SOCKETED CELTS.
THE class of celts cast in such a manner as to have a socket for
receiving the haft is numerously represented in the British Isles. In
this form of instrument the haft was actually imbedded in the blade,
whereas in the case of the flat and flanged celts, and of the so-called
palstaves, the blade was imbedded in the handle, so that the terms,
“the recipient” and “the received,” originally given to the two classes
by Dr. Stukeley, are founded on a well-marked distinction, and are
worthy of being rescued from oblivion.
That the recipient class is of later introduction than the received is
evident from several considerations. In the first place, a flat blade
not only approaches most nearly in form to the stone hatchets or celts
which it was destined to supersede, but it also requires much less
skill in casting than the blade provided with a socket. For casting
the flat celts there was, indeed, no need of a mould formed of two
pieces; a simple recess of the proper form cut in a stone, or formed
in loam, being sufficient to give the shape to a flat blade of metal,
which could be afterwards wrought into the finished form by hammering.
And secondly, as will subsequently be seen, a gradual development can
be traced from the flat celt, through those with flanges and wings, to
the palstave form, with the wings hammered over so as to constitute
two semicircular sockets, one on each side of the blade; while on
certain of the socketed celts flanges precisely similar to those of
the palstaves have been cast by way of ornament on the sides, and
what was thus originally a necessity in construction has survived as
a superfluous decoration. There is at least one instance known of the
intermediate form between a palstave with pocket-like recesses on
each side of a central plate and a celt with a single socket. In the
museum at Trent[391] there is an instrument in which the socket is
divided throughout its entire length into two compartments with a plate
between, and, as Professor Strobel says, resembling a palstave with
the wings on each side united so as to form a socket on each side. The
evolution of the one type from the other is thus doubly apparent, and
it is not a little remarkable that though palstaves with the wings bent
over are, as has already been stated, of rare occurrence in the British
Islands, yet socketed celts, having on their faces the curved wings
in a more or less rudimentary condition, are by no means unfrequently
found. The inference which may be drawn from this circumstance is that
the discovery of the method of casting socketed celts was not made
in Britain but in some other country, where the palstaves with the
converging wings were abundant and in general use, and that the first
socketed celts employed in this country, or those which served as
patterns for the native bronze-founders, were imported from abroad.
Although socketed celts, with distinct curved wings upon their faces,
are probably the earliest of their class, yet it is impossible to say
to how late a period the curved lines, which eventually became the
representatives of the wings, may not have come down. This form of
ornamentation was certainly in use at the same time as other forms,
as we know from the hoards in which socketed celts of different
patterns have been found together. As has already been recorded, the
socketed form has also been frequently found associated with palstaves,
especially with those of the looped variety.
The form of the tapering socket varies considerably, the section being
in some instances round or oval, and in other cases presenting every
variety of form between these and the square or rectangular. There is
usually some form of moulding or beading round the mouth of the celt,
below which the body before expanding to form the edge is usually
round, oval, square, rectangular, or more or less regularly hexagonal
or octagonal. The decorations generally consist of lines, pellets, and
circles, cast in relief upon the faces, and much more rarely on the
sides. Not unfrequently there is no attempt at decoration beyond the
moulding at the top. The socketed celts are, almost without exception,
devoid of ornaments produced by punches or hammer marks, such as are so
common on the solid celts and palstaves. This may be due to their being
more liable to injury from blows owing to the thinness of the metal
and to their being hollow. They are nearly always provided with a loop
at one side, though some few have been cast without loops. These are
usually of small size, and were probably used as chisels rather than as
hatchets. A very few have a loop on each side.
The types are so various that it is hard to make any proper
classification of them. I shall, therefore, take them to a certain
extent at hazard, keeping those, however, together which most nearly
approximate to each other. I begin with a specimen showing in a very
complete manner the raised wings already mentioned.
[Illustration: Fig. 110.—High Roding. ½.]
[Illustration: Fig. 111.—Dorchester, Oxon. ½.]
This instrument formed part of a hoard of celts and fragments of
metal found at High Roding, Essex, and now in the British Museum, and
is represented in Fig. 110. With it was one with two raised pellets
beneath the moulding round the mouth, and one with three longitudinal
ribs. The others were plain.
Another (4 inches), with a treble moulding at the top, from
Wateringbury, Kent, was in the Douce and Meyrick Collections, and is
now also in the British Museum.
I have a German celt of this type, but without the pellets, found in
Thuringia. Others are engraved by Lindenschmit,[392] Montelius,[393]
and Chantre.[394] I have a good example from Lutz (Eure et Loir).
On many French celts the wings are shown by depressed lines or grooves
on the faces. I have specimens from a hoard found at Dreuil, near
Amiens, and from Lusancy, near Rheims. Others with the curved lines
more or less distinct have been found in various parts of France.
There is an example from Maulin in the Museum at Namur, and a Dutch
example is in the Museum at Assen.
In Fig. 111 is shown a larger celt in my own collection, found in
the neighbourhood of Dorchester, Oxon. The wing ornament no longer
consists of a solid plate, but the outlines of the wings of the
palstave are shown by two bold projecting beads which extend over
the sides of the celt as well as the faces. The socket is circular
at the mouth, but the neck of the instrument below the moulding
is subquadrate in section. In the socket are two small projecting
longitudinal ribs, probably intended to aid in steadying the haft.
Such projections are not very uncommon, and are sometimes more than
two in number.
A celt ornamented in a similar manner, but with two raised bands
near the mouth, was found with several other socketed celts and some
palstaves with the wings bent over at Cumberlow,[395] near Baldock,
Herts. Some of these are in the British Museum.
Another with two small pellets between the curved lines was found in a
hoard at Beddington,[396] Surrey.
[Illustration: Fig. 112.—Wilts. ½.]
[Illustration: Fig. 113.—Harty. ½.]
Fig. 112 represents another celt of much the same character, but with
a bolder moulding at top, and a slight projecting bead all round the
instrument just below the two curved lines representing the palstave
wings, which on these celts have just the appearance of heraldic
“flanches.” On the face not shown there is a triangular projection
at the top like a “pile in chief” between the flanches. Inside the
socket there are two longitudinal projections as in the last. The
original of this figure, which has been broken and repaired with the
edge of another celt, is in the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury, and was
probably found in Wilts.
In the British Museum is an example of this type (4 inches) which has
on one face only a pellet in the upper part of the compartment between
the two “flanches.” It was found at Hounslow.
Another (4 inches) from the Heathery Burn Cave, Durham, is now in the
collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S. I have one with the pattern less
distinct from a hoard found in the Barking Marshes, Essex, in 1862. A
celt much of the same pattern, but without the transverse line below
the flanches, was found on Plumpton Plain,[397] near Lowes.
The same type occurs in France. I have examples from a hoard found
at Dreuil, near Amiens. The same ornament is often seen on Hungarian
celts, though usually without the lower band.
In Fig. 113 is shown one of the celts from the hoard discovered in
the Isle of Harty,[398] Kent, to which I shall have to make frequent
reference. Besides eight more or less perfect unornamented socketed
celts, various hammers, tools, and moulds, five celts of this type
were found. Although so closely resembling each other that they were
probably cast in the same mould, in fact in that which was found at
the same time, there is a considerable difference observable among
them, especially in the upper part above the loop. In the one shown in
the figure there are three distinct beaded mouldings above the loop,
and above these again is a plain, somewhat expanding tube. In one
of the others, however, there are only the two lowest of the beaded
mouldings, and the upper half-inch of the celt first mentioned is
absolutely wanting. The three others show very little of the plain
part above the upper moulding. As will subsequently be explained,
the variation in length appears to be connected with the method of
casting, and to have arisen from a greater part of the mould having
been “stopped off” in one case than another.
[Illustration: Fig. 114.—Harty. ½.]
[Illustration: Fig. 115.—Dorchester, Oxon.]
It will be noticed that the “flanches” on these celts are placed below
the loop and not close under the cap-moulding. The beads which form
them are continued across the sides. Running part of the way down
inside the socket are two longitudinal ridges which are in the same
line as the runners by which the metal found its way into the mould.
The vertical ridge above the topmost moulding shows where there is a
channel in the mould for the metal to pass by. If the celts had been
skilfully cast so that their top was level with the upper moulding, no
traces of this would have been visible.
In Fig. 114 is shown one of the plain socketed celts from the same
hoard. The mould in which it was cast was found at the same time, as
well as the half of a mould for one of smaller size. The five other
plain celts from the same hoard were all rather less than the one
which is figured, and appear to have been cast in three different
moulds, as the beading round the top varies in character, and in some
is double and not single. The two projections within the socket are in
these but short, though strongly marked.
In the British Museum is a celt of this kind, 4 inches long, found at
Newton, Cambridgeshire, which on its left face, as seen with the loop
towards the spectator, has a small projecting boss 1½ inch below the
top.
Five socketed celts of this plain character (2½ inches to 3¾ inches)
were found together at Lodge Hill, Waddesdon, Bucks, in 1855, and were
lithographed on a private plate by Mr. Edward Stone.
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.
Socketed celts partaking of the character of the three types last
described, and from 2 inches to 4 inches in length, are of common
occurrence in England. Some with both the single and double mouldings
were found in company with others having vertical beads on the face
like Fig. 124, and a part of a bronze blade at West Halton,[400]
Lincolnshire. I have seen others both with the single and double
moulding which were found with some of the ribbed and octagonal
varieties, a socketed knife, parts of a sword and of a gouge, and
lumps of metal, at Martlesham, Suffolk. These are in the possession of
Captain Brooke, of Ufford Hall, near Woodbridge. Another, apparently
with the double moulding, was found with others (some of a different
type), seven spear-heads, and portions of a sword, near Bilton,[401]
Yorkshire. These are now in the Bateman Collection. Another with the
single moulding was found near Windsor.[402] Others with the double
moulding, to the number of forty, were found with twenty swords and
sixteen spear-heads of different patterns, about the year 1726,
near Alnwick Castle,[403] Northumberland. Some also occurred in the
deposit of nearly a hundred celts which was found with a quantity
of cinders and lumps of rough metal on Earsley Common,[404] about
12 miles N.W. of York, in the year 1735. A socketed celt with the
single moulding was found with spear-heads, part of a dagger, and
some small whetstones, near Little Wenlock,[405] Shropshire. Four
socketed celts of this class with the double moulding were found,
with a socketed gouge and about 30 pounds weight of copper in lumps,
at Sittingbourne,[406] Kent, in 1828. They are, I believe, now in the
Dover Museum. One (4¾ inches), obtained at Honiton,[407] Devonshire,
has a treble moulding at the top, that in the middle being larger than
the other two. The socket is square.
A plain socketed celt, 2¼ inches long, was found in digging gravel
near Cæsar’s Camp,[408] Coombe Wood, Surrey. It is now in the Museum
of the Society of Antiquaries. In the collection of Messrs. Mortimer,
at Fimber, is a celt with the double moulding (3 inches long), found
at Frodingham, near Driffield, which has four small ribs, one in the
centre of each side running down the socket. Another, with the double
moulding (4 inches), and with a nearly round mouth to the socket, was
found at Tun Hill, near Devizes, and is in the Blackmore Museum,
where is also one found near Bath (3¾ inches) with the mouldings more
uniform in size.
A socketed celt without any moulding at the top, which is hollowed and
slopes away from the side on which is the loop, is said to have been
found in a tumulus near the King Barrow on Stowborough Heath,[409]
near Wareham, Dorset.
Socketed celts of this character occur throughout the whole of
France, but are most abundant in the northern parts. They are of rare
occurrence in Germany.
The same form is found among the Lake habitations of Switzerland. Dr.
Gross has specimens from Auvernier and Mœrigen,[410] which closely
resemble English examples.
[Illustration: Fig. 118.—Canterbury. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 119.—Usk. ½]
A celt of the same general character as Fig. 114, but of peculiar
form, narrowing to a central waist, is shown in Fig. 118. The original
was found at Canterbury, and was kindly presented to me by Mr. John
Brent, F.S.A.
Broad socketed celts nearly circular or but slightly oval at the
neck, and closely resembling the common Irish type (Fig. 167) in
form and character, are occasionally found in England. That shown in
Fig. 119 is stated to have been discovered at the Castle Hill, Usk,
Monmouthshire.
I have seen another (3¼ inches) in the collection of Mr. R. Fitch,
F.S.A., which was found at Hanworth, near Holt, Norfolk.
Among those found at Guilsfield,[411] Montgomeryshire, was one of
somewhat the same character, but having a double moulding at the
top. Another,[412] with a nearly square socket, has above a double
moulding, a cable moulding round the mouth, like that on Fig. 172.
In the same hoard were looped palstaves, gouges, spears, swords,
scabbards, &c.
Another, that, to judge from a bad engraving, had no moulding at the
top, which was oval, is said to have been found under a supposed
Druid’s altar near Keven Hirr Vynidd,[413] on the borders of
Brecknockshire.
[Illustration: Fig. 120.—Alfriston. ½]
Another variety, with a nearly square socket and long narrow blade
is shown in Fig. 120, the original of which was found at Alfriston,
Sussex. The loop is imperfect, owing to defective casting. The socket
is very deep, and extends to within an inch of the edge. Instruments
of this type are principally, if not solely, found in our southern
counties. The type is indeed Gaulish rather than British, and is very
abundant in the north-western part of France. It appears probable that
not only was the type originally introduced into this country from
France, but that there was a regular export of such celts to Britain.
For I have in my collection a celt of this type, 4½ inches long, that
was found under the pebble beach at Portland, and in which the core
over which it was cast still fills the socket, the clay having by the
heat of the metal been converted into a brick-like terracotta. It
could, therefore, never have been in use, as no haft could have been
inserted. It is waterworn and corroded by the action of the sea, the
loop having been almost eaten and worn away, so that it is impossible
to say whether the surface and edge were left as they came from the
mould. In the large hoard, however, of bronze celts of this type which
was found at Moussaye, near Plénée-Jugon, in the Côtes du Nord, the
bulk were left in this condition, and with the burnt clay cores still
in the sockets.
I have another celt of the same size and form as that from the Portland
beach, which was found near Wareham, Dorset, and appears to have been
in use.
Two found with many others in the New Forest[414] (3 and 5 inches
long) are engraved in the _Archæologia_. The larger has a rib 3 inches
long running down the face and terminating in an annulet.
Others of the same type have been found at Hollingbury Hill,[415]
and near the church at Brighton,[416] Sussex.
Among the celts found at Karn Brê, Cornwall, in 1744, were some of this
character, but expanding more at the cutting edge. Others were more
like Fig. 124, though longer in proportion. With them are said to have
been found several Roman coins, some as late as the time of Constantius
Chlorus. Others (5 inches long) seem to have formed part of the hoard
found at Mawgan,[417] Cornwall, in which there was also a fine rapier.
Another, from Bath,[418] is in the Duke of Northumberland’s museum at
Alnwick. Another has been cited from Cornwall.[419]
Celts of this form are of rare occurrence in the North of England,
but one, said to have been disinterred with Roman remains at
Chester-le-Street,[420] Durham, is in the Museum of the Society of
Antiquaries of Newcastle-on-Tyne.
[Illustration: Fig. 121. Cambridge Fens. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 122. High Roding. ½]
Celts like Fig. 120 are of very frequent occurrence in Northern France;
large hoards, consisting almost entirely of this type, have been found.
A deposit of sixty was discovered near Lamballe[421] (Côtes du Nord),
and one of more than two hundred at Moussaye, near Plénée-Jugon, in
the same department. Most of the celts in both these hoards had never
been used, and in a large number the core of burnt clay was still in
the socket. A hoard of about fifty is said to have been found near
Bevay,[422] Belgium.
Plain socketed celts nearly square at the mouth have occasionally been
found in Germany. One from Pomerania[423] is much like Fig. 120 in
outline.
The form of narrow celt, which I regard as of Gaulish derivation, is
not nearly so elegant as that of a more purely English type of which an
example is shown in Fig. 121. The original was found in the Cambridge
Fens, and is in my own collection. Within the socket on the centre of
each side is a raised narrow rib running down 2 inches from the mouth,
or to within ¾ inch of the bottom of the socket.
The type is rare; but a specimen (5 inches) of nearly the same form
as the figure was found, with palstaves, sickles, &c., near Taunton,
Somerset.[424] There is also a resemblance to the Barrington celt, Fig.
148.
I have already mentioned a celt with a moulded top, which, on one of
its faces, is ornamented with a small projecting boss. In Fig. 122 is
shown an example with two pellets beneath the upper moulding. It was
found with others at High Roding, Essex, and is now in the British
Museum. Another with three such knobs on each face, placed near the
top of the instrument, is shown in Fig. 123. The original is in the
British Museum, and was found at Chrishall,[425] Essex, where also
several plain celts with single or double mouldings at the top, some
spear-heads, and a portion of a socketed knife were dug up.
A large brass coin of Hadrian, much defaced, is said to have been found
at the same time. As in other instances, the evidence on this point is
unsatisfactory, and if it could be sifted, would probably carry the
case no farther than to prove that the Roman coins and the bronze celts
were found near the same spot, and possibly by the same man, on the
same day. In illustration of this collection of objects of different
dates, I may mention that I lately purchased a fifteenth-century
_jeton_ as having been found with Merovingian gold ornaments.
[Illustration: Fig. 123.—Chrishall. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 124.—Reach Fen. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 125.—Barrington. ½]
Some of the Breton celts, in form like Fig. 120, have two or three
knobs on a level with the loop.
Another and common kind of ornament on the faces of socketed celts
consists of vertical lines, or ribs, extending from the moulding round
the mouth some distance down the faces of the blade. They vary in
number, but are rarely less than three. In some instances the ribs are
so slight as to be almost imperceptible, a circumstance which suggests
the probability of celts in actual use having served as the models or
patterns from which the moulds for casting others were made, as in each
successive moulding and casting any prominences such as these ribs
would be reduced or softened down. On any other supposition it is
difficult to conceive how an ornamentation so indistinct as almost to
escape observation could have originated. There are some celts which on
one face are quite smooth and plain, while on the other some traces of
the ribs may just be detected. The same is the case with some of the
celts which have the slightest possible traces of the “flanches,” such
as seen on Fig. 111. The smearing of metal moulds with clay, to prevent
the adhesion of the castings, would tend to obliterate such ornaments.
A celt with the vertical ribs from the hoard of Reach Fen, Cambridge,
is shown in Fig. 124. There are slight projecting beads running down
the angles. The three ribs die into the face of the blade. Another of
nearly the same type, but with coarse ribs somewhat curved, is shown
in Fig. 125. It has not the beads at the angles. This specimen was
found in company with a celt like Fig. 116, and with a gouge like Fig.
204, at Barrington, Cambridge, and is in my own collection.
Celts of wider proportions, and having the three ribs farther apart,
have been frequently found in the Northern English counties. I have
one (3¼ inches) from Middleton, on the Yorkshire Wolds, which was
given me by Mr. H. S. Harland; and Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., has
several from Yorkshire. The celt which was found near Tadcaster,[426]
in that county, and which has been so often cited, from the fact of
its having a large bronze ring passing through the loop, on which
is a jet bead, is also of this type. There can be little doubt that
the ring and bead, which not improbably were found at the same time
as the celt, were attached to it subsequently by the finder, in the
manner in which they may now be seen in the British Museum. A celt
with three ribs, from the hoard found at Westow,[427] in the North
Riding, has been figured, as has been one from Cuerdale,[428] near
Preston, Lancashire, and one (4½ inches) from Rockbourn Down,[429]
Wilts, now in the British Museum. One (3¾ inches long) was found near
Hull,[430] in Yorkshire; and five others at Winmarley,[431] near
Garstang, Lancashire, together with two spears, one of them having
crescent-shaped openings in the blade (Fig. 419).
Another was found, with other bronze objects, at Stanhope,[432] Durham.
The celts found with spear-heads and discs near Newark, and now in
Canon Greenwell’s collection, are of this type, but of different
sizes. That found at Cann,[433] near Shaftesbury, with, it is said, a
human skeleton and two ancient British silver coins, had three ribs on
its face.
Several others were found in the hoard at West Halton,[434]
Lincolnshire, already mentioned. Others were discovered in company
with a looped palstave, some spear-heads, ferrules, fragments of
swords, and a tanged knife, near Nottingham,[435] in 1860. Seven or
eight such celts, and the half of a bronze mould in which to cast
them, were found with a socketed knife, spear-heads, and numerous
other objects, in the Heathery Burn Cave,[436] near Stanhope, Durham,
of which further mention will subsequently be made. Many have also
been found in Yorkshire and Northumberland.
The type is not confined to the Northern Counties, for specimens
occurred in the great find at Carlton Rode,[437] near Attleborough,
Norfolk. I have seen another, 4 inches long, which was found with
many other socketed celts and other articles at Martlesham, Suffolk,
in the hoard already mentioned (p. 113). I have one (3⅝ inches)
from Llandysilio, Denbighshire. Another, with traces of the three
ribs, was found at Pulborough,[438] Sussex. This specimen is in
outline more like Fig. 130. A socketed celt of this kind (5 inches
long), with three parallel ribs on the flat surface, was found near
Launceston,[439] Cornwall. Some long celts of the same kind were found
at Karn Brê, in the same county, as already mentioned.
[Illustration: Fig. 126.—Mynydd-y-Glas. ½]
In some celts with the three ribs on their faces, found in Wales, the
moulding at the top is large and heavy, and forms a sort of cornice
round the celt, the upper surface of which is flat. That engraved as
Fig. 126 was found at Mynydd-y-Glas, near Hensol, Glamorganshire, and
is now in the British Museum. In the same collection is another of
much the same character, but of ruder fabric, 4¾ inches long, with a
square socket, found in 1849 with others similar, in making the South
Wales Railway, in Great Wood,[440] St. Fagan’s, Glamorganshire. The
loop is badly cast, being filled up with metal.
Canon Greenwell has a celt of this type (4 inches), found at
Llandysilio, Denbighshire, with two others having three somewhat
converging ribs (3¾ inches and 3¼ inches), a socketed knife, and part
of a spear-head.
Two others (5⅛ inches and 4⅜ inches) were found with part of a looped
palstave[441] and a waste piece from a casting, and lumps of metal, on
Kenidjack Cliff, Cornwall. Another (4 inches) from Cornwall is in the
British Museum. One from Sedgemoor, Somersetshire, is in the Taunton
Museum.
The three-ribbed type occurs occasionally in France. Examples are in
the Museums of Amiens, Toulouse, Clermont Ferrand, Poitiers, and other
towns. Three vertical ribs are of common occurrence on celts from
Hungary and Styria.
In some rare examples the three ribs converge as they go down
the blade. One such is shown in Fig. 127. The original is in the
possession of Sir A. A. Hood, Bart., and was found with twenty-seven
other socketed celts, some of oval and some of square section, two
palstaves, two gouges, two daggers, twelve spear-heads, and numerous
fragments of celts and leaf-shaped swords, as well as rough metal and
the refuse jets from castings. The whole lay together about two feet
below the surface at Wick Park,[442] Stogursey, Somerset.
In other rare instances there is a transverse bead running across
the blade below the three vertical ribs. The celt shown in Fig. 128
was found near Guildford, Surrey, and is in the collection of Mr. R.
Fitch, F.S.A.
[Illustration: Fig. 127.—Stogursey. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 128.—Guildford. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 129.—Frettenham. ½]
On other celts the vertical ribs are more or less than three in
number. A specimen with four ribs, also in Mr. Fitch’s collection, is
engraved as Fig. 129. It was found at Frettenham, Norfolk.
Others with four ribs occurred in the find at West Halton,[443]
Lincolnshire, already mentioned. One was also found at the Castle
Hill,[444] Worcester, and another at Broust in Andreas,[445] Isle
of Man. Examples with three and four ribs from Kirk-patrick and
Kirk-bride, Isle of Man, are in the collection of Mr. J. R. Wallace of
Distington, Whitehaven.
One (4⅛ inches) with five ribs was found in the hoard at Martlesham,
Suffolk, also already mentioned.
One (3¾ inches) with six small vertical ribs on the faces, found at
Downton, near Salisbury, is in the Blackmore Museum. In a celt with
square socket from the Carlton Rode find there are traces of six ribs
on one of the faces only. This specimen, in my own collection, is
in good condition, and the probability is in favour of this almost
complete obliteration of the pattern being due to a succession of
moulds having been formed, each rather more indistinct than the one
before it, in which the model that served for the mould was cast.
Celts closely resembling Fig. 129 are in the museums at Nantes and
Narbonne.[446]
As an instance of a celt having only two of these vertical ribs upon
it, I may mention a large one in my own collection (4¾ inches) found
in the Isle of Portland. The mouth of the socket is oval, but the
external faces are flat, the sides being rounded. The ribs run about
2½ inches down the faces, but the metal is too much oxidised to see
whether they end in pellets or no.
[Illustration: Fig. 130.—Ely. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 131.—Caston. ½]
It is not unfrequently the case that the ribs thus terminate in
roundels or pellets. That from the Fens, near Ely, which has been
kindly lent me by Mr. Marshall Fisher, and is shown in Fig. 130, is of
this kind, though the pellets are so indistinct as to have escaped the
eye of the engraver. This celt is remarkable for the unusually broad
and heavy moulding at the top. The notches in the edge, which the
engraver has reproduced, are of modern origin.
The celt from Caston, Norfolk, shown in Fig. 131, has also the three
ribs ending in pellets, but there are short diagonal lines branching
in each direction from the central rib near the top.
I have another of the same kind, but longer, and without the diagonal
lines, from Thetford, Suffolk.
A celt of this type is in the Stockholm Museum.
[Illustration: Fig. 132.—Carlton Rode. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 133.—Fornham. ½]
In Figs. 132 and 133 are shown two celts of this class, one with five
short ribs ending in pellets, from the Carlton Rode find, and the
other with five longer ribs ending in larger roundels, from Fornham,
near Bury St. Edmunds. The latter was bequeathed to me by my valued
friend, the late Mr. J. W. Flower, F.G.S.
It will be observed that in the Fornham celt the first and last ribs
form beadings at the angles of the square shaft. In the other none of
the beads come to the edge of the face. I have a celt like Fig. 133,
but shorter (4 inches), from the hoard found in Reach Fen, already
mentioned. Another (4⅛ inches), in all respects like Fig. 133, except
that the outer ribs are not at the angles, was found at Brough,[447]
near Castleton, Derbyshire, and is in the Bateman Collection, where
is also another (4¼ inches) from the Peak Forest, Derbyshire. Canon
Greenwell, F.R.S., has one (4½ inches) from Broughton, near Malton,
on one face of which there are only four ribs, and in the place where
the central rib would terminate, a ring ornament. The other face of
the celt has only four ribs at regular intervals, ending in pellets.
Another, similar (5 inches), was found in the Thames, near Erith.[448]
I have seen another rather more hexagonal in section, which was found
in the Cambridge Fens.
Celts with vertical ribs ending in pellets are occasionally found in
France. One from Lutz (Eure et Loir) is in the museum at Chateaudun;
others are in that of Toulouse. Another with four ribs, found at
Cascastel, is in the museum at Narbonne. Canon Greenwell has one from
l’Orient, Brittany.
I have a small one like Fig. 120 in form, but barely 3 inches long,
found near Saumur (Maine et Loire). It has five ribs, arranged as on
Fig. 133.
An example with a far larger array of vertical ribs than usual is
shown in Fig. 134. The ribs are arranged in groups of three, and each
terminates in a small pellet. The outer lines are so close to the
angles of the celt as almost to merge in them. This instrument was
found at Fen Ditton, Cambridge, and is now in the collection of Canon
Greenwell, F.R.S.
[Illustration: Fig. 134.—Fen Ditton. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 135.—Bottisham. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 136.—Winwick. ½]
On some celts there is, besides the row of roundels or pellets at the
end of the ribs, a second row a little higher up, as is shown in Fig.
135, which represents a specimen in the British Museum, from Bottisham
Lode, Cambridge. The sides of this celt are not flat, but somewhat
ridged, so that in its upper part it presents an irregular hexagon in
section. There are ribs running down the angles, with indications of
terminal pellets.
In the Warrington Museum is a curious variety of the celt with the
three vertical ribs ending in pellets, which by the kindness of
the trustees of the museum I have engraved as Fig. 136. It will
be seen that in addition to the vertical ribs there is a double
series of chevrons over the upper part of the blade. The metal is
somewhat oxidised, and the pattern is made rather more distinct in
the engraving than it is in the original. This celt has already
been figured on a smaller scale, and was found at Winwick,[449] near
Warrington, Lancashire.
An ornamentation of nearly the same character, but without pellets at
the end of the ribs, occurs on a socketed celt from Kiew,[450] Russia.
[Illustration: Fig. 137.—Kingston. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 138.—Cayton Carr. ½]
The vertical ribs or lines occasionally end in ring ornaments or
circles with a central pellet, like the astronomical symbol for the sun
☉. Next to the cross this ornament is, perhaps, the simplest and most
easily made, for a notched flint could be used as a pair of compasses
to produce a circle with a well-marked centre on almost any material,
however hard. We find these ring ornaments in relief on many of the
coins of the Ancient Britons, and in intaglio on numerous articles
formed of bone and metal, which belong to the Roman and Saxon periods.
On Italian palstaves they are the commonest ornaments. But though so
frequent on metallic antiquities of the latter part of the Bronze Age,
it is remarkable that the ornament is of very rare occurrence on any of
the pottery which is known to belong to that period.
A good example from Kingston, Surrey, of a celt with ring ornaments
at the end of the ribs is in the British Museum, and is shown in Fig.
137. Canon Greenwell possesses a nearly similar celt (5 inches) from
Seamer Carr, Yorkshire, the angles of which are ribbed or beaded. A
socketed celt with the same ornamentation, but with pellets having
a central boss instead of the ring ornaments, is in the museum at
Nantes.[451] It was found in Brittany.
Some of the Brittany celts like Fig. 120 have one ring-ornament on
each face, composed of two concentric circles and a central pellet.
On a celt found at Cayton Carr, Yorkshire, and in the collection of
Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., there is a double row of ring ornaments at
the end of the three ribs. Below the principal moulding at the top of
the celt is a band of four raised beads by way of additional ornament.
It is shown in Fig. 138. A nearly similar specimen is in the Museum of
the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-on-Tyne.
In a very remarkable specimen from Lakenheath,[452] Suffolk, preserved
in the British Museum and engraved as Fig. 139, there are three lines
formed of rather oval pellets, terminating in ring ornaments, and
alternating with them two plain beaded ribs ending in small pellets.
There are traces of a cable moulding round the neck above.
[Illustration: Fig. 139.—Lakenheath. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 140.—Thames. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 141.—Kingston. ½]
In another variety, also in the British Museum, and shown in Fig.
140, the three ribs ending in ring ornaments spring from a transverse
bead, between which and the moulding round the mouth are two other
vertical beads, about midway of the spaces between the lower ribs. It
is probable that this celt was found in the Thames.
Another of remarkably analogous character was certainly found in the
Thames near Kingston,[453] and is now in the Museum of the Society of
Antiquaries. It is shown in Fig. 141. On it are only two descending
ribs, ending in ring ornaments, the pellets in the centre of which are
almost invisible; but above the transverse bead are three ascending
ribs, which alternate with those that descend. All these ribs are
double instead of single.
[Illustration: Fig. 142.—Kingston. ½]
In some rare instances there are ring ornaments both at the top
and at the bottom of the vertical lines, as is seen on one of the
faces of the curious celt shown in Fig. 142, where the usual ribs
are replaced by rows of two or three slightly raised lines. On the
other face it will be seen that the ornamentation is of a different
character, with one ring ornament at top and three below, the two
outer of which are connected with ribs diverging from two curved lines
above. The original was found, with three others less ornamented, at
Kingston,[454] Surrey, and is in the British Museum.
A nearly similar celt from Scotland is described at page 137.
In another very rare specimen the vertical lines are replaced by two
double chevrons of pellets, the upper one reversed. There is still
a ring ornament at the base, and lines of pellets running down the
margins of the blade. This specimen, shown in Fig. 143, was found in
the Thames,[455] and is in the collection of Mr. T. Layton, F.S.A.
In another equally rare form there is a treble ring ornament at the
bottom of a single central beaded rib, and at the top two “flanches,”
represented by double lines, as shown in Fig. 144. The neck of this
celt is in section a flattened hexagon. It was found at Givendale,
near Pocklington, Yorkshire, E. R., and is now in the British Museum.
In the celt shown in Fig. 145 the central rib terminates in a pellet,
and there are three curved ribs on either side. In this case the
section of the neck of the blade is nearly circular. The specimen is
in the British Museum, and was probably found near Cambridge, as it
formed part of the late Mr. Lichfield’s collection. A celt ornamented
in the same manner, but without the central rib, was found near
Mildenhall, Suffolk, and is in the collection of Mr. H. Prigg.
[Illustration: Fig. 143.—Thames.]
[Illustration: Fig. 144.—Givendale. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 145.—Cambridge. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 146.—Blandford. ½]
Another (4 inches), also in the British Museum, has two ribs on each
margin, parallel to the sides, as seen in Fig. 146. It was found near
Blandford, Dorsetshire, in company with unfinished gouges, and is
remarkable on account of its having been cast so thin that it seems
incapable of standing any hard work.
It seems probable that the instruments from Blandford, now in the
British Museum, formed part of a large hoard, for in the collection
of the late Mr. Medhurst, of Weymouth, were a dozen or more of much
the same outline and character. The section at the neck is a flattened
hexagon. Some have a straight rib on each of the sloping sides, as
well as two curved lines on the flat face. Others have three lines,
one straight and two curved, on the flat face, each ending in a
pellet; and others again have merely a central line on the flat face.
A celt of nearly the same outline as Fig. 146 (4¼ inches), found at
Gembling, Yorkshire, E. R., has slight flutings down the angles for
about two-thirds of its length. It is in the collection of Canon
Greenwell, F.R.S.
Another of these instruments, ornamented in the same manner, but
having a curved edge, is shown in Fig. 147, from an original in
the British Museum. It formed part of the Cooke Collection from
Parsonstown, King’s County, but I doubt its being really Irish.
A rare form of socketed celt is shown in Fig. 148. The original was
found in the Fens, near Barrington, Cambridge, and is in my own
collection. It has at the top of the blade, below the moulding, a
shield-shaped ornament, of much the same character as that on the
palstaves, like Fig. 60, but in this case formed by indented lines
cast in the metal.
[Illustration: Fig. 147. Ireland? ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 148. Barrington. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 149. Hounslow. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 150. Wallingford. ½]
Another, of unusually narrow form, found at Thames Ditton,[456] is in
the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries.
A broader celt, ornamented with a reversed chevron, formed of three
raised ribs, and with short single ribs on each side, is shown in Fig.
149. It was found at Hounslow, with a flat celt, a palstave, and a
socketed celt like Fig. 112, and is now in the British Museum.
A more common form has a circular socket and moulded top, below which
the neck of the blade is an almost regular octagon. That shown in
Fig. 150 is in my own collection, and was found at Wallingford,[457]
Berks, in company with a socketed gouge, a tanged chisel (Fig. 193), a
socketed knife, and a two-edged cutting tool or razor (Fig. 269).
One nearly similar, supposed to have been found in Yorkshire,
together with the mould in which it was cast, is engraved in the
_Archæologia_.[458] The mould was regarded as a case in which the
instrument was kept. Another of the same kind seems to have been
found, with other celts and fragments of swords and spears, at
Bilton,[459] Yorkshire. I have seen another, 4 inches long, from
the hoard found at Martlesham, Suffolk, already mentioned. A broken
specimen, found with a socketed gouge and an article like Fig. 493, at
Roseberry Topping,[460] in Cleveland, Yorkshire, appears to be of this
kind. Another (5 inches long), found at Minster, Kent, is in the Mayer
Collection at Liverpool. I have also one from the Cambridge Fens.
[Illustration: Fig. 151.—Newham. ½]
In the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., are three socketed
celts with octagonal necks, which were found with others, both plain
and having three ribs on the face, together with a looped palstave,
at Haxey, Lincolnshire. Two of these are of the usual type, but the
third (3½ inches) is shorter and broader, resembling in outline the
common Irish form, Fig. 167. A celt apparently of the type of Fig.
150, but with a double bead round the top, was found in the Severn,
at Holt,[461] Worcestershire. In the Faussett Collection, now at
Liverpool, is a celt of this kind, with the angles engrailed or
“milled.” This was probably found in Kent.
A celt of this type, found at Orgelet, Jura, is figured by
Chantre,[462] as well as one from the Lac du Bourget.[463] They have
also been found in the Department of La Manche.[464] I have one from
the hoard found at Dreuil, near Amiens, the neck of which is decagonal.
Nearly the same form has been found in Sweden.[465]
Another example, more trumpet-mouthed, is shown in Fig. 151, from
the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S. It was found in 1868 in
draining at Newham, Northumberland. I have another of nearly the same
form (4¾ inches), from Coveney, in the Isle of Ely. Another, found at
Stanhope,[466] Durham, without loop, and with two holes near the top,
was regarded as an instrument for sharpening spear-heads.
Occasionally the neck of the blade is hexagonal instead of octagonal.
In one found at Ty-Mawr,[467] on Holyhead Mountain, Anglesea, the
hexagonal character is continued to the mouth. The socket is of an
irregularly square form. It was found with a socketed knife, a tanged
chisel, spear-heads, &c., which are now in the British Museum. This
form occurs more frequently in Ireland. A nearly similar celt has been
found in the Lake of Geneva.[468]
Another celt, with the neck irregularly octagonal, but with a series
of mouldings round the mouth of the socket, is shown in Fig. 152. The
original is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, and formed part of
the hoard found at Westow, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, already
mentioned at p. 118.
[Illustration: Fig. 152.—Westow. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 153.—Wandsworth.]
[Illustration: Fig. 154.—Whittlesea. ½]
In Fig. 153 is shown, not on my usual scale of one-half, but of
nearly the actual size, a very remarkable celt, which was found in
the bed of the Thames[469] near Wandsworth, and was presented to
the Archæological Institute. The original is, unfortunately, no
longer forthcoming. It was 4¾ inches long, and, besides its general
singularity of form, presented the peculiar feature of having the hole
of the loop in the same direction as the socket of the celt, instead
of its being as usual at right angles to the blade.
Socketed celts with a loop on the face instead of on the side are of
exceedingly rare occurrence either in Britain or elsewhere. That shown
in Fig. 154 is in the Museum at Wisbech, and was found in company
with three socketed celts, two gouges, a hammer, and a leaf-shaped
spear-head at Whittlesea. The socket shows within it four vertical
ribs at equal distances, with diagonal branches from them. These
latter may have been intended to facilitate the escape of air from the
mould. I am indebted to the managers of the Museum for the loan of the
specimen for engraving.
The type has occasionally been found in the Lake-dwellings of Savoy.
In the Museum of Chambéry[470] there are three examples from the Lac
du Bourget, and I possess another specimen from the same locality.
Another (about 4 inches), from la Balme,[471] Isère, is in the Museum
at Lyons; it is more spud-shaped than the English example. Another, of
different form, was in the Larnaud hoard,[472] Jura. One has also been
found at Auvernier,[473] in the Lake of Neuchâtel. Another (4 inches),
in the late M. Troyon’s collection, was found at Echallens, Canton
Vaud.
One with curved plates on the sides, like Fig. 155, but having the
loop on one face, was found near Avignon, and is now in the British
Museum. It has a round neck with a square socket. A smaller one, of
nearly the same form, was found in a hoard at Pont-point, near the
River Oise. Another, with curved indentations on the sides, from the
department of Jura,[474] is in the museum at Toulouse. Socketed celts
with a loop on the face have been found in Siberia.[475]
In some socketed celts the reminiscence of the “flanches” or wings
upon the palstaves, of which I have spoken in an earlier part of this
chapter, has survived in a peculiar manner, there being somewhat
hollowed oval projections upon each side of the blade, that give the
appearance of the “flanches” on the face, but at the same time produce
indentations in the external outline of the instrument.
This will be seen in Fig. 155, which was found with the palstave
(Fig. 83), the socketed celt (Fig. 157), and other objects at
Nettleham,[476] near Lincoln, as already described (page 93).
Another of the same class is said to have been found in a tumulus
on Frettenham Common,[477] Norfolk. Another, shown in Fig. 156, was
in the Crofton Croker Collection. All these are now in the British
Museum. The second celt from Nettleham (Fig. 157) shows only the
indented outline without any representation of the oval plates. The
nearest approach in form to these celts which I have met with is to be
seen in some from the South of France. These are, however, generally
without loops. I have two from the departments of Haute Loire and
Isère. One from Ribiers, in the department of the Hautes Alpes, is in
the museum at St. Omer. Another is in the museum at Metz.
A socketed celt, found at Aninger, and now in the Antiken Cabinet at
Vienna, has large oval plates on each of its sides, which nearly meet
upon the faces.
In the collection of the late Mr. Brackstone was a remarkable celt,
exhibiting a modification of this form. It is said to have been found
with a large socketed celt with three mouldings round the mouth, and a
looped palstave with three ribs below the stop ridge, near Ulleskelf,
Yorkshire. Mr. Brackstone printed a lithographic plate of the three,
from which and from an engraving in the _Archæological Journal_[478]
Fig. 158 is taken. It will be observed that this celt is elaborately
ornamented, even on the ring, either by engraving or punching. The
original is now in the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury.
[Illustration: Fig. 155.—Nettleham. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 156.—Croker Collection. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 157.—Nettleham.]
[Illustration: Fig. 158.—Ulleskelf. ½]
A celt of closely allied character, with the lower part of the blade
and the C-shaped flanches similar to that from Ulleskelf, with the
exception of the chevron ornament, is said to have been also found in
Yorkshire. A woodcut, from a drawing by M. Du Noyer, will be found in
the _Archæological Journal_.[479] The upper part is rectangular and
plain, without any moulding round the top, and there is no loop. The
original is 6 inches long. In general appearance and character this
celt approaches those of Etruscan and Italian origin; but I see no
reason why it may not have been found, as stated, in Britain, though,
so far as I know, it is unique of its kind.
The next class of socketed celts which has to be noticed consists
of those in which the loop is absent. No doubt, in some cases, this
absence arises either from defective casting, or from the loop having
been accidentally broken off, and all traces of it removed; but in many
instances it is evident that the tools were cast purposely without
a loop. It seems probable that many of them were intended for use
as chisels, and not like the looped kinds as axes or hatchets. The
similarity between the looped and the loopless varieties is so great
that I have thought it best to describe some of the instruments which
may be regarded as undoubtedly chisels in this place rather than in the
chapter devoted to chisels, in which, however, such of the socketed
kinds as are narrow at the edge, and do not expand like the common
forms of celt, will be found described.
[Illustration: Fig. 159. Reach Fen. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 160. Carlton Rode. ½]
The small tool shown in Fig. 159 may safely be regarded as a chisel.
It does not show the slightest trace of ever having been intended
to have a loop, and is indeed too light for a hatchet. It was found
with a tanged chisel, a hammer, numerous socketed celts, and other
articles, in the hoard from Reach Fen, Cambridge, already mentioned
at p. 112. I have seen another, 2⅛ inches long, with a somewhat oval
socket and no loop, which was found in Mildenhall Fen, and was in the
collection of the Rev. S. Banks, of Cottenham.
A longer celt of the same character is engraved by Dr. Plot.[480] It
was sent to him by Charles Cotton, Esq., and according to Plot “seems
to have been the head of a Roman rest used to support the lituus,
the trombe-torte, crooked trumpet, or horne pipe used in the Roman
armies.” Another of nearly the same form was found on Meon Hill,[481]
near Camden, Gloucestershire.
A celt or chisel of this character found at Düren, in North Brabant,
is in the museum at Leyden.
Another was found at Zaborowo,[482] in Posen, in a sepulchral urn.
A celt of the octagonal form of section and without a loop is shown
in Fig. 160. It formed part of the great hoard found at Carlton Rode,
near Attleborough, Norfolk, of which some particulars have already
been given. The joint marks of the moulds are still very distinct
upon the sides. This specimen is in the Norwich Museum, and was
kindly lent by the trustees for me to have it engraved. A nearly
similar Scottish celt is shown in Fig. 165. A celt from the hoard of
Cumberlow, near Baldock,[483] has been figured as having no loop, but
I believe that this has arisen from an error of the engraver, as in a
drawing which I have seen the loop is present.
One of hexagonal section and socket from a hoard found on Earsley
Common,[484] Yorkshire, in 1735, is engraved as having no loop.
Celts without loops are not uncommon in France, and are often found of
small size in Denmark.[485]
Socketed celts have rarely if ever been found with interments in
barrows in Britain. Sir R. Colt Hoare mentions “a little celt” as
having been found with a small lance, and a long pin with a handle,
all of bronze, near the head of a skeleton, in a barrow on Overton
Hill,[486] near Abury, Wilts. The body had been buried in the
contracted attitude, and had, as was thought, been enclosed within the
trunk of a tree. It appears, however, from Dr. Thurnam’s account,[487]
that this was a flat and not a socketed celt. It was a celt like Fig.
116, 3¼ inches long, which is reported to have been discovered by the
late Rev. R. Kirwan in a barrow on Broad Down, Farway, Devonshire.[488]
It is said to have lain in the midst of an abundant deposit of charcoal
which was thought to be the remains of a funeral pyre. Mr. Kirwan
informed Dr. Thurnam that there was every reason to believe that the
celt was deposited where found at the time of the original interment.
No bones, however, were actually with the celt, which lay 18 inches
from the central cist.
[Illustration: Fig. 161. Arras.]
A socketed celt with three vertical ribs, like Fig. 125, is also said
to have been found with a human skeleton, and two uninscribed ancient
British coins of silver, at Cann,[489] near Shaftesbury, in 1849. The
celt and coins are now in the collection of Mr. Durden, of Blandford.
In neither case are the circumstances of the discovery absolutely
certain.
A curious instance of the survival of the bronze celt as an ornament
or amulet is afforded by that which was found in a barrow at Arras,
or Hessleskew,[490] near Market Weighton, Yorkshire. It is only an
inch in length, and is shown full-size in Fig. 161. With it was a pin
which connected it with a small light-blue glass bead. It accompanied
the contracted body of a woman laid in a grave, and having with it a
necklace of glass beads, a large amber bead, and a brooch, bracelets,
ring, tweezers, and pin, apparently of bronze, some of them ornamented
with a kind of paste or enamel. The majority of the objects found in
the group of barrows at Arras, of which this was one, seem to belong to
what Mr. Franks has termed the “Late-Celtic” period, or approximately
to the time of the Roman invasion of this country.
[Illustration: Fig. 162. Bell’s Mills. ½]
Socketed celts not more than ¾ of an inch in length have been found
in Ireland, but with sockets large enough for serviceable handles, so
that they might possibly have been used as chisels. The diminutive
celts, about 2 inches in length, which have been found in large numbers
in Brittany, and have been regarded by French antiquaries as votive
offerings, might also by some possibility have served as tools; but
this can hardly have been the case with the Arras specimen. A golden
celt found in Cornwall is said to have been in the possession of the
Earl of Falmouth,[491] but nothing is known of it by the present
Viscount Falmouth, and the statement in the “Barrow Diggers” is
probably erroneous.
It will be well to postpone the account of the different hoards of
bronze objects, in which socketed celts have been found with other
tools and weapons, until I come to treat of such ancient deposits,
though some of them have already been mentioned.
Turning now to the socketed celts which have been discovered in
Scotland, we find them to present a considerable variety of types,
though hardly so great as that exhibited by those from England, and the
recorded instances of their finding are comparatively few in number.
In Fig. 162 is shown a socketed celt of the plain kind which was found
at Bell’s Mills,[492] on the Water of Leith, Edinburgh, in company
with those given as Figs. 164 and 165.
A celt found in a bog between Stranraer and Portpatrick,
Wigtonshire,[493] like Fig. 162, but with a bead at the level of the
top of the loop, has been figured.
The nearly square-necked celt shown in Fig. 163 is of a broader type
than usual, and was found at North Knapdale,[494] Argyleshire.
Socketed celts with oval necks, and resembling the common Irish type,
Fig. 167, in form, have occasionally been found in Scotland. One (3¼
inches), with a double moulding round the mouth, was found on Arthur’s
Seat, Edinburgh. Another (3 inches) was found with several other
socketed celts and a spear-head near the Loch of Forfar. One of these,
like Fig. 150, has a round socket and a twelve-sided neck.
A celt with a long socket and narrow blade was found, with
spear-heads, bronze armlets, and some pieces of tin, at
Achtertyre,[495] Morayshire.
Another type, which appears to be more especially Scottish, has
the ornamented moulding placed on the neck of the blade in such a
manner as to run through the loop. One of this character, dug up
near Samson’s Ribs,[496] Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh, has been figured
by Professor Daniel Wilson. A second (2⅞ inches), with three raised
bands passing through the loop, was found in the Forest of Birse,[497]
Aberdeenshire.
[Illustration: Fig. 163.—North Knapdale. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 164.—Bell’s Mills. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 165.—Bell’s Mills. ½]
A type which is also common to England is shown in Fig. 164 from
another of the Bell’s Mills specimens.
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]
In that shown as Fig. 168 there is a slight shoulder below the
trumpet-shaped part of the mouth, and the loop, instead of springing
straight out from the neck, has its ends extended into four ridges,
running over the neck of the celt like half-buried roots.
An example of a celt with the loop attached in a similar manner has
been engraved by Wilde.[504] Another (3¾ inches) is in the collection
of Mr. R. Day, F.S.A.
Fig. 169 shows a finely patinated celt, with a triple moulding below
the expanding mouth, which was found near Belfast. With it are said to
have been found a set of three gold clasps, or so-called fibulæ, with
discs at each end of a slug-like half-ring (see Wilde, Figs. 594-598).
Curiously enough, I have another set of three of these ornaments, also
found together at Craighilly, near Ballymena, Co. Antrim. Mr. Robert
Day, F.S.A., has a specimen which also is one of three found together
in the Co. Down. It seems, therefore, probable that, like our modern
shirt-studs, these ornaments were worn in sets of three.
[Illustration: Fig. 169.—Belfast. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 170.—Ireland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 171.—Ireland. ½]
A celt with four hands (3½ inches) has been engraved by Wilde.[505]
The middle member of the triple band is often much the largest.
A small example of the same type, but with a single band at the mouth,
is shown in Fig. 170. One from Co. Antrim, 1⅝ inch long and 1¼ inch
broad at the edge, is in the British Museum.
These oval-necked celts are occasionally, but rarely, decorated with
patterns cast in relief upon them. One of them, in the Museum of the
Royal Irish Academy,[506] is shown in Fig. 171.
Inside the sockets of most of the instruments of this class there
are near the bottom, where the two sides converge, one, two, or more
vertical ridges, probably destined to aid in steadying the haft.
In some instances the upper member of the moulding round the mouth is
cast in a cable pattern. Fig. 172 shows an example of this kind from
Athboy, Co. Meath, in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S. Others
are in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy.
Socketed celts, with vertical ribs on the faces, are of rare
occurrence in Ireland. A specimen from Co. Meath, in Canon Greenwell’s
collection, is engraved as Fig. 173.
One (2⅝ inches) found near Cork, and now in Mr. Robert Day’s
collection, has six vertical ribs on each face, three on either
margin. They are placed close together, and vary in length, the
outer one being about twice as long as that in the middle, which is,
however, nearly three times as long as the innermost of the three ribs.
[Illustration: Fig. 172.—Athboy. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 173.—Meath. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 174—Ireland. ½]
I have an example of the same kind (2⅜ inches), from Trillick, Co.
Tyrone,[507] in which there are five equidistant vertical ribs on
each face. The edge has been much hammered, so as to be considerably
recurved at the ends. Wilde[508] has figured a much larger specimen
(4½ inches), with three vertical ribs, which cross a ring, level with
the top of the loop, and run up to the lip moulding. Another,[509]
with rectangular socket, has the ribs arranged in the usual manner.
In a few instances the ribs end in pellets, and in one instance
Wilde[510] describes them as “ending in arrow points.”
A short but broad socketed celt in the Petrie Collection has on each
face six vertical ribs terminating at each end in annulets.
The socketed celts with an almost square socket and neck are not so
common in Ireland as those of the broad type with an oval neck, but
are yet not absolutely rare. Fig. 174 shows a good specimen of this
type. I have another (3½ inches), from the neighbourhood of Belfast,
rather wider at the edge, and with three flat vertical ribs below the
neck moulding.
Fig. 175 shows a short variety of the same type, from Newtown
Crommolin, Co. Antrim. One from Trillick, Co. Tyrone (2½ inches),
though nearly rectangular at the neck, has an oval socket.
Mr. Robert Day has an example (3¼ inches), from Dunshaughlin, Co.
Meath, with two beads round it, the lower one at the level of the
bottom of the loop. This celt is rectangular at the neck, though the
socket is oval.
Some few have grooves running down the angles. One from Londonderry
(4¼ inches) is in Mr. Day’s collection.
The long narrow celt with a rib ending in an annulet on the face,
engraved by Wilde as Fig. 283, appears to me to belong to Brittany
rather than to Ireland.
[Illustration: Fig. 175. Newtown Crommolin. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 176. North of Ireland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 177. Ireland. ½]
An elegant type of socketed celt of not uncommon occurrence in
Ireland is shown in Fig. 176. The neck is octagonal below the rounded
trumpet mouth, which is ornamented with a series of small parallel
beads, between which a number of minute conical depressions have been
punched, making the beads appear to be corded. Around the loop is
an oval of similar punch marks. A nearly similar specimen has been
engraved by Wilde (Catal., Fig. 276), who also gives one of the same
general type, but with two plain broad beads, alternating with three
narrow ones, round the mouth (Catal., Fig. 277). It has a hexagonal
neck. A celt (4¼ inches) from Ballina, Co. Mayo, in the collection of
Mr. Robert Day, F.S.A., has an octagonal neck, and five grooved lines
round its circular mouth.
Canon Greenwell has one of the type of Fig. 176 (3⅞ inches), with
hexagonal neck and five equal beads round the mouth, from Carlea,
Co. Longford, and another (3¾ inches), with ten small beads round a
somewhat oval mouth, from Arboe, Co. Tyrone. The neck of this latter
is nearly rectangular. I have a celt of this type from Balbriggan, Co.
Dublin (3½ inches), with a hexagonal neck and a plain mouth. The loop
has root-like excrescences from it, as already described.
[Illustration: Fig. 178.—Ireland. ½]
There is one more Irish type of looped socketed celts which it will
be well to figure, and to which Wilde has given the name of the
axe-shaped socketed celt. As will be seen, the blade is expanded
considerably below the socketed part, and assumes a form not uncommon
among iron or steel axes. I have copied Fig. 177 from Wilde’s cut, No.
281, on an enlarged scale.
A socketed celt expanding into a broad axe-like edge is in the Pesth
Museum.
An analogous but narrower form is found in France. I have seen the
drawing of one found at Pont-point, Oise (?).
Socketed celts without loops have not unfrequently been found in
Ireland. One of this type has been figured by Wilde,[511] whose cut
is, by the kindness of the Council of the Royal Irish Academy, here
reproduced as Fig. 178. There are two others in the same collection.
Another of the same length (2-1/16 inches), but wider at the edge, was
found in the Shannon,[512] at Keelogue Ford. A longer and narrower
instrument (3¾ inches) of the same kind has also been engraved by
Wilde.[513] Another has been engraved by Vallancey.[514] Others (2 and
2⅛ inches) from Lisburn and Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, are in the British
Museum. The former has a small bead on a level with the base of the
socket. The latter is oval at the neck, but oblong at the mouth.
A bronze instrument of this form, but wider at the edge, was in common
use among the ancient Egyptians, and has been regarded as a hoe.
[Illustration: Fig. 179.—Kertch. ½]
A socketed celt without loop, but with two projections on one side,
from the Sanda Valley,[515] Yunan, China, has been figured by Dr.
Anderson. The edge is very oblique. An example brought from Yunan
by the same expedition is in the Christy Collection. One from
Cambodia,[516] without loop, but in form like Fig. 119, has been
figured by Dr. Noulet.
A very remarkable socketed celt without loop from Java is in the
Cabinet of Coins at Stuttgart. It expands widely at the edge and has
three facets on one side of the neck, while the other is curved, so
that it was probably mounted as an adze. The surface of the socket is
not flat, but there is a V-shaped depression across it.
Socketed celts with two loops have not as yet been recorded as found
within the United Kingdom, though a stone mould for celts of this
form was found at Bulford Water, Salisbury. In Eastern Europe the
form is more common. The specimen shown as Fig. 179 was found in the
neighbourhood of Kertch,[517] and is now in the British Museum. I have
seen others ornamented on the faces, brought from Asiatic Siberia by
Mr. H. Seebohm. Others from Siberia[518] have been figured. One of
these is without loops, and has chevron ornaments in relief below a
double moulding.
A socketed celt with two loops, and apparently hexagonal at the neck,
found at Ell, near Benfeld, Alsace, is figured by Schneider.[519]
I have elsewhere described a two-looped socketed celt from
Portugal[520] (6½ inches). It is like Fig. 120, but has a second loop.
Another, of gigantic dimensions, 9½ inches long and 3½ inches wide,
was found in Estremadura, Portugal.[521]
A two-looped celt with square socket and the loops at the junction
with the flattened blade was in the great hoard found at Bologna. Only
one of the loops, however, is perforated.
In the museum at Stockholm are also some socketed celts with two loops.
In looking over these pages, it will have been observed, that though
socketed celts occur in numbers throughout the British Isles, yet
that those found in England for the most part differ in form from
those found in Ireland, and that some few types appear to be peculiar
to Scotland. Traces of continental influence are, as might have been
expected, most evident in the forms found in the southern counties of
England, and are barely, if at all, perceptible in those from Ireland
and Scotland. Some few of the socketed celts from both England and
Scotland are of the type Fig. 167—a type so common in Ireland as to
be characteristic of it—and these appear for the most part, though
by no means exclusively, to have been found in western counties.
Although, therefore, the first socketed celts in Britain were doubtless
of foreign origin, there was no regular importation of them for use
over the whole country; but the fashion of making them spread through
local foundries, and different varieties of pattern originated in
various centres, and were adopted over larger or smaller areas as
they happened to commend themselves to the taste of the bronze-using
public. The use of socketed celts would, from their abundance, seem
to have extended over a considerable period; and from their having
apparently been found with objects belonging to the Late Celtic Period
they must have been among the last of the bronze tools or weapons to
be superseded by those of iron. A socketed celt, somewhat like Fig.
116 but more trumpet-mouthed, is stated to have been found in company
with a looped spear-head, two pins like Figs. 453 and 458, a bronze
bridle-bit, and some portions of buckles of a late Celtic character on
Hagbourne Hill, Berks. These objects are now in the British Museum, and
there seems reason to believe the account of their discovery given in
the _Archæologia_.[522] Some coins of gold and silver are said to have
been found with them, but these are not forthcoming. Socketed celts
have also been found associated with clasps like Figs. 504 and 505 at
Dreuil, near Amiens, while at Abergele such clasps accompanied buckles
almost, if not quite, late Celtic in character.
No doubt the final disuse of socketed celts was not contemporaneous
throughout the whole of the country, and their employment probably
survived in the north and west of Britain and in Ireland to a
considerably later date than in the districts more accessible to
Gaulish influences. The chronology of our Bronze Period will, however,
have to be considered in a subsequent chapter. The transition from
bronze to iron cannot so readily be traced in this country as on
the Continent; but socketed celts, &c. formed of iron, and made in
imitation of those in bronze, have occasionally been found in Britain.
One (4 inches) with a side loop, and a part of its wooden handle, was
found in Merionethshire, and is now in the British Museum. It has been
figured in the Archæologia Cambrensis.[523] Another of the same type
was found in North Wales.[524]
I have one (5¼ inches) with a rounded socket and no loop, found at
Gray’s Thurrock, Essex.
I have another (4 inches) with a square socket, from Pfaffenburg in
the Hartz; and others of longer proportions with round sockets from
Hallstatt. The metal has been carefully welded together to form the
sockets, in which there is no slit like those commonly to be seen in
more modern socketed tools of iron. There are ornaments round the
mouth of some of the Hallstatt[525] socketed celts, and both they
and the iron palstaves are frequently provided with a side loop, in
exact accordance with those on their analogues in bronze. Some of the
socketed celts in iron from the cemetery of Watsch,[526] in Carniola,
are also provided with a loop.
As an illustration of the view that similar wants, with similar means
at command with which to supply them, lead to the production of similar
forms of tools and weapons in countries widely remote from each other,
I may mention a socketed celt (10¾ inches) found in an ancient grave
near Copiapo, Chili.[527] In general form it is almost identical
with some of the Italian bronze celts, but it is of copper, and not
bronze; and is not cast, but wrought with the hammer. The socket
has, therefore, been formed in the same manner as those of the early
iron celts from Hallstatt, with which it also closely corresponds in
outline. The surface, however, has been ornamented by engraving; and
among the patterns we find bands of chevrons, alternately plain and
hatched, closely allied to the common ornament of the European Bronze
Age. What is, perhaps, more striking still is that the Greek fret also
occurs as an ornament on the faces.
The method in which socketed and other celts were hafted will be
discussed in the next chapter.