
which they could be fixed in a shaft, or indeed applied to any known
use. That in the British Museum was obtained by the late Mr. Charles
Towneley. The two others were formerly in the collections of the Rev.
Dr. Milles, P.S.A., and of Dr. Whitaker.
I now come to the flanged celts, or those which have projecting ledges
along the greater part of each side of the faces, produced either by
hammering the metal at the sides of the blades, or in the original
casting. As has already been observed, some of the celts which have
been described as belonging to the flat variety might, with almost
equal propriety, have been classed as flanged celts, as the mere
hammering of the sides with a view to render them smooth or to produce
an ornament upon them “upsets” the metal, and produces a thickening
along the margin which almost amounts to a flange.
In the celt shown in Fig. 7 the flanges are very slight, and are in
all probability merely due to the hammering necessary to produce the
kind of cable pattern or spiral fluting which is seen in the side
view. The faces taper in each direction from a transverse ridge, and
the blade for some distance below this is ornamented with an incuse
chevron pattern. The blade towards the edge and above the ridge is
left plain. This specimen was found in Suffolk, but I do not know the
exact locality. It is in my own collection.
[Illustration: Fig. 7.—Suffolk. ½]
Among nineteen bronze celts discovered about the year 1845 on the
property of Mr. Samuel Ware, F.S.A., at Postlingford Hall,[188] near
Clare, Suffolk, were several of this class, two of which (6½ and 5½
inches), now in the British Museum, are figured in the _Archæologia_.
One of them is ornamented with a chevron pattern, covering the part of
the blade usually decorated, and having vertical lines running through
the centres of the chevrons, and through the junction of their bases.
The other is ornamented with a series of curved parallel lines running
across the blade, as on Fig. 16. They have a slight projection or
ridge at the thickest part of the blade, as have also two that are not
ornamented, which likewise were presented by Mr. Ware to the British
Museum.
Another celt of this kind (4⅞ inches) was found with a bronze
spear-head having loops at the lower part of the blade in the Kilcot
Wood,[189] near Newent, Gloucestershire. The faces are ornamented with
parallel rows of short diagonal lines, bounded at the lower end by a
double series of dots, and a transverse row of diagonal lines.
In the remarkable hoard of bronze instruments discovered on Arreton
Down, in the Isle of Wight, about the year 1735, were, besides the
spear-heads and dagger blades, of which mention will be made in
subsequent chapters, four of these flanged celts. Of these one (6⅞
inches) was ornamented both on the face and sides, but is at present
only known from a drawing in an album belonging to the Society of
Antiquaries.
[Illustration: Fig. 8.—Arreton Down. ½]
The others were plain, and of one of them a woodcut is given in the
_Archæologia_,[190] which by the permission of the Council of the
Society of Antiquaries is here reproduced as Fig. 8. It is 8 inches in
length, and is one of the largest of its class in the British Museum.
As will be seen, the blade itself is of the doubly tapering kind. The
others are 4½ and 4¾ inches long. They are said to have been found
arranged in regular order,[191] and, as Mr. Franks has suggested, may
possibly have been the store deposited by some ancient founder, which
he was unable to reclaim from its hiding-place.
[Illustration: Fig. 9.—Plymstock. ⅔]
[Illustration: Fig. 10.—Plymstock. ⅔]
In Figs. 9 and 10[192] are shown two more of these doubly tapering
flanged celts, which were found in the parish of Plymstock,[193]
Devonshire, about a mile east of Preston. They lay beneath a flat
stone at a depth of about two feet below the surface, together with
fourteen other celts, three daggers, one of which is given as Fig.
301, a spear-head or dagger, shown in Fig. 327, and a narrow chisel
(Fig. 190). All the sixteen celts are of the same general type, but
vary in length from 3¾ inches to 6¾ inches. The extent of the flanges
or wings also varies, and in some they project considerably, and
are brought with great precision to a sharp edge. At the narrow or
butt end, the late Mr. Albert Way, who described the hoard, noticed
a peculiar slight groove extending only as far as the commencement
of the lateral flanges. The character of the groove is shown in the
portion of the side view given with each figure. Mr. Way and Mr.
Franks thought that the narrow end of the celt, when produced from the
mould, had been slightly bifid, and that the little cleft had been
closed by the hammer. My own impression is that these marks are merely
the result of “drawing down” the narrow ends with the hammer after
their sides had been somewhat “upset” or expanded by hammering out the
side flanges.
The sides of some of these celts have been hammered so as to present
three longitudinal facets; others have the sides simply rounded. One
of the most interesting features of this discovery is its analogy
with that already mentioned as having been made at Arreton Down. The
greater number of the objects found at Plymstock were given by the
Duke of Bedford to the British Museum, and the remainder to the Exeter
Museum.
Four or five celts with slight side flanges were found in the
Wiltshire barrows by Sir E. Colt Hoare. The largest of these (6¼
inches long and 2½ inches broad) was found in 1808, in a tumulus
known as the Bush Barrow, near Normanton.[194] The following are the
particulars of this discovery:—On the floor of the barrow was the
skeleton of a tall man lying from south to north. Near his shoulders
lay the celt, which owes its great preservation to having been
inserted in a handle of wood. About eighteen inches south of the head
were several bronze rivets, intermixed with wood and thin pieces of
bronze, which were regarded as the remains of a shield. Near the right
arm were a large dagger of bronze and a spear-head of the same metal,
fully 13 inches long. The handle of this dagger, marvellously inlaid
with pins of gold, will be described in a subsequent chapter. On the
breast of the skeleton was a large lozenge-shaped plate of gold,
ornamented with zigzag and other patterns, and near it were some other
gold ornaments, some bone rings, and an oval perforated stone mace,
the representation of which I have reproduced in my “Ancient Stone
Implements.”
We have here an instance of bronze weapons occurring associated with
those of stone and with gold ornaments. Sir R. Colt Hoare has recorded
some other cases. In a bell-shaped barrow near Wilsford,[195] at the
feet of the skeleton of a tall man, he found a massive hammer of a
dark-coloured stone, some objects of bone, a whetstone with a groove
in the centre, and a bronze celt with small lateral flanges 3¼ inches
long. These were accompanied by a very curious object of twisted
bronze, apparently a ring about 4½ inches in diameter, having a tang
pierced with four rivet holes for fixing in a handle. In the ring
itself, opposite the tang, is a long oval hole, through which passes
one of three circular links forming a short chain.
In a barrow on Overton Hill,[196] Sir R. Colt Hoare found a contracted
skeleton buried either in the trunk of a tree or on a plank of wood.
Near the head were a small celt of this kind, an awl with a handle
(Fig. 227), and a small dagger, or, as he terms it, a “lance-head.”
The occurrence of celts of this character is not limited to interments
by inhumation. In another barrow of the Wilsford group Sir R. C. Hoare
found, in a cist 2 feet deep, a pile of burnt bones, an ivory (?) pin,
a rude ring of bone, and a small bronze celt, also with side flanges,
and only 2⅛ inches long.
Among other specimens of this form of celt may be cited one found on
Plumpton Plain,[197] near Lewes, Sussex, now in the British Museum;
one (4 inches) found near Dover in 1856; and one (6½ inches) from
Wye Down, Kent, both in the Mayer collection at Liverpool. Canon
Greenwell, F.R.S., has one (3½ inches) from March, Cambridgeshire.
Flanged celts much like Fig. 9 have been found in France. Some from
Haute-Saône,[198] Rhône, and Compiègne[199] (Oise) have been figured.
I have specimens from Evreux (Eure), Amiens (Somme), and Lyons.
The type also occurs in Italy[200] in some abundance; it is found
more rarely in Germany.[201] Examples from Denmark are figured by
Schreiber,[202] Segested,[203] and Madsen.[204] The form also occurs
in Sweden.[205]
A peculiar form of flanged celt is shown in Fig. 11. The flanges
extend as usual nearly to the edge, but at the upper part of the blade
are set down so as to project still farther over the faces, though at
a lower level. The original was found in the Thames,[206] and is the
property of Mr. T. Layton, F.S.A.
[Illustration: Fig. 11.—Thames. ½]. [Illustration: Fig. 12.—Norfolk.
½]
A small example, ornamented with a fluted pattern on the sides and
with the blade slightly tapering in each direction from a central
ridge, is shown in Fig. 12. The original was found in Norfolk, and is
in the collection of Mr. R. Fitch, F.S.A.
Another, decorated with a fluted chevron pattern on the sides, and
with indented herring-bone and chevron patterns on the faces, is given
in Fig. 13. This example was found in Dorsetshire, and is now in the
British Museum. In the same collection is a beautiful celt with side
flanges found near Brough, Westmoreland (6¾ inches), which has the
portion of the blade below the thickest part ornamented with a lozengy
matted pattern much like that on Fig. 51, but with the alternate
lozenges plain and hatched. The hatching on some of the lozenges is
from left to right, on others the reverse.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.—Dorsetshire. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 14.—Lewes. ½]
A flanged celt of unusual type, the sides curiously wrought and
engraved or punched, and the faces exhibiting a pattern of chevrony
lines, is shown in Fig. 14. It was found near Lewes,[207] Sussex, and
is the property of Sir H. Shiffner, Bart.
[Illustration: Fig. 15.—Ely. ½]
An example of nearly the same kind is shown in Fig. 15, from a celt
found in the Fens near Ely, and now in the museum of Mr. Marshall
Fisher, of that city. Both faces are ornamented below the thickest
part with broad indented lines, vertical and transverse, as will be
best seen in the figure. The sides are hammered into three facets,
each having a series of diagonal grooves wrought in them. The two
left-hand facets on each side have the grooves running upwards from
left to right; on the third facet they run downwards, but at a much
less inclination. The punch with which the grooves and ornaments were
produced has also been employed along the inner angle of the flanges.
A pretty little celt, ornamented with transverse ridges in the lower
part, is shown in Fig. 16. The original was found at Barrow, Suffolk.
The Rev. Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., possesses one (4⅝ inches) found at
Horncastle, Lincolnshire, the faces of which are decorated in a nearly
similar manner; but the sides show a cable pattern, and there is a
slight central ridge on the faces.
[Illustration: Fig. 16.—Barrow. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 17.—Liss. ½]
A much larger specimen (6¼ inches), found near the Menai Bridge,[208]
Anglesea, has also cabled sides, but the grooves on the faces are
straighter and wider apart.
A Danish celt, ornamented in a similar manner, is engraved by
Madsen.[209]
The celt shown in Fig. 17 is of somewhat the same character, but the
transverse lines are closer and not continuous. They have evidently
been produced by means of a small blunt punch, with the aid of a
hammer. The original was found at Liss,[210] near Petersfield, Hants,
and is now in the British Museum.
Flanged celts decorated on the faces are of rare occurrence in France.
One of narrow proportions, and ornamented with lozenges and zigzags,
was found at Mareuil-sur-Ourcq[211] (Oise).
[Illustration: Fig. 18.—Rhosnesney. ½]
The only instance known to me in which the rough castings destined
to be wrought into this form of celt have been found in Britain is
one recorded in the _Archæologia Cambrensis_[212] by the Rev. E. L.
Barnwell. At the meeting of the Cambrian Archæological Association at
Wrexham, Sir R. A. Cunliffe, Bart., exhibited what had evidently been
the stock in trade of an ancient bronze-founder or merchant. It had
been found at Rhosnesney, near Wrexham, and consisted of six palstaves,
all from the same mould, another somewhat slighter and broken in two,
the blade of a small dagger, three castings for flanged celts, and the
shank of a fourth—all of them rough as they came from the mould. The
cut given of one of the last-mentioned castings is here reproduced on a
smaller scale as Fig. 18. It will be seen that a broad runner is left
at the butt end, which was probably destined to be broken off; the
sides would also be hammered, so as to increase the prominence of the
flanges; and the whole would be planished by hammering and grinding.
All the specimens have the appearance of having been washed over with
tin, but this deposit of tin upon the surface may, I think, be due to
some chemical action which has gone on since the bronze was buried in
the ground, and may not have been intentionally produced.
A casting for a longer flanged celt found at Vienne (Isère) has been
figured by Chantre.[213]
Turning now to the flat and flanged celts discovered in Scotland, I may
remark that the instruments of the flat form appear to be comparatively
more abundant in that country than in England and Wales.
In Fig. 19 is shown a remarkably well-preserved specimen in my
own collection, which is said to have been found near Drumlanrig,
Dumfriesshire. The sides present two longitudinal facets at a low
angle to each other. In hammering these the margin of the faces
has been somewhat raised; they are otherwise smooth and devoid of
ornament. Other specimens have three facets on the sides.
[Illustration: Fig. 19.—Drumlanrig. ½]
Instruments of much the same character have been found near
Biggar[214] (6⅛ inches), Culter[215] (5¼ inches), both in Lanarkshire;
on the farm of Colleonard,[216] near Banff (found with three which
were ornamented); at Sluie on the Findhorn,[217] Morayshire (two,
6 inches); near Abernethy,[218] Perthshire (4 inches across face);
near Ardgour House,[219] Invernessshire (5¾ inches); the Hill of
Fortrie of Balnoon,[220] Inverkeithney, Banffshire (5¾ inches long);
Ravelston,[221] near Edinburgh (7 inches); Cobbinshaw, Midcalder,
Edinburgh (4¾ inches), in my own collection. One found in the Moss of
Cree,[222] near Wigton in Galloway, has been mentioned by Wilson, and
is engraved in the _Ayr and Wigton Collections_.[223] Others from Inch
and Leswalt, Wigtonshire, have also been figured.[224]
Some of these blades, and notably the celts from Sluie, the Hill of
Fortrie of Balnoon, and Ravelston, have been thought to be tinned. An
interesting paper on the subject has been written by Dr. J. Alexander
Smith and Dr. Stevenson Macadam.[225] Their conclusion is rather in
favour of the celts having been intentionally tinned, so as to protect
them from oxidation and the influence of the weather. I think, however,
that the tinned appearance of the castings for celts from Rhosnesney
affords a strong argument against this feature being the result of
intentional tinning; for, if so, that metal would have been applied
to the blades after they had been wrought and ground into shape, and
not to the rough castings, from the surface of which the tin would be
certainly removed in the process of finishing the blades. A bronze
hammer from France in my collection has all the appearance of having
been intentionally tinned, even partly within the socket; but in this
case the bronze appears unusually rich in tin, which was probably added
in order to increase the hardness of the metal, and some considerable
alteration of structure has taken place within the body of the metal,
as the surface is fissured in all directions, something like “crackle
china.”
In the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh are other flat celts, some of
them with slight flanges at the edge, from Eildon, Roxburghshire;
Inchnadamff, Sutherlandshire; Dunino, Fifeshire; Vogrie and Ratho,
Midlothian; Kintore and Tarland, Aberdeenshire; and other places.
[Illustration: Fig. 20.—Lawhead. ¼]
Some celts of this form, but with slight side flanges, have been found
in the South of France.[226]
A celt of this class, also in the Museum at Edinburgh, is probably
the largest ever found in the United Kingdom. It is 13⅝ inches in
length, 9 inches in its greatest breadth, but only 1⅜ inch at the
narrow end. Its thickness is about ⅝ inch in the middle of the blade,
and its weight is 5 lbs. 7 ozs. It is shown on a scale of rather more
than one-fourth in Fig. 20, for the use of the woodcut of which I am
indebted to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. It was found in
digging a drain on the farm of Lawhead,[227] on the south side of the
Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh.
Some of the Scottish celts, both flat and doubly tapering, are
ornamented on the faces. One with four raised longitudinal ribs, and
two with a series of short incised or punched lines upon their faces,
were among those found on the farm of Colleonard,[228] Banff; another
has shallow flutings on the blade; another, E22, in the Catalogue of
the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh, is also ornamented with incised
lines. One of those from Sluie,[229] Morayshire, is cited by Wilson.
[Illustration: Fig. 21.—Nairn. ½]
The tastefully ornamented celt shown in Fig. 21 was found near Nairn,
and is now in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,
to the Council of which I am indebted for the use of the cut. The
wreathed lines appear to have been produced by a chisel-like punch.
The ornamentation of both faces is almost exactly similar.
I have two flat celts, both said to have been found near Falkland,
Fifeshire, one of which (6¾ inches) has had grooves about half an inch
apart worked in the faces parallel to the sides, so as to form very
pointed chevrons down the centre of the blade. The other (5 inches
long) has had broad shallow dents about ½ inch long and ⅛ inch apart
made in its faces, so as to form a herring-bone pattern.
The doubly tapering celt shown in Fig. 22 is also said to have been
found near Falkland. Below the ridge the face has been ornamented with
parallel belts of short, narrow indentations arranged longitudinally
for about half the length of the lower face, but nearer the edge
transversely. The sides are worked into three longitudinal facets.
[Illustration: Fig. 22.—Falkland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 23.—Greenlees. ½]
Of Scottish flanged celts resembling Fig. 9, the following may be
mentioned. One found in Peeblesshire[230] (5⅜ inches long, with a
circular depression on one face); one from Longman,[231] Macduff,
Banffshire (3¾ inches long).
Another of the same class, having a round hole at the upper part of
the blade, is said to have been found in Scotland, and is engraved by
Gordon.[232]
A celt with but slightly raised flanges and peculiar ornamentation is
shown in Fig. 23. It was found at Greenlees,[233] near Spottiswoode,
Berwickshire, and is in the collection of Lady John Scott. There is a
faintly marked stop-ridge, above which the blade has been ornamented
by thickly set parallel hammer or punch marks. The sides are fluted in
a cable pattern. Parallel to the cutting edge are three slight fluted
hollows, and on the blade above are segments of concentric hollows
of the same kind, forming what heralds would term “flanches” on the
blade. Whether in this ornament we are to see a representation of the
“flanches” of the winged palstave like Fig. 85, such as is so common
on socketed celts, or whether it is of independent origin, I will not
attempt to determine.
[Illustration: Fig. 24.—Perth. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 25.—Applegarth. ½]
A flanged celt with a slight stop-ridge, having the sides ornamented
with a cable pattern and the faces with rows of triangles alternately
hatched and plain, is shown in Fig. 24. The original was found near
Perth,[234] and is in the collection of the Rev. James Beck, F.S.A.
A celt with five hatched bands surmounted by triangles, and with the
sides cable moulded, though found in Denmark,[235] much resembles this
Scottish specimen and some of those from Ireland. Another with similar
sides, but with the lower part of the faces ornamented with narrow
vertical grooves, was found at Applegarth,[236] Dumfriesshire, and is
now in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh. It is represented in Fig.
25.
Another decorated celt of the same character, though with different
ornamentation, is shown in Fig. 26. The curved hands on the faces
are formed of lines with dots between, and the sides have a kind
of fern-leaf pattern upon them, like that on the winged celt from
Trillick, Fig. 98. The original was found at Dams, Balbirnie,[237]
Fifeshire.
[Illustration: Fig. 26.—Dams. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 27.—Ballinamallard. ½]
A very large number of flat celts of the simplest form have been
found in Ireland. So numerous are they that it would only encumber
these pages were I to attempt to give a detailed account of all the
varieties, and of all the localities at which they have been found.
Sir William Wilde, in his most valuable “Catalogue of the Museum of
the Royal Irish Academy,” has placed on record a large amount of
information upon this subject, from which some of the facts hereafter
mentioned are borrowed, and to which the reader is referred for farther
information. Some of those of the rudest manufacture are formed “of
red, almost unalloyed copper.”[238] These vary in length from about 2½
inches to 6½ inches, and are never ornamented.
In Fig. 27 is shown a small example of a celt apparently of pure
copper, which was found at Ballinamallard, Co. Fermanagh, and was
kindly added to my collection by the Earl of Enniskillen. I have
another, more like Fig. 28, from Ballybawn, Co. Cork, presented to me
by Mr. Robert Day, F.S.A.
A small celt of this character, from King’s County, now in the British
Museum, is only 2⅛ inches in length.
Fig. 28 shows a very common form of Irish celt, in this instance made
of bronze. The instruments of this type are in general nearly flat,
and without any marked central ridge, such as is to be observed more
frequently on the longer and narrower form, of which a remarkably
small specimen from the collection of Mr. R. Day, F.S.A., is shown in
Fig. 29.
[Illustration: Fig. 28.—North of Ireland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 29.—Ireland. ½]
In this case it will be seen that the blade tapers both ways from a
low central ridge. Others of these flat celts are in outline more like
Fig. 20. One such, in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, is 12¼
inches long by 8½ inches broad, and weighs nearly 5 lbs. One in the
British Museum, which, unfortunately, is somewhat imperfect, must have
been of nearly the same size. The usual length of the celts like Fig.
28 is from 4 to 6 inches. One from Greenmount, Castle Bellingham, Co.
Louth, is engraved in the _Archæological Journal_.[239]
[Illustration: Fig. 30.—Tipperary. ½]
Occasionally the flat surface is ornamented. An example of this kind
(7½ inches) is given in Fig. 30, from a specimen found in the county
of Tipperary,[240] and now in the British Museum. The surface has the
patterns punched in, and the angles between the faces and the sides
are slightly serrated. Some few Irish celts are slightly fluted on the
face, like the English specimen, Fig. 6.
[Illustration: Fig. 31.—Ireland. ½]
Another ornamented celt of this class, from my own collection, is
shown in Fig. 31. On this the roughly worked pattern has been produced
by means of a long blunt punch, or possibly by the pane or narrow end
of a hammer; but it is far more probable that the former tool was used
than the latter. The two faces are nearly alike, and the sides have
been hammered so as to produce a central ridge along them.
A large and highly ornamented flat celt in the collection of Canon
Greenwell, F.R.S., is shown in Fig. 32. The ornamentation on each
face is the same, and the sides have been hammered so as to produce a
succession of flat lozenges upon them. It was found near Connor, Co.
Antrim, with two others of nearly the same size, one of which was
scraped by the finder. The other is ornamented with a cross-hatched
border along the margins, and three narrow bands across the blade,
one cross-hatched, one of triangles alternately hatched and plain,
and one with vertical lines. Parallel with the cutting edge, which,
however, has been broken off in old times, is a curved band of
alternate triangles, like that across the centre of the blade. Much
of the surface is grained by vertical indentations, and the sides are
ornamented like those of Fig. 4.
[Illustration: Fig. 32.—Connor. ½]
In the celts tapering in both directions from a slight transverse
ridge, the sides have often been “upset” by hammering, so as to
produce a thickening of the blade at the margins almost amounting to a
flange. Not unfrequently a pattern is produced upon the sides, as in
Fig. 33, where it will be seen that the median ridge along the sides
is interrupted at intervals by a series of flat lozenges. The faces of
this instrument below the ridge have been neatly hammered, so as to
produce a kind of grained surface not unlike that of French morocco
leather. This specimen, which is unusually large, was found near
Clontarf, Co. Dublin. The same kind of decoration occurs on the sides
of many specimens in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy.[241]
The decoration of the faces often extends over the upper part of the
blade, though, when hafted, much of this was probably hidden. In
Fig. 34, borrowed from Wilde (Fig. 248), this peculiarity is well
exhibited. The sides have the long lozenges upon them, like those on
the celt last described.
[Illustration: Fig. 33.—Clontarf. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 34.—Ireland. ½]
The beautiful specimen shown in Fig. 35 was presented to me by Mr.
Robert Day, F.S.A. The sides have in this case a kind of cable pattern
worked upon them. The ornamentation of the faces is remarkable as
having so many curved lines brought into it. The lower part of the
blade has two shallow flutings upon it, approximately parallel to the
edge.
[Illustration: Fig. 35.—Ireland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 36.—Trim. ½]
In the case of a celt of much the same form and size (7¼ inches),
which belonged to the late Rev. Thomas Hugo, F.S.A., and was at one
time thought to have been found in the Thames,[242] it is the upper
part of the blade that is decorated, and not the lower, which is left
smooth.
[Illustration: Fig. 37.—Ireland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 38.—Ireland. ½]
There is no central ridge, but the upper part has a coarse lozenge
pattern hammered upon it, the centres of the lozenges being roughly
hatched with transverse lines. Possibly this roughening may have
assisted to keep the blade fast in the handle, though in producing it
some artistic feeling was brought to bear. There is little doubt of
this instrument being of Irish origin.
Other celts, like Fig. 36, have the upper part of the blade plain and
the lower ornamented. This specimen was found at Trim, Co. Meath,
and is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S. It will be
observed that even the cabled fluting of the sides ceases opposite the
transverse ridge.
In Figs. 37 and 38 are shown two more of these slightly flanged
ornamented celts. The first is in the museum of the Royal Irish
Academy, and has already been figured by Wilde (Fig. 298). The lower
part of the blade is fluted transversely with chevron patterns punched
in along the curved ridges. In the second, which was presented to
me by Dr. Aquilla Smith, M.R.I.A., there is a fairly well defined
though but slightly projecting curved stop-ridge, and the blade is
decorated by boldly punched lines, forming a pattern which a herald
might describe as “per saltire argent and azure.” The cable fluting
on the sides is beautifully regular. The Rev. G. W. Brackenridge,
of Clevedon, possesses a longer specimen (5⅜ inches), found at
Tullygowan, near Gracehill, Co. Antrim, the faces of which are
ornamented with a nearly similar design. Canon Greenwell has another
example found at Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim.
The patterns punched upon the celts of this type show a great
variety of form, and not a little fertility of design in the ancient
artificers.[243] Various combinations of chevron patterns are the
most frequent, though grained surfaces and straight lines like those
on Fig. 17 also frequently occur. Sir William Wilde describes them
as hammered, punched, engraved, or cast. Most of the patterns were,
however, produced by means of punches, though it is possible that in
some instances the other processes may have been used.
[Illustration: Fig. 39.]
[Illustration: Fig. 40.]
[Illustration: Fig. 41.]
[Illustration: Fig. 42.]
[Illustration: Fig. 43.]
Figs. 39 to 43, borrowed from Wilde (Figs. 286 to 290), show some of
the patterns full size. The punch most commonly employed must have
resembled a narrow and blunt chisel; but a kind of centre-punch,
producing a shallow round indentation, was also employed, and possibly
a somewhat curved punch like a blunt gouge. In some cases the lines
between the punched marks are, according to Wilde, engraved. It is,
however, a question whether even the finest lines might not have been
produced by a chisel used after the manner of a punch. What were
probably punches for producing such patterns have been found in some
English hoards, as will subsequently be mentioned; and in the Fonderie
de Larnaud, Jura,[244] was a punch with an engrailed end for producing
a kind of “milled” mark, either in the mould or on the casting.
Another, with concentric circles, seems best adapted for impressing the
loam of the mould.
Some few of the Irish ornamented celts have well-defined stop-ridges
like the English example, Fig. 51; but these will be more in their
place in the following chapter. One or two other forms may, however,
be here mentioned, though they approximate closely to the chisels
described in subsequent pages.
One of these is shown in Fig. 44, the upper part of the blade of which
is, as will be seen, so narrow, and the instrument itself so small and
light, that it is a question whether it should not be regarded as a
chisel or paring-tool rather than as a hatchet. The blade tapers both
ways, and the incipient flange is more fully developed above the ridge
than below. The original was found at Armoy, Co. Antrim. It is much
broader at the cutting edge than the blade from Culham, Fig. 55, to
which it is somewhat allied.
[Illustration: Fig. 44.—Armoy. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 45.—Ireland. ½]
Another Irish form of celt, or possibly chisel, tapers in both
directions from a central transverse ridge, near which there are
lateral projections on the blade, as if to prevent its being driven
into the handle. An example of this kind, from the museum of the Royal
Irish Academy, is given in Fig. 45. There are nine or ten in that
collection, and they vary in length from about 3¾ to 8 inches. Others
are in the British Museum, one of which is more distinctly tanged
than the figure, and the stops are formed by the gradual widening out
of the blade, which again contracts with a similar curve, and once
more widens out at the edge. This type is also known in France. Other
varieties of this form are described in Chapter VII.
A doubly tapering blade in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy,
shown in Fig. 46, has a slight stop-ridge on the face, and also
expands at the sides, though not to the same extent as the plain
specimens just mentioned. It is ornamented with straight and curved
bands formed of chevron patterns.
A double-edged instrument, also in the museum of the Royal Irish
Academy, has a stop-ridge on one of the faces only, as shown in Fig.
47.
An instrument of the same form, but with stops at the sides instead
of on the face, 4⅞ inches long, ⅝ inch broad at the edges, and about
¼ inch thick, was found at Farley Heath, Surrey, and is now in the
British Museum.
A Danish instrument of the same kind is figured by Worsaae.[245] /#
[Illustration: Fig. 46.—Ireland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 47.—Ireland. ½]
Flat celts of iron with lateral stops have been found in the
cemetery at Hallstatt, Austria, as well as winged palstaves and
socketed celts of the same metal.
Some of the thin votive hatchets found at Dodona[246] are of the same
form, and are significant of such blades having been in actual use in
Greece.
In the next chapter are described the celts in which the side flanges
have become more fully developed, so as to form wings to embrace and
steady the handle, and the central ridge has grown into a well-marked
shoulder against which the end of the haft could rest.