CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER V.SOCKETED CELTS.Theclass 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 socketis 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 beencast 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.Fig. 110.—High Roding. ½.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 intendedto 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.—Fig. 112.—Wilts. ½.—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, varioushammers, 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.—Fig. 114.—Harty. ½.—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 betaken 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]—Fig. 116.—Reach Fen. ½—Fig. 117.—Reach Fen. ½A 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 ofthis 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 TunHill, 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.Fig. 118.—Canterbury. ½—Fig. 119.—Usk. ½A 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.Fig. 120.—Alfriston. ½Another 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 theArchæologia. 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 partof 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.Fig. 121.Cambridge Fens. ½Fig. 122.High Roding. ½Celts 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 thetop 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-centuryjetonas having been found with Merovingian gold ornaments.—Fig. 123.—Chrishall. ½–Fig. 124.—Reach Fen. ½–Fig. 125.—Barrington. ½Some 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 anyother 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 HeatheryBurn 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.Fig. 126.—Mynydd-y-Glas. ½In 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 socketedcelts, 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.—Fig. 127.—Stogursey. ½–Fig. 128.—Guildford. ½–Fig. 129.—Frettenham. ½On 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 withsquare 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.———Fig. 130.—Ely. ½———————Fig. 131.—Caston. ½It 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 threeribs 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.Fig. 132.—Carlton Rode. ½—Fig. 133.—Fornham. ½In 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.—Fig. 134.—Fen Ditton. ½–Fig. 135.—Bottisham. ½–Fig. 136.—Winwick. ½On 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.Fig. 137.—Kingston. ½Fig. 138.—Cayton Carr. ½The 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.

CHAPTER V.SOCKETED CELTS.Theclass 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 socketis 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 beencast 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.Fig. 110.—High Roding. ½.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 intendedto 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.—Fig. 112.—Wilts. ½.—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, varioushammers, 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.—Fig. 114.—Harty. ½.—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 betaken 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]—Fig. 116.—Reach Fen. ½—Fig. 117.—Reach Fen. ½A 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 ofthis 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 TunHill, 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.Fig. 118.—Canterbury. ½—Fig. 119.—Usk. ½A 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.Fig. 120.—Alfriston. ½Another 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 theArchæologia. 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 partof 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.Fig. 121.Cambridge Fens. ½Fig. 122.High Roding. ½Celts 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 thetop 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-centuryjetonas having been found with Merovingian gold ornaments.—Fig. 123.—Chrishall. ½–Fig. 124.—Reach Fen. ½–Fig. 125.—Barrington. ½Some 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 anyother 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 HeatheryBurn 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.Fig. 126.—Mynydd-y-Glas. ½In 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 socketedcelts, 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.—Fig. 127.—Stogursey. ½–Fig. 128.—Guildford. ½–Fig. 129.—Frettenham. ½On 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 withsquare 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.———Fig. 130.—Ely. ½———————Fig. 131.—Caston. ½It 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 threeribs 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.Fig. 132.—Carlton Rode. ½—Fig. 133.—Fornham. ½In 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.—Fig. 134.—Fen Ditton. ½–Fig. 135.—Bottisham. ½–Fig. 136.—Winwick. ½On 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.Fig. 137.—Kingston. ½Fig. 138.—Cayton Carr. ½The 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.

SOCKETED CELTS.

Theclass 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 socketis 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 beencast 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.

Fig. 110.—High Roding. ½.Fig. 111.—Dorchester, Oxon. ½.

Fig. 110.—High Roding. ½.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 intendedto 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.—Fig. 112.—Wilts. ½.—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, varioushammers, 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.—Fig. 114.—Harty. ½.—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 betaken 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.

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 intendedto 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.

—Fig. 112.—Wilts. ½.—Fig. 113.—Harty. ½.

—Fig. 112.—Wilts. ½.—Fig. 113.—Harty. ½.

—Fig. 112.—Wilts. ½.—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, varioushammers, 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.

—Fig. 114.—Harty. ½.—Fig. 115.—Dorchester, Oxon.

—Fig. 114.—Harty. ½.—Fig. 115.—Dorchester, Oxon.

—Fig. 114.—Harty. ½.—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 betaken 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]

—Fig. 116.—Reach Fen. ½—Fig. 117.—Reach Fen. ½

—Fig. 116.—Reach Fen. ½—Fig. 117.—Reach Fen. ½

—Fig. 116.—Reach Fen. ½—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 ofthis 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 TunHill, 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.Fig. 118.—Canterbury. ½—Fig. 119.—Usk. ½A 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.

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 ofthis 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 TunHill, 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 MÅ“rigen,[410]which closely resemble English examples.

Fig. 118.—Canterbury. ½—Fig. 119.—Usk. ½

Fig. 118.—Canterbury. ½—Fig. 119.—Usk. ½

Fig. 118.—Canterbury. ½—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.

Fig. 120.—Alfriston. ½

Fig. 120.—Alfriston. ½

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 theArchæologia. 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 partof 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.

Two found with many others in the New Forest[414](3 and 5 inches long) are engraved in theArchæologia. 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 partof 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.

Fig. 121.Cambridge Fens. ½Fig. 122.High Roding. ½

Fig. 121.Cambridge Fens. ½Fig. 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 thetop 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-centuryjetonas having been found with Merovingian gold ornaments.

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 thetop 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-centuryjetonas having been found with Merovingian gold ornaments.

—Fig. 123.—Chrishall. ½–Fig. 124.—Reach Fen. ½–Fig. 125.—Barrington. ½

—Fig. 123.—Chrishall. ½–Fig. 124.—Reach Fen. ½–Fig. 125.—Barrington. ½

—Fig. 123.—Chrishall. ½–Fig. 124.—Reach Fen. ½–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.

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 anyother 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 HeatheryBurn 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.Fig. 126.—Mynydd-y-Glas. ½In 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 socketedcelts, 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.—Fig. 127.—Stogursey. ½–Fig. 128.—Guildford. ½–Fig. 129.—Frettenham. ½On 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 withsquare 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.———Fig. 130.—Ely. ½———————Fig. 131.—Caston. ½It 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 threeribs 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.Fig. 132.—Carlton Rode. ½—Fig. 133.—Fornham. ½In 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.—Fig. 134.—Fen Ditton. ½–Fig. 135.—Bottisham. ½–Fig. 136.—Winwick. ½On 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.

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 HeatheryBurn 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.

Fig. 126.—Mynydd-y-Glas. ½

Fig. 126.—Mynydd-y-Glas. ½

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 socketedcelts, 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.

—Fig. 127.—Stogursey. ½–Fig. 128.—Guildford. ½–Fig. 129.—Frettenham. ½

—Fig. 127.—Stogursey. ½–Fig. 128.—Guildford. ½–Fig. 129.—Frettenham. ½

—Fig. 127.—Stogursey. ½–Fig. 128.—Guildford. ½–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 (4â…› 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 withsquare 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.

———Fig. 130.—Ely. ½———————Fig. 131.—Caston. ½

———Fig. 130.—Ely. ½———————Fig. 131.—Caston. ½

———Fig. 130.—Ely. ½———————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 threeribs 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.

Fig. 132.—Carlton Rode. ½—Fig. 133.—Fornham. ½

Fig. 132.—Carlton Rode. ½—Fig. 133.—Fornham. ½

Fig. 132.—Carlton Rode. ½—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.

—Fig. 134.—Fen Ditton. ½–Fig. 135.—Bottisham. ½–Fig. 136.—Winwick. ½

—Fig. 134.—Fen Ditton. ½–Fig. 135.—Bottisham. ½–Fig. 136.—Winwick. ½

—Fig. 134.—Fen Ditton. ½–Fig. 135.—Bottisham. ½–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.

Fig. 137.—Kingston. ½Fig. 138.—Cayton Carr. ½

Fig. 137.—Kingston. ½Fig. 138.—Cayton Carr. ½

Fig. 137.—Kingston. ½

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.

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