CHAPTER VIII.PERFORATED AXES.

I now come to a very important class of antiquities, the stone axes and axe-hammers with a hole for the insertion of a shaft, like the ordinary axes and hammers of the present day. As to the method by which these shaft-holes were bored, I have already spoken in a previous chapter. I have also mentioned that many of them appear to belong to a time when bronze was already in use, at all events for knife-like daggers, and that they have in many countries shared with the more simply-formed celts the attribution of a heavenly origin as thunderbolts, together with the superstitious reverence due to their supernatural descent. I have, therefore, but little here to add beyond a classification and description of the various forms; but I may mention that the name by which such implements were “popularly known in Scotland almost till the close of last century was that of the Purgatory Hammer,” buried with its owner that he might have the wherewithal “to thunder at the gates of Purgatory till the heavenly janitor appeared.”[635]

They are for the most part made from metamorphic or volcanic rocks, and occasionally from quartzite, but I have never seen a British perforated axe made from ordinary flint, though hammers of this material are known. Stukeley,[636]indeed, mentions that in cleansing the moat at Tabley, near Knutsford, “they found an old British axe, or some such thing, made of large flint, neatly ground into an edge, with a hole in the middle to fasten into a handle; it would serve for a battle-axe.” Stukeley was probably mistaken as to the material; but there are in the Museum at Copenhagen one or two flint axes ground to an edge, the{184}shaft-holes in which are natural, and no doubt led to the stones being selected for the purpose to which they were applied. An artificially-perforated French specimen will subsequently be mentioned. Flints both naturally and artificially perforated, have also been occasionally converted into hammers and maces.

In Scandinavia and Northern Germany, perforated axes and axe-hammers are frequently known as Thor’s hammers, as already mentioned,[637]and some authors have maintained that they were in use for warlike purposes so late as eight or ten centuries after our era. Kruse,[638]however, has urged that though found in the neighbourhood of graves of the Iron Age in Livonia and Courland, they are never found in the graves themselves, and that their use is not mentioned in any ancient histories.

The principal forms may be classified as follows:—

1. Double-edged axes, or those with a cutting, or but slightly blunted edge at either end.

2. Adzes, or implements with the edge at right angles to the shaft-hole.

3. Axes with the edge at one end only, the hole being near the other end, which is rounded. These shade off into—

4. Axe-hammers sharp at one end, and more or less hammer-like at the other, the shaft-hole being usually near the centre.

To the weapons of the first of these classes the name of Amazon Axe has been applied by Professor Nilsson;[639]but the Scandinavian axes expanding considerably at the cutting ends, resemble theAmazonia securisof classical sculpture more than do the English specimens.

Fig. 118 represents a beautifully formed axe of the first class, in my own collection. It is of greenstone, and was found near Hunmanby, Yorkshire. The two sides are concave longitudinally, so that it expands towards the edges. They are also slightly concave transversely. The angles are rounded, and the edges are blunt, especially that at the shorter end. The shaft-hole is oval, and tapers slightly from each end towards the middle. It would appear to have been worked out with some sort of chisel, and to have been afterwards made smoother by grinding.A broader weapon of granite, expanding more at the ends(51⁄2inches) was found in the Tay,[640]near Newburgh, Fife. A flatter specimen of porphyritic stone (4 inches) was found on the shore of Cobbinshaw Loch,[641]West Calder, Midlothian, in 1885.{185}A specimen of nearly the same type, found near Uelzen, Hanover, is engraved by von Estorff;[642]another from Sweden, by Sjöborg.[643]In the Museum at Geneva is a very similar axe of greenstone(51⁄4inches), found in the neighbourhood of that town. One of serpentine, much longer in its proportions(91⁄4inches), and with an oval shaft-hole, is in the Museum at Lausanne. It was found at Agiez, Canton de Vaud.Fig. 118.—Hunmanby.1⁄2In theCollections[644]published by the Sussex Archælogical Society is a figure, obligingly lent to me, of a beautiful axe-head of this class (Fig. 119) found with the remains of a skeleton, an amber cup (Fig. 307), a whetstone (Fig. 186), and a small bronze dagger with two rivet holes, in an oaken coffin in a barrow at Hove, near Brighton. The{186}axe-head is said to be formed of some kind of ironstone, and is 5 inches long. The hole is described as neatly drilled. A weapon of the same kind(31⁄2inches) blunter at the ends and described as a hammer, was found with a deer’s-horn hammer, and a bronze knife in a barrow at Lambourn, Berks.[645]A small black stone axe-head of nearly similar form was found near the head of a contracted skeleton at a depth of 12 feet in a barrow in Rolston Field, Wilts.[646]A somewhat similar specimen, with the sides faceted and blunt at one end, has been engraved as having been found in Yorkshire.[647]It is, however, doubtful whether, like many other objects in the same plate, it is not foreign. The original is now in the Christy Collection.A double-edged axe-head of basalt, injured by fire, and41⁄2inches long, was found by the late Mr. Bateman, in a large urn with calcined bones, bone pins, a tubular bone laterally perforated, a flint “spear-head,” and a bronze awl, in a barrow near Throwley, Derbyshire.[648]This was the only instance in which he found a perforated stone axe accompanying an interment by cremation.An axe-head of basalt, with a double edge to cut either way, was also dug up in the neighbourhood of Tideswell, Derbyshire.[649]Fig. 119.—Hove.1⁄2A specimen of this kind (5 inches), edged at both ends, but “the one end rather blunted and lessened a little by use,” was found near Grimley, Worcestershire, and is figured by Allies.[650]I have a specimen(51⁄8inches), much weathered, which is said to have come from Bewdley in that county, but which may be that from Grimley.An example, 5 inches long, engraved in the Salisbury volume[651]of the Archæological Institute, from a barrow on Windmill Hill, Abury, Wilts, is described as double-edged.[652]The Danish and German axe-heads of this form have usually, but not always, one edge much more blunted than the other. Occasionally there is a ridge on each side at the blunt end, which shows that this thickening was intentional. A fine double-edged axe-head of this form from Brandenburg is engraved in the “Horæ Ferales.”[653]The double-edged form is found also in Finland.[654]The form likewise occurs in France, but the faces are usually flatter. I have one from the Seine at Paris(51⁄2inches). Another from the{187}department of the Charente is engraved by de Rochebrune;[655]and a third from the department of Seine et Oise is in the Musée de St. Germain.[656]A fine example of the same form is in the Museum at Tours, and another in that of Blois. In the collection of M. Reboux[657]was a curious implement from the Seine, formed of flint, pointed at each end, and perforated in the middle. Another, in flint, from Mesnil en Arronaise[658](Somme)(81⁄2inches), has been figured. The perforations may be natural, though improved by art. In my own collection is one of the finest specimens that I have ever seen. It is also from the Seine at Paris. It is93⁄4inches long, and slightly curved in the direction of its length; on either side there is a long sunk lozenge, in the centre of which is the cylindrical shaft-hole, and the ends expand into flat semicircular blades about21⁄4inches across. The material is a hard basaltic rock, and the preservation perfect. It was found in 1876.A stone axe in the Museum of the Royal Institution at Swansea, and found at Llanmadock, in Gower, has been kindly lent me for engraving, and is shown in Fig. 120. It expands at the sharper end much more suddenly and to a much greater extent than does that from Hunmanby. The edge at that end, which is almost semicircular in outline, has suffered from ill-usage since it was discovered; the material of which it is made being felspathic ash, the surface of which has become soft by decomposition. The other and narrower end is flattened to about half an inch in width. The implement has already been engraved on a smaller scale.[659]In Bartlett’s “History and Antiquities of Manceter, Warwickshire,”[660]is engraved an axe of the same character as this, but expanding at the blunter end almost as much, as it does at the edge, which is described as being very sharp. It is said to have been formed of the hard blue stone of the country, but “from age or the soil in which it has lain” to be “now coloured with an elegant olive-coloured patina.” It was found on Hartshill Common, in 1770, where a small tumulus had been cut through, “the bottom of which, was paved with brick, which by the heat of the fire had been nearly vitrified.” There is probably some mistake as to the bricks.Another axe-head like Fig. 120, 8 inches in length, and more distinctly hammer-like at the narrow end, was found in the parish of Abernethy, Perthshire, and has been engraved by Wilson.[661]In character these axes with expanded ends more nearly resemble some of the Scandinavian and North German types than do most of the other British forms. Broken stone axes expanding at the edge have been found on the site of Troy.In the Museum of the Leeds Philosophical Society is a double-edged axe-head of a larger and coarser kind, which, is said to have been found near Whitby. Its authenticity was strongly vouched for by the late Mr. Denny, but I fear that it is a modern fabrication.An implement of the same form, from Gerdauen, East Prussia, is{188}preserved in the Berlin Museum; and another of greenstone was found at Hallstatt.[662]A singular variety from the same spot has the edge at one end at right angles to that at the other.Fig. 120.—Llanmadock.1⁄2A small sketch of a very remarkable curved blade, pointed at one end and with an axe-like edge at the other, is given in theJournal of the Archæological Association.[663]It is of greenstone, 11 inches long and21⁄2inches across, and was found in Guernsey. By the kindness of the late Rev. W. C. Lukis, F.S.A., of Wath, I am enabled to give an engraving of the type in Fig. 121. A number of specimens have been found in the Channel Islands, to which the form seems peculiar.

A broader weapon of granite, expanding more at the ends(51⁄2inches) was found in the Tay,[640]near Newburgh, Fife. A flatter specimen of porphyritic stone (4 inches) was found on the shore of Cobbinshaw Loch,[641]West Calder, Midlothian, in 1885.{185}

A specimen of nearly the same type, found near Uelzen, Hanover, is engraved by von Estorff;[642]another from Sweden, by Sjöborg.[643]

In the Museum at Geneva is a very similar axe of greenstone(51⁄4inches), found in the neighbourhood of that town. One of serpentine, much longer in its proportions(91⁄4inches), and with an oval shaft-hole, is in the Museum at Lausanne. It was found at Agiez, Canton de Vaud.

Fig. 118.—Hunmanby.1⁄2

In theCollections[644]published by the Sussex Archælogical Society is a figure, obligingly lent to me, of a beautiful axe-head of this class (Fig. 119) found with the remains of a skeleton, an amber cup (Fig. 307), a whetstone (Fig. 186), and a small bronze dagger with two rivet holes, in an oaken coffin in a barrow at Hove, near Brighton. The{186}axe-head is said to be formed of some kind of ironstone, and is 5 inches long. The hole is described as neatly drilled. A weapon of the same kind(31⁄2inches) blunter at the ends and described as a hammer, was found with a deer’s-horn hammer, and a bronze knife in a barrow at Lambourn, Berks.[645]A small black stone axe-head of nearly similar form was found near the head of a contracted skeleton at a depth of 12 feet in a barrow in Rolston Field, Wilts.[646]A somewhat similar specimen, with the sides faceted and blunt at one end, has been engraved as having been found in Yorkshire.[647]It is, however, doubtful whether, like many other objects in the same plate, it is not foreign. The original is now in the Christy Collection.

A double-edged axe-head of basalt, injured by fire, and41⁄2inches long, was found by the late Mr. Bateman, in a large urn with calcined bones, bone pins, a tubular bone laterally perforated, a flint “spear-head,” and a bronze awl, in a barrow near Throwley, Derbyshire.[648]This was the only instance in which he found a perforated stone axe accompanying an interment by cremation.

An axe-head of basalt, with a double edge to cut either way, was also dug up in the neighbourhood of Tideswell, Derbyshire.[649]

Fig. 119.—Hove.1⁄2

A specimen of this kind (5 inches), edged at both ends, but “the one end rather blunted and lessened a little by use,” was found near Grimley, Worcestershire, and is figured by Allies.[650]

I have a specimen(51⁄8inches), much weathered, which is said to have come from Bewdley in that county, but which may be that from Grimley.

An example, 5 inches long, engraved in the Salisbury volume[651]of the Archæological Institute, from a barrow on Windmill Hill, Abury, Wilts, is described as double-edged.[652]

The Danish and German axe-heads of this form have usually, but not always, one edge much more blunted than the other. Occasionally there is a ridge on each side at the blunt end, which shows that this thickening was intentional. A fine double-edged axe-head of this form from Brandenburg is engraved in the “Horæ Ferales.”[653]The double-edged form is found also in Finland.[654]

The form likewise occurs in France, but the faces are usually flatter. I have one from the Seine at Paris(51⁄2inches). Another from the{187}department of the Charente is engraved by de Rochebrune;[655]and a third from the department of Seine et Oise is in the Musée de St. Germain.[656]A fine example of the same form is in the Museum at Tours, and another in that of Blois. In the collection of M. Reboux[657]was a curious implement from the Seine, formed of flint, pointed at each end, and perforated in the middle. Another, in flint, from Mesnil en Arronaise[658](Somme)(81⁄2inches), has been figured. The perforations may be natural, though improved by art. In my own collection is one of the finest specimens that I have ever seen. It is also from the Seine at Paris. It is93⁄4inches long, and slightly curved in the direction of its length; on either side there is a long sunk lozenge, in the centre of which is the cylindrical shaft-hole, and the ends expand into flat semicircular blades about21⁄4inches across. The material is a hard basaltic rock, and the preservation perfect. It was found in 1876.

A stone axe in the Museum of the Royal Institution at Swansea, and found at Llanmadock, in Gower, has been kindly lent me for engraving, and is shown in Fig. 120. It expands at the sharper end much more suddenly and to a much greater extent than does that from Hunmanby. The edge at that end, which is almost semicircular in outline, has suffered from ill-usage since it was discovered; the material of which it is made being felspathic ash, the surface of which has become soft by decomposition. The other and narrower end is flattened to about half an inch in width. The implement has already been engraved on a smaller scale.[659]

In Bartlett’s “History and Antiquities of Manceter, Warwickshire,”[660]is engraved an axe of the same character as this, but expanding at the blunter end almost as much, as it does at the edge, which is described as being very sharp. It is said to have been formed of the hard blue stone of the country, but “from age or the soil in which it has lain” to be “now coloured with an elegant olive-coloured patina.” It was found on Hartshill Common, in 1770, where a small tumulus had been cut through, “the bottom of which, was paved with brick, which by the heat of the fire had been nearly vitrified.” There is probably some mistake as to the bricks.

Another axe-head like Fig. 120, 8 inches in length, and more distinctly hammer-like at the narrow end, was found in the parish of Abernethy, Perthshire, and has been engraved by Wilson.[661]

In character these axes with expanded ends more nearly resemble some of the Scandinavian and North German types than do most of the other British forms. Broken stone axes expanding at the edge have been found on the site of Troy.

In the Museum of the Leeds Philosophical Society is a double-edged axe-head of a larger and coarser kind, which, is said to have been found near Whitby. Its authenticity was strongly vouched for by the late Mr. Denny, but I fear that it is a modern fabrication.

An implement of the same form, from Gerdauen, East Prussia, is{188}preserved in the Berlin Museum; and another of greenstone was found at Hallstatt.[662]A singular variety from the same spot has the edge at one end at right angles to that at the other.

Fig. 120.—Llanmadock.1⁄2

A small sketch of a very remarkable curved blade, pointed at one end and with an axe-like edge at the other, is given in theJournal of the Archæological Association.[663]It is of greenstone, 11 inches long and21⁄2inches across, and was found in Guernsey. By the kindness of the late Rev. W. C. Lukis, F.S.A., of Wath, I am enabled to give an engraving of the type in Fig. 121. A number of specimens have been found in the Channel Islands, to which the form seems peculiar.

The second class into which I proposed to divide these implements consists of adzes, or blades having the edge at right angles to the shaft-hole. Apart from a short notice by Mr. Monkman, I believe that attention was for the first time called in the former edition of this book, to the occurrence of this form in Britain.{189}

The specimen I have selected for engraving, as Fig. 122, gives a good idea of the typical character. It is of greenstone, with the shaft-hole tapering inwards from both faces, one of which is less convex than the other. It was found at Fireburn Mill, near Coldstream, Berwickshire, and is in the Greenwell Collection. In the same collection is another of similar character, but having the butt-end broken off and the edge more circular, found at Willerby Carr, in the East Riding of Yorkshire.Fig. 121.—Guernsey.1⁄2I have a smaller specimen(43⁄4inches), of a hard micaceous grit, found at Allerston, in the North Riding; as also a remarkably fine and perfect adze of porphyritic greenstone(63⁄8inches), ground to a{190}rounded edge at the butt, instead of being truncated like Fig. 122. The shaft-hole, like that of all the others, tapers inwards from both faces, in this instance from13⁄8inch to7⁄8inch. This specimen was found at South Dalton, near Beverley. An adze or hoe of the same kind, found at Wellbury,[664]near Offley, Herts, is in the collection of Mr. W. Ransom, F.S.A.Fig. 122.—Fireburn Mill, Coldstream.1⁄2Another implement of the same class (9 inches), flat on one face, and much like Fig. 122, is in the National Museum at Edinburgh. It is of greenstone, much decomposed, and was found at Ormiston Abdie, Fife. A shorter specimen(33⁄4inches) sharpened at each end, found at Sandwick, Shetland, is in the fine collection of Mr. J. W. Cursiter, at Kirkwall.Another, in outline more like the celt Fig. 57, though sharp at the sides, is also in the Greenwell Collection. It is formed of red{191}micaceous sandstone(63⁄4inches), and was found at Seackleton, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. A rough sketch of it has been published by Mr. Monkman.[665]In the same collection is another, rather narrower in its proportions, being71⁄2inches long and 3 inches broad, found at Pilmoor, as well as one 6 inches long and23⁄8inches broad, found at Nunnington.Another,51⁄2inches long, square at both ends, found near Whitby, is in the Museum at Leeds.The form is known in Denmark, but is rare. A more celt-shaped specimen is engraved by Worsaae.[666]He terms it a hoe (hakke), and it is, of course, possible that these instruments may have been used for digging purposes.Two short, broad hoes (hacken), of Taunus slate, found near Mainz, are given by Lindenschmit.[667]Another is in the Museum at Brunswick.Some hoe-like, perforated stone implements from Mexico, are in the Ethnological Museum at Copenhagen. The so-called stone hoes of North America[668]are not perforated, though sometimes notched at the sides. Dr. Keller[669]has suggested that a circular perforated disc from one of the Swiss Lake-settlements may have been a hoe.In the Museum of the Deutsche Gesellschaft at Leipzig, is a greenstone implement resembling these adzes or hoes at its broader end, but at the other, instead of being square or rounded, presenting an axe-like edge.A narrow, thick adze of this character, flat on one face, rounded on the other,41⁄2inches long, found at Scudnitz, near Schweinitz, Prussian Saxony, is in the Berlin Museum. A rather similar form has been found in Bohemia.[670]Fig. 123.—Burwell Fen.1⁄2An intermediate form between a hammer and an adze will be subsequently described at p.231.A small perforated adze in the Museum of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, Fig. 123, is more truly celt-like in character, and appears, indeed, to have been made from an ordinary celt by boring a shaft-hole through it. It is formed of a hard, green, slaty rock, and was found in Burwell Fen. I believe that another, but larger, specimen of the same type, was found in the same district in Swaffham Fen.The late Mr. G. W. Ormerod, F.G.S., brought under my notice another{192}specimen found, in 1865, at North Bovey, Devon. It is of greenstone, about33⁄4inches long. The sides taper towards the butt-end, which is rounded, and the hole in the middle appears to be only about1⁄2inch in diameter, but bell-mouthed at each face. It is now in the Museum at Exeter. Another(37⁄8inches) was found at Ugborough, Devon.[671]Fig. 124.—Stourton.1⁄2The implement shown in Fig. 124 seems to be an unfinished specimen belonging to this class. It is formed of greenstone, portions of the natural joints of which are still visible on its surface. It seems to have been worked into shape by picking rather than by grinding; but the hole appears, from the character of the surface, to have been ground. Had it been continued through the stone, it would probably have been considerably enlarged in diameter, and if so, the implement would have been much weakened around the hole. It seems possible that it was on this account that it was left unfinished. It was found near Stourton, on the borders of Somerset and Wilts.

Fig. 121.—Guernsey.1⁄2

I have a smaller specimen(43⁄4inches), of a hard micaceous grit, found at Allerston, in the North Riding; as also a remarkably fine and perfect adze of porphyritic greenstone(63⁄8inches), ground to a{190}rounded edge at the butt, instead of being truncated like Fig. 122. The shaft-hole, like that of all the others, tapers inwards from both faces, in this instance from13⁄8inch to7⁄8inch. This specimen was found at South Dalton, near Beverley. An adze or hoe of the same kind, found at Wellbury,[664]near Offley, Herts, is in the collection of Mr. W. Ransom, F.S.A.

Fig. 122.—Fireburn Mill, Coldstream.1⁄2

Another implement of the same class (9 inches), flat on one face, and much like Fig. 122, is in the National Museum at Edinburgh. It is of greenstone, much decomposed, and was found at Ormiston Abdie, Fife. A shorter specimen(33⁄4inches) sharpened at each end, found at Sandwick, Shetland, is in the fine collection of Mr. J. W. Cursiter, at Kirkwall.

Another, in outline more like the celt Fig. 57, though sharp at the sides, is also in the Greenwell Collection. It is formed of red{191}micaceous sandstone(63⁄4inches), and was found at Seackleton, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. A rough sketch of it has been published by Mr. Monkman.[665]In the same collection is another, rather narrower in its proportions, being71⁄2inches long and 3 inches broad, found at Pilmoor, as well as one 6 inches long and23⁄8inches broad, found at Nunnington.

Another,51⁄2inches long, square at both ends, found near Whitby, is in the Museum at Leeds.

The form is known in Denmark, but is rare. A more celt-shaped specimen is engraved by Worsaae.[666]He terms it a hoe (hakke), and it is, of course, possible that these instruments may have been used for digging purposes.

Two short, broad hoes (hacken), of Taunus slate, found near Mainz, are given by Lindenschmit.[667]Another is in the Museum at Brunswick.

Some hoe-like, perforated stone implements from Mexico, are in the Ethnological Museum at Copenhagen. The so-called stone hoes of North America[668]are not perforated, though sometimes notched at the sides. Dr. Keller[669]has suggested that a circular perforated disc from one of the Swiss Lake-settlements may have been a hoe.

In the Museum of the Deutsche Gesellschaft at Leipzig, is a greenstone implement resembling these adzes or hoes at its broader end, but at the other, instead of being square or rounded, presenting an axe-like edge.

A narrow, thick adze of this character, flat on one face, rounded on the other,41⁄2inches long, found at Scudnitz, near Schweinitz, Prussian Saxony, is in the Berlin Museum. A rather similar form has been found in Bohemia.[670]

Fig. 123.—Burwell Fen.1⁄2

An intermediate form between a hammer and an adze will be subsequently described at p.231.

A small perforated adze in the Museum of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, Fig. 123, is more truly celt-like in character, and appears, indeed, to have been made from an ordinary celt by boring a shaft-hole through it. It is formed of a hard, green, slaty rock, and was found in Burwell Fen. I believe that another, but larger, specimen of the same type, was found in the same district in Swaffham Fen.

The late Mr. G. W. Ormerod, F.G.S., brought under my notice another{192}specimen found, in 1865, at North Bovey, Devon. It is of greenstone, about33⁄4inches long. The sides taper towards the butt-end, which is rounded, and the hole in the middle appears to be only about1⁄2inch in diameter, but bell-mouthed at each face. It is now in the Museum at Exeter. Another(37⁄8inches) was found at Ugborough, Devon.[671]

Fig. 124.—Stourton.1⁄2

The implement shown in Fig. 124 seems to be an unfinished specimen belonging to this class. It is formed of greenstone, portions of the natural joints of which are still visible on its surface. It seems to have been worked into shape by picking rather than by grinding; but the hole appears, from the character of the surface, to have been ground. Had it been continued through the stone, it would probably have been considerably enlarged in diameter, and if so, the implement would have been much weakened around the hole. It seems possible that it was on this account that it was left unfinished. It was found near Stourton, on the borders of Somerset and Wilts.

The third of the classes into which, for the sake of convenience, I have divided these instruments, consists of axe-heads with a cutting edge at one end only, the shaft-hole being near the other end, which is rounded.

Fig. 125 represents an elegant specimen of this class, found at Bardwell, in Suffolk, and formerly in the collection of Mr. Joseph Warren, of Ixworth, but now in my own. The material appears to be felstone. The edge is slightly rounded, the shaft-hole carefully finished, and the two faces ground hollow, probably in the manner suggested at p.43.{193}I have another made from a quartzite pebble(45⁄8inches) with the sides hollowed transversely, but rounded longitudinally, found with an urn on Wilton Heath, near Brandon, in 1873. The blunt end is bruised and flattened by wear. I have a second, also of quartzite(53⁄8inches), rounded in all directions, found near Ipswich, in 1865. It retains much of the form of the original pebble.Fig. 125.—Bardwell.1⁄2In the Museum at Newcastle is preserved a specimen very similar to Fig. 125, of mottled greenstone, beautifully finished; the sides are, however, flat and not hollowed. It is61⁄2inches long, the faces are rounded, and the hole, which is about7⁄8inch in diameter, tapers slightly towards the middle. It was found in the River Wear at Sunderland. Another of the same character, formed from a beautifully veined stone, accompanied a bronze dagger in a barrow near East Kennet, Wilts.[672]I have another axe of the same kind, with both sides flat,61⁄8inches long, formed of porphyritic greenstone, and found near Colchester.{194}Another, formed of basalt,61⁄4inches long, the sides slightly hollowed, from Chesterford, Cambridge,[673]was in the possession of the late Mr. Joshua Clarke, of Saffron Walden.Another, 5 inches long, was found in the Thames off Parliament Stairs, and passed with the Roach Smith Collection into the British Museum. One,53⁄4inches long, from Cumberland, is in the Christy Collection.One of sandstone(41⁄2inches) was discovered at Northenden,[674]Cheshire, in 1883.In the Greenwell Collection is one of greenstone,63⁄4inches long, found at Millfield, near Sunderland. The hole is somewhat oval, and tapers inwards from each side. There is also one of basalt,41⁄4inches long, with an oval hole and slightly convex sides, from Holystone, Northumberland. The edge, as usual, is blunt.An axe-head of this kind, from a chambered tumulus or dolmen at Craigengelt, near Stirling, Scotland, is engraved by Bonstetten.[675]One with flat sides(61⁄4inches) was found in the Tay, near Mugdrum Island, Perth,[676]and another (7 inches) at Sorbie, Wigtownshire.[677]Implements or weapons of this character occasionally occur in Ireland,[678]but the sides are usually flat.The exact form is rare in Denmark and North Germany. Lindenschmit[679]engraves a thin specimen from Lüneburg. It occurs also in Styria. A specimen from Lithuania, more square at the butt, is engraved by Mortillet.[680]I do not remember to have met with it in France.Fig. 126.—Potter Brompton Wold.1⁄2In one of the barrows on Potter Brompton Wold,[681]Yorkshire, explored by Canon Greenwell, accompanying an interment by cremation, he found a beautifully-formed axe-head of serpentine(?) the surface of which was in places scaling off from decomposition, arising from its having been partly calcined. A single view of it is given in Fig. 126. The hole is about11⁄4inches in diameter on each side, but rather smaller in the middle. The cutting edge has been rounded as well as the angles round the sides, but this process has been carried to a greater extent on one than the other; possibly this was the outer side.A somewhat similar, but rather broader, axe-head of basalt,51⁄4inches long, was found by the late Mr. T. Bateman in a barrow called Carder Low,[682]near Hartington, in company with a small bronze dagger, and near the elbow of a contracted skeleton.{195}Another, expanding rather more at the edge, from a barrow in Devonshire,[683]was in the Meyrick Collection.A somewhat similar axe-head, more rounded at the butt and rather more expanded at the cutting edge, was found in Annandale in 1870, and was described to me by the late Mr. Joseph Clarke, F.S.A.One of granite, much like Fig. 126, came to light in a cairn at Breckigoe,[684]Caithness.Fig. 127.—Rudstone.In the same barrow at Rudstone,[685]near Bridlington, as that in which the block of pyrites and flint scraper, subsequently to be described (Fig. 223), were found, but with a different interment, Canon Greenwell discovered the beautifully formed axe-hammer shown in Fig. 127. It is of very close-grained, slightly micaceous grit, and presents the peculiarity of having the rounded faces slightly chamfered all round the flat sides. The edge is carefully rounded, and the broad end somewhat flattened. It lay behind the shoulders of the skeleton of an old man lying on his left side, with his right hand on his head, and his left to his face. Before the face, was a bronze knife 4 inches long, with a single rivet to fasten it to its handle, and close to the axe-hammer lay a pointed flint flake re-chipped on both faces. In a barrow at Sledmere[686]with burnt bones lay a weapon of this kind battered at the blunt end.An axe-head(61⁄4inches), with convex faces, rounded at the butt, and with an oval shaft-hole, was dredged from the Thames at London,[687]and is now in the British Museum.It seems almost indisputable that these elegantly formed axe-heads belong to the period when bronze was in use, and from their occurrence in the graves they appear to have formed part of the equipment of warriors.{196}The careful manner in which their edges are blunted shows that they cannot have been intended for cutting tools, but that they must have been weapons of war. A blow from a battle-axe with a blunted edge would be just as fatal as if the edge had been sharp and trenchant, while the risk of accidental injury to the scantily-clothed warrior who carried the axe was next to none when the edge of the weapon was thus blunted. The practice of removing the edge by grinding was, no doubt, introduced in consequence of some painful experience.Fig. 128.—Borrowash.1⁄2Fig. 128 is of still more ornamental character, having a beaded moulding towards each edge of the faces and following the curvature of the sides. The drawing is taken from a cast in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries, presented by Sir W. Tite. M.P.[688]The original is said to have been found near Whitby. A fine axe-head “of red granite, ornamented with raised mouldings,” was, however, found with{197}human bones near Borrowash, Derbyshire, in 1841,[689]and is in the Bateman Collection, now at Sheffield. To judge from the woodcut in the Catalogue, the cast must have been taken from this specimen.“A very elegant axe-head, 5 inches long, of reddish basalt, beautifully wrought, with a slight moulding round the angles, and a perforation for the shaft,” is described by Mr. Bateman[690]as having been found on a barrow eleven miles E. of Pickering, Yorkshire.Mouldings of various kinds occur on Danish and German axe-hammers of the Bronze Age,[691]but this form of small axe with a rounded butt is of rare occurrence. The longitudinal line in relief which occurs on the sides of some German battle-axes[692]has been regarded as an imitation of the mark left on bronze axes by the junction of the two halves of the mould. The small axe-heads from Germany[693]are wider at the butt, and more like Figs. 118 and 120 in outline.Fig. 129.—Crichie, Aberdeenshire.The beautiful battle-axe, formed of fine-grained mica schist, found placed on burnt bones in a “Druidical” circle at Crichie, near Inverurie, Aberdeenshire,[694]and presented by the Earl of Kintore to the National Museum at Edinburgh, has deeply-incised lines round the margins of the hollow sides at the mouth of the shaft-hole. This weapon is 4 inches in length, and is considerably sharper at the broader end than at the other, though the edge is well rounded. For the loan of Fig. 129 I am indebted to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. In general character this specimen approximates to a somewhat rare Irish form, shortly to be mentioned, of which I possess a{198}specimen. The battle-axe from the barrow at Selwood, Fig. 140, is also slightly ornamented by lines on the sides, and that from Skelton Moors, Fig. 139, is fluted.Two axe-hammers of granite and greenstone(41⁄2and 5 inches) of much the same type as Fig. 129, but more elongated, so as in form to resemble Fig. 136, were found near Ardrossan,[695]Ayrshire.An unfinished axe-head of the same kind was found at Middleton,[696]Stevenston, Ayrshire.An axe-head of porphyritic greenstone(73⁄4inches long), from Stainton Dale, near Scarborough,[697]is said to resemble in form an Irish axe-head engraved in theUlster Journal of Archæology.[698]If so, the sides through which the hole is bored were hollow, as in Fig. 129, and there was also a moulding round them. This Irish axe-head is formed of a kind of pale green hone-stone, and is now in the British Museum. Instead of incised lines there are raised flanges on each face, bordering the concave side in which is the shaft-hole. The length is51⁄4inches, and the butt-end is half an oval, just flattened at the end. It was found in the river Bann.Axe-heads of a much more clumsy character than any of those last described are of more frequent occurrence in this country. The one I have selected for illustration as Fig. 130, is rather small of its kind. It is made of greenstone, the surface of which has considerably suffered from weathering, and was found in draining at Walsgrave-upon-Sowe, near Coventry. It was presented to my collection by the late Mr. J. S. Whittem, F.G.S. The shaft-hole, as usual, tapers inwards from both sides; its surface is more polished than that of the exterior of the implement. A small portion of the end of the butt is flat, but this appears due to accident rather than design. I have a rather longer axe-head, of porphyritic greenstone, which was washed out of the ground by a brook at Ayside, near Newby Bridge, Windermere, and was given to me by Mr. Harrison, of Manchester. It is considerably rounded in both directions at the butt, the edge is narrow, and one side, probably the outer, much more rounded than the other. The edge is carefully ground, but farther up the face, the surface shows that it has been picked into form. The shaft-hole is much like that of Fig. 130.Fig. 130.—Walsgrave-upon-Sowe.1⁄2I have another specimen from Plumpton, near Penrith(91⁄2inches), rounded at the butt, but unsymmetrical, owing to a natural plane of cleavage interfering with the shape, and, as it were, taking off a slice of the stone. The shaft-hole is oval, the longer diameter being lengthwise of the blade, and the edge is oblique. The sides are flatter than those of Fig. 130. In my collection are others from Mawbray and Inglewood Forest, Cumberland(71⁄2and 8 inches), and one (7 inches) from Cader Idris, Merionethshire. Another (10 inches) was found at Llanfairfechan,[699]Carnarvonshire, another at Llanidloes,[700]Montgomeryshire, and a third in Anglesey.[701]The late Mr. Llewellynn Jewitt, F.S.A., had a flatter and longer specimen of this form (10 inches), found at Winster, Derbyshire. Implements of this character, but often{199}approximating in shape to Fig. 131, have been found in considerable numbers, though as isolated specimens, in the North. One found in Aberdeenshire(81⁄2inches long), of this class, but with the butt-end slightly hollowed, and having a well-marked shoulder on each face, as if by continual reduction by sharpening at the edge, is engraved in theArchæological Journal.[702]One from Scotland[703](101⁄4inches) was exhibited by the Marquis of Breadalbane at Edinburgh, in 1856, and one (12 inches) from Alnwick.[704]Others have been found at Tillicoultry Bridge,[705]Clackmannan; Kelton,[706]Kircudbrightshire; in Wigtownshire[707];{200}Silvermine,[708]Torphichen, Linlithgow; and Laurie Street,[709]Leith; another from the coast of Scotland is engraved in Skelton’s “Meyrick’s Armour,”[710]but is there regarded as having been brought over by Danish invaders. Other Scottish[711]specimens are numerous. There are thirteen in the Grierson Museum, Thornhill, Dumfriesshire. One of the same form as the figure(93⁄8inches) was found at Dean,[712]near Bolton, Lancashire, and others at Hopwood and Saddleworth in the same county. One of grit(71⁄2inches) was found at Siddington,[713]near Macclesfield. Another (8 inches), found at Kirkoswald, Cumberland, is in the museum at Newcastle, together with a similar specimen from Haydon Bridge; and others have been found at Thirstone, Shilbottle, Barrasford,[714]and Hipsburn,[715]Northumberland; and in Yorkshire.[716]One(101⁄2inches) was found at Ehenside Tarn,[717]Cumberland. Others at Rusland, North Lonsdale, and Troutbeck. A long list of stone-hammers, &c., found in Cumberland and Westmorland, has been given by Chancellor R. S. Ferguson, F.S.A.,[718]and a similar list has been compiled for Lancashire and Cheshire.[719]They occur also in more southern districts. I have seen one (8 inches) from the neighbourhood of Glastonbury. Another of the same length was found on Dartmoor, near Burnt Tor. Others(81⁄2and 9 inches) from Ashbury and Holsworthy,[720]Devon, are in the Museum of the Plymouth Institute. One was found at Withycombe Raleigh,[721]Devon. A fine specimen (8 inches long), with the sides somewhat hollowed, was found at Tasburgh, Norfolk. Another of greenstone(51⁄2inches), and rather curved longitudinally, was found in the same parish. Other specimens from Norfolk are mentioned in the Norwich volume of the Archæological Institute. I have one of serpentine from Chatteris Fen, which has been broken diagonally, and had a fresh edge ground quite away from the middle. The Rev. S. Banks had one of hard sandstone(73⁄4inches), found in Cottenham Fen. Its faces are more parallel, so that the edge is more obtuse. I have seen one, found near Stourton(91⁄2inches), Somersetshire, straighter at the sides, and having the angles rounded. They occur in Leicestershire.[722]One (7 inches) from the Cemetery at Leicester, and one(91⁄2inches) from Barrow-on-Soar, are recorded. An axe of the same kind, but smaller, found near Imola, has been engraved by Gastaldi.[723]Perhaps the more common variety, in Cumberland, is that which is somewhat flattened at the butt, like Fig. 131, and which is, more{201}properly speaking, an axe-hammer. This specimen was found near Bed Dial, Wigton, Cumberland, and is in my own collection. The two sides are nearly flat and parallel, and the edge appears to have been re-sharpened since the axe-head was first formed, as it is ground away to a shoulder a little below where it is perforated. It is formed of an igneous rock. A very symmetrical example,81⁄2inches long, with the sides nearly flat, from Aikbrae, Culter, Lanarkshire, is engraved in theJournal of the Archæological Association.[724]Fig. 131.—Wigton.1⁄2A very similar specimen, 11 inches long, found in a turf moss near Haversham, Westmorland, is engraved in theArchæologia,[725]as is{202}another from Furness.[726]Another, with the sides more parallel, and rounder at the end, 8 inches in length, was found near Carlisle upwards of a century ago, and forms the subject of an interesting paper by Bishop Lyttelton.[727]Two also were found at Scalby,[728]near Scarborough. In the Greenwell Collection are several implements of this character, obtained in the North of England. They are 8 to 9 inches long, and 4 to 5 inches broad. One (10 inches) is from Helton, in the parish of Chalton, Northumberland; and another, of nearly the same size and form as Fig. 131, from Castle Douglas, Kircudbrightshire; another of greenstone (6 inches) from Brompton Carr, Yorkshire; and others, varying in form, from Ousby Moor, Cumberland, and Heslerton Wold, Yorkshire. A fine example (8 inches), truncated at the butt, from Dunse Castle,[729]Berwickshire, has been figured.In the British Museum are several axe-heads of this form. One, 9 inches long, of a porphyritic rock, is said to have been found in a barrow on Salisbury Plain. One, 12 inches long, is from Stone, Staffordshire, as well as another in which the boring is incomplete, there being only a conical depression on each side. A third, thinner (8 inches), was found near Hull. A fourth, of compact felspathic material,81⁄4inches long, is from the parish of Balmerino, Fife. A fifth, of similar material, 8 inches long, is from Llanbrynmair, Montgomeryshire.[730]It is worked to a flat oval at the butt-end, but with the angles rounded. The hole, as usual, tapers inwards from each side, but is not at right angles to the central line of the axe. I have a fine implement of this class, but larger and narrower than the figure, and concave on the sides, so that the edge is wider than the butt. It is of basalt, much eroded on the surface, and was found at Hardwick, near Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire. It is101⁄2inches long, about41⁄4inches wide at the butt, where it is 3 inches thick. The shaft-hole is nearly 2 inches in diameter, and almost parallel; the weight,81⁄2lbs.One(91⁄2inches) was found at Grimley,[731]Worcestershire. Another, of porphyry, nearly triangular in outline (7 inches), from Necton, Norfolk, is in the Norwich Museum. The shaft-hole, in this case, is parallel, but in most, it tapers both ways, contracting from about13⁄4or 2 inches on each face to about11⁄4inches in diameter in the middle. One of greenstone (6 inches), found near Ely, has an oval hole.Fig. 132.—Wollaton Park.1⁄2The late Mr. Llewellynn Jewitt, F.S.A., had an axe-hammer of this class(71⁄2inches), but still more flattened at one end, found in Cambridgeshire. At the edge the faces form an angle of 45° to each other, and there is little doubt that the implement has lost much of its original length through continual sharpening. He also kindly lent me for engraving the curious axe-hammer shown in Fig. 132, and has made use of my wood-cut in his “Grave Mounds and their Contents.”[732]It is formed of a very fine-grained, hard, and slightly micaceous grit, and its weight exceeds73⁄4lbs. It is somewhat rounded at the hammer-end, which appears to have lost some splinters by use, though the broken surface has since been partially re-ground. The blade is slightly curved longitudinally, and both the{203}outer and inner sides have been hollowed from the point, as far as the perforation. The faces have each four parallel grooves worked in them, so that they are, as it were, corrugated into five ribs, extending from near the edge to opposite the centre of the hole. The hollows on the sides also show two slight ribs parallel with the faces of the blade, the angles of which are rounded. The shaft-hole tapers slightly in both directions towards the centre, where it is about13⁄8inch in diameter.{204}The grooves seem to have been produced by picking, but have subsequently been made smoother by grinding. It was found at a spot known as the Sand Hills, in Lord Middleton’s Park,[733]near Wollaton, Notts. The Rev. W. C. Lukis, F.S.A., had a closely similar specimen (10 inches), found at Jervaux, near Bedale, Yorkshire. It is not, however, fluted on the faces.Fig. 133.—Buckthorpe.1⁄2Some of these instruments are so heavy that they can hardly have been wielded in the ordinary manner as axes, though they may have served for splitting wood, either by direct blows or by being used as wedges. Bishop Lyttelton thought they might have been battle-axes, but Pegge[734]pointed out that they were too heavy for such a purpose or for use as missiles, and came to the conclusion “that these perforated stones were not originally applied to any warlike purpose, but rather to some domestic service, either as a hammer or beetle for common use.” Professor Nilsson,[735]at a later date, has arrived at the same conclusion, and considers them most suitable for being held in the left hand by a short handle, and driven into wood by blows from a{205}club held in the right hand. He has suggested for them the name of “handled wedges.” In some parts of France I have seen extremely heavy iron axes, much resembling these stone implements in form, used for splitting wood. It seems possible that in old times these heavy stone implements may also have been employed in agriculture.Axes of this character, usually formed of greenstone, are very common in Denmark and Northern Germany. They are much rarer in France, partly, no doubt, in consequence of the less abundance of suitable material. They also occur in Russia[736]and in Italy.[737]A small specimen of the same form but rather more square at the butt than Fig. 131, made of dark serpentine, and only35⁄8inches long, was found at Tanagra, in Bœotia, and was formerly in the collection of Dr. G. Finlay,[738]of Athens.

I have another made from a quartzite pebble(45⁄8inches) with the sides hollowed transversely, but rounded longitudinally, found with an urn on Wilton Heath, near Brandon, in 1873. The blunt end is bruised and flattened by wear. I have a second, also of quartzite(53⁄8inches), rounded in all directions, found near Ipswich, in 1865. It retains much of the form of the original pebble.

Fig. 125.—Bardwell.1⁄2

In the Museum at Newcastle is preserved a specimen very similar to Fig. 125, of mottled greenstone, beautifully finished; the sides are, however, flat and not hollowed. It is61⁄2inches long, the faces are rounded, and the hole, which is about7⁄8inch in diameter, tapers slightly towards the middle. It was found in the River Wear at Sunderland. Another of the same character, formed from a beautifully veined stone, accompanied a bronze dagger in a barrow near East Kennet, Wilts.[672]

I have another axe of the same kind, with both sides flat,61⁄8inches long, formed of porphyritic greenstone, and found near Colchester.{194}Another, formed of basalt,61⁄4inches long, the sides slightly hollowed, from Chesterford, Cambridge,[673]was in the possession of the late Mr. Joshua Clarke, of Saffron Walden.

Another, 5 inches long, was found in the Thames off Parliament Stairs, and passed with the Roach Smith Collection into the British Museum. One,53⁄4inches long, from Cumberland, is in the Christy Collection.

One of sandstone(41⁄2inches) was discovered at Northenden,[674]Cheshire, in 1883.

In the Greenwell Collection is one of greenstone,63⁄4inches long, found at Millfield, near Sunderland. The hole is somewhat oval, and tapers inwards from each side. There is also one of basalt,41⁄4inches long, with an oval hole and slightly convex sides, from Holystone, Northumberland. The edge, as usual, is blunt.

An axe-head of this kind, from a chambered tumulus or dolmen at Craigengelt, near Stirling, Scotland, is engraved by Bonstetten.[675]

One with flat sides(61⁄4inches) was found in the Tay, near Mugdrum Island, Perth,[676]and another (7 inches) at Sorbie, Wigtownshire.[677]

Implements or weapons of this character occasionally occur in Ireland,[678]but the sides are usually flat.

The exact form is rare in Denmark and North Germany. Lindenschmit[679]engraves a thin specimen from Lüneburg. It occurs also in Styria. A specimen from Lithuania, more square at the butt, is engraved by Mortillet.[680]I do not remember to have met with it in France.

Fig. 126.—Potter Brompton Wold.1⁄2

In one of the barrows on Potter Brompton Wold,[681]Yorkshire, explored by Canon Greenwell, accompanying an interment by cremation, he found a beautifully-formed axe-head of serpentine(?) the surface of which was in places scaling off from decomposition, arising from its having been partly calcined. A single view of it is given in Fig. 126. The hole is about11⁄4inches in diameter on each side, but rather smaller in the middle. The cutting edge has been rounded as well as the angles round the sides, but this process has been carried to a greater extent on one than the other; possibly this was the outer side.

A somewhat similar, but rather broader, axe-head of basalt,51⁄4inches long, was found by the late Mr. T. Bateman in a barrow called Carder Low,[682]near Hartington, in company with a small bronze dagger, and near the elbow of a contracted skeleton.{195}

Another, expanding rather more at the edge, from a barrow in Devonshire,[683]was in the Meyrick Collection.

A somewhat similar axe-head, more rounded at the butt and rather more expanded at the cutting edge, was found in Annandale in 1870, and was described to me by the late Mr. Joseph Clarke, F.S.A.

One of granite, much like Fig. 126, came to light in a cairn at Breckigoe,[684]Caithness.

Fig. 127.—Rudstone.

In the same barrow at Rudstone,[685]near Bridlington, as that in which the block of pyrites and flint scraper, subsequently to be described (Fig. 223), were found, but with a different interment, Canon Greenwell discovered the beautifully formed axe-hammer shown in Fig. 127. It is of very close-grained, slightly micaceous grit, and presents the peculiarity of having the rounded faces slightly chamfered all round the flat sides. The edge is carefully rounded, and the broad end somewhat flattened. It lay behind the shoulders of the skeleton of an old man lying on his left side, with his right hand on his head, and his left to his face. Before the face, was a bronze knife 4 inches long, with a single rivet to fasten it to its handle, and close to the axe-hammer lay a pointed flint flake re-chipped on both faces. In a barrow at Sledmere[686]with burnt bones lay a weapon of this kind battered at the blunt end.

An axe-head(61⁄4inches), with convex faces, rounded at the butt, and with an oval shaft-hole, was dredged from the Thames at London,[687]and is now in the British Museum.

It seems almost indisputable that these elegantly formed axe-heads belong to the period when bronze was in use, and from their occurrence in the graves they appear to have formed part of the equipment of warriors.{196}

The careful manner in which their edges are blunted shows that they cannot have been intended for cutting tools, but that they must have been weapons of war. A blow from a battle-axe with a blunted edge would be just as fatal as if the edge had been sharp and trenchant, while the risk of accidental injury to the scantily-clothed warrior who carried the axe was next to none when the edge of the weapon was thus blunted. The practice of removing the edge by grinding was, no doubt, introduced in consequence of some painful experience.

Fig. 128.—Borrowash.1⁄2

Fig. 128 is of still more ornamental character, having a beaded moulding towards each edge of the faces and following the curvature of the sides. The drawing is taken from a cast in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries, presented by Sir W. Tite. M.P.[688]The original is said to have been found near Whitby. A fine axe-head “of red granite, ornamented with raised mouldings,” was, however, found with{197}human bones near Borrowash, Derbyshire, in 1841,[689]and is in the Bateman Collection, now at Sheffield. To judge from the woodcut in the Catalogue, the cast must have been taken from this specimen.

“A very elegant axe-head, 5 inches long, of reddish basalt, beautifully wrought, with a slight moulding round the angles, and a perforation for the shaft,” is described by Mr. Bateman[690]as having been found on a barrow eleven miles E. of Pickering, Yorkshire.

Mouldings of various kinds occur on Danish and German axe-hammers of the Bronze Age,[691]but this form of small axe with a rounded butt is of rare occurrence. The longitudinal line in relief which occurs on the sides of some German battle-axes[692]has been regarded as an imitation of the mark left on bronze axes by the junction of the two halves of the mould. The small axe-heads from Germany[693]are wider at the butt, and more like Figs. 118 and 120 in outline.

Fig. 129.—Crichie, Aberdeenshire.

The beautiful battle-axe, formed of fine-grained mica schist, found placed on burnt bones in a “Druidical” circle at Crichie, near Inverurie, Aberdeenshire,[694]and presented by the Earl of Kintore to the National Museum at Edinburgh, has deeply-incised lines round the margins of the hollow sides at the mouth of the shaft-hole. This weapon is 4 inches in length, and is considerably sharper at the broader end than at the other, though the edge is well rounded. For the loan of Fig. 129 I am indebted to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. In general character this specimen approximates to a somewhat rare Irish form, shortly to be mentioned, of which I possess a{198}specimen. The battle-axe from the barrow at Selwood, Fig. 140, is also slightly ornamented by lines on the sides, and that from Skelton Moors, Fig. 139, is fluted.

Two axe-hammers of granite and greenstone(41⁄2and 5 inches) of much the same type as Fig. 129, but more elongated, so as in form to resemble Fig. 136, were found near Ardrossan,[695]Ayrshire.

An unfinished axe-head of the same kind was found at Middleton,[696]Stevenston, Ayrshire.

An axe-head of porphyritic greenstone(73⁄4inches long), from Stainton Dale, near Scarborough,[697]is said to resemble in form an Irish axe-head engraved in theUlster Journal of Archæology.[698]If so, the sides through which the hole is bored were hollow, as in Fig. 129, and there was also a moulding round them. This Irish axe-head is formed of a kind of pale green hone-stone, and is now in the British Museum. Instead of incised lines there are raised flanges on each face, bordering the concave side in which is the shaft-hole. The length is51⁄4inches, and the butt-end is half an oval, just flattened at the end. It was found in the river Bann.

Axe-heads of a much more clumsy character than any of those last described are of more frequent occurrence in this country. The one I have selected for illustration as Fig. 130, is rather small of its kind. It is made of greenstone, the surface of which has considerably suffered from weathering, and was found in draining at Walsgrave-upon-Sowe, near Coventry. It was presented to my collection by the late Mr. J. S. Whittem, F.G.S. The shaft-hole, as usual, tapers inwards from both sides; its surface is more polished than that of the exterior of the implement. A small portion of the end of the butt is flat, but this appears due to accident rather than design. I have a rather longer axe-head, of porphyritic greenstone, which was washed out of the ground by a brook at Ayside, near Newby Bridge, Windermere, and was given to me by Mr. Harrison, of Manchester. It is considerably rounded in both directions at the butt, the edge is narrow, and one side, probably the outer, much more rounded than the other. The edge is carefully ground, but farther up the face, the surface shows that it has been picked into form. The shaft-hole is much like that of Fig. 130.

Fig. 130.—Walsgrave-upon-Sowe.1⁄2

I have another specimen from Plumpton, near Penrith(91⁄2inches), rounded at the butt, but unsymmetrical, owing to a natural plane of cleavage interfering with the shape, and, as it were, taking off a slice of the stone. The shaft-hole is oval, the longer diameter being lengthwise of the blade, and the edge is oblique. The sides are flatter than those of Fig. 130. In my collection are others from Mawbray and Inglewood Forest, Cumberland(71⁄2and 8 inches), and one (7 inches) from Cader Idris, Merionethshire. Another (10 inches) was found at Llanfairfechan,[699]Carnarvonshire, another at Llanidloes,[700]Montgomeryshire, and a third in Anglesey.[701]The late Mr. Llewellynn Jewitt, F.S.A., had a flatter and longer specimen of this form (10 inches), found at Winster, Derbyshire. Implements of this character, but often{199}approximating in shape to Fig. 131, have been found in considerable numbers, though as isolated specimens, in the North. One found in Aberdeenshire(81⁄2inches long), of this class, but with the butt-end slightly hollowed, and having a well-marked shoulder on each face, as if by continual reduction by sharpening at the edge, is engraved in theArchæological Journal.[702]One from Scotland[703](101⁄4inches) was exhibited by the Marquis of Breadalbane at Edinburgh, in 1856, and one (12 inches) from Alnwick.[704]Others have been found at Tillicoultry Bridge,[705]Clackmannan; Kelton,[706]Kircudbrightshire; in Wigtownshire[707];{200}Silvermine,[708]Torphichen, Linlithgow; and Laurie Street,[709]Leith; another from the coast of Scotland is engraved in Skelton’s “Meyrick’s Armour,”[710]but is there regarded as having been brought over by Danish invaders. Other Scottish[711]specimens are numerous. There are thirteen in the Grierson Museum, Thornhill, Dumfriesshire. One of the same form as the figure(93⁄8inches) was found at Dean,[712]near Bolton, Lancashire, and others at Hopwood and Saddleworth in the same county. One of grit(71⁄2inches) was found at Siddington,[713]near Macclesfield. Another (8 inches), found at Kirkoswald, Cumberland, is in the museum at Newcastle, together with a similar specimen from Haydon Bridge; and others have been found at Thirstone, Shilbottle, Barrasford,[714]and Hipsburn,[715]Northumberland; and in Yorkshire.[716]One(101⁄2inches) was found at Ehenside Tarn,[717]Cumberland. Others at Rusland, North Lonsdale, and Troutbeck. A long list of stone-hammers, &c., found in Cumberland and Westmorland, has been given by Chancellor R. S. Ferguson, F.S.A.,[718]and a similar list has been compiled for Lancashire and Cheshire.[719]They occur also in more southern districts. I have seen one (8 inches) from the neighbourhood of Glastonbury. Another of the same length was found on Dartmoor, near Burnt Tor. Others(81⁄2and 9 inches) from Ashbury and Holsworthy,[720]Devon, are in the Museum of the Plymouth Institute. One was found at Withycombe Raleigh,[721]Devon. A fine specimen (8 inches long), with the sides somewhat hollowed, was found at Tasburgh, Norfolk. Another of greenstone(51⁄2inches), and rather curved longitudinally, was found in the same parish. Other specimens from Norfolk are mentioned in the Norwich volume of the Archæological Institute. I have one of serpentine from Chatteris Fen, which has been broken diagonally, and had a fresh edge ground quite away from the middle. The Rev. S. Banks had one of hard sandstone(73⁄4inches), found in Cottenham Fen. Its faces are more parallel, so that the edge is more obtuse. I have seen one, found near Stourton(91⁄2inches), Somersetshire, straighter at the sides, and having the angles rounded. They occur in Leicestershire.[722]One (7 inches) from the Cemetery at Leicester, and one(91⁄2inches) from Barrow-on-Soar, are recorded. An axe of the same kind, but smaller, found near Imola, has been engraved by Gastaldi.[723]

Perhaps the more common variety, in Cumberland, is that which is somewhat flattened at the butt, like Fig. 131, and which is, more{201}properly speaking, an axe-hammer. This specimen was found near Bed Dial, Wigton, Cumberland, and is in my own collection. The two sides are nearly flat and parallel, and the edge appears to have been re-sharpened since the axe-head was first formed, as it is ground away to a shoulder a little below where it is perforated. It is formed of an igneous rock. A very symmetrical example,81⁄2inches long, with the sides nearly flat, from Aikbrae, Culter, Lanarkshire, is engraved in theJournal of the Archæological Association.[724]

Fig. 131.—Wigton.1⁄2

A very similar specimen, 11 inches long, found in a turf moss near Haversham, Westmorland, is engraved in theArchæologia,[725]as is{202}another from Furness.[726]Another, with the sides more parallel, and rounder at the end, 8 inches in length, was found near Carlisle upwards of a century ago, and forms the subject of an interesting paper by Bishop Lyttelton.[727]Two also were found at Scalby,[728]near Scarborough. In the Greenwell Collection are several implements of this character, obtained in the North of England. They are 8 to 9 inches long, and 4 to 5 inches broad. One (10 inches) is from Helton, in the parish of Chalton, Northumberland; and another, of nearly the same size and form as Fig. 131, from Castle Douglas, Kircudbrightshire; another of greenstone (6 inches) from Brompton Carr, Yorkshire; and others, varying in form, from Ousby Moor, Cumberland, and Heslerton Wold, Yorkshire. A fine example (8 inches), truncated at the butt, from Dunse Castle,[729]Berwickshire, has been figured.

In the British Museum are several axe-heads of this form. One, 9 inches long, of a porphyritic rock, is said to have been found in a barrow on Salisbury Plain. One, 12 inches long, is from Stone, Staffordshire, as well as another in which the boring is incomplete, there being only a conical depression on each side. A third, thinner (8 inches), was found near Hull. A fourth, of compact felspathic material,81⁄4inches long, is from the parish of Balmerino, Fife. A fifth, of similar material, 8 inches long, is from Llanbrynmair, Montgomeryshire.[730]It is worked to a flat oval at the butt-end, but with the angles rounded. The hole, as usual, tapers inwards from each side, but is not at right angles to the central line of the axe. I have a fine implement of this class, but larger and narrower than the figure, and concave on the sides, so that the edge is wider than the butt. It is of basalt, much eroded on the surface, and was found at Hardwick, near Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire. It is101⁄2inches long, about41⁄4inches wide at the butt, where it is 3 inches thick. The shaft-hole is nearly 2 inches in diameter, and almost parallel; the weight,81⁄2lbs.

One(91⁄2inches) was found at Grimley,[731]Worcestershire. Another, of porphyry, nearly triangular in outline (7 inches), from Necton, Norfolk, is in the Norwich Museum. The shaft-hole, in this case, is parallel, but in most, it tapers both ways, contracting from about13⁄4or 2 inches on each face to about11⁄4inches in diameter in the middle. One of greenstone (6 inches), found near Ely, has an oval hole.

Fig. 132.—Wollaton Park.1⁄2

The late Mr. Llewellynn Jewitt, F.S.A., had an axe-hammer of this class(71⁄2inches), but still more flattened at one end, found in Cambridgeshire. At the edge the faces form an angle of 45° to each other, and there is little doubt that the implement has lost much of its original length through continual sharpening. He also kindly lent me for engraving the curious axe-hammer shown in Fig. 132, and has made use of my wood-cut in his “Grave Mounds and their Contents.”[732]It is formed of a very fine-grained, hard, and slightly micaceous grit, and its weight exceeds73⁄4lbs. It is somewhat rounded at the hammer-end, which appears to have lost some splinters by use, though the broken surface has since been partially re-ground. The blade is slightly curved longitudinally, and both the{203}outer and inner sides have been hollowed from the point, as far as the perforation. The faces have each four parallel grooves worked in them, so that they are, as it were, corrugated into five ribs, extending from near the edge to opposite the centre of the hole. The hollows on the sides also show two slight ribs parallel with the faces of the blade, the angles of which are rounded. The shaft-hole tapers slightly in both directions towards the centre, where it is about13⁄8inch in diameter.{204}The grooves seem to have been produced by picking, but have subsequently been made smoother by grinding. It was found at a spot known as the Sand Hills, in Lord Middleton’s Park,[733]near Wollaton, Notts. The Rev. W. C. Lukis, F.S.A., had a closely similar specimen (10 inches), found at Jervaux, near Bedale, Yorkshire. It is not, however, fluted on the faces.

Fig. 133.—Buckthorpe.1⁄2

Some of these instruments are so heavy that they can hardly have been wielded in the ordinary manner as axes, though they may have served for splitting wood, either by direct blows or by being used as wedges. Bishop Lyttelton thought they might have been battle-axes, but Pegge[734]pointed out that they were too heavy for such a purpose or for use as missiles, and came to the conclusion “that these perforated stones were not originally applied to any warlike purpose, but rather to some domestic service, either as a hammer or beetle for common use.” Professor Nilsson,[735]at a later date, has arrived at the same conclusion, and considers them most suitable for being held in the left hand by a short handle, and driven into wood by blows from a{205}club held in the right hand. He has suggested for them the name of “handled wedges.” In some parts of France I have seen extremely heavy iron axes, much resembling these stone implements in form, used for splitting wood. It seems possible that in old times these heavy stone implements may also have been employed in agriculture.

Axes of this character, usually formed of greenstone, are very common in Denmark and Northern Germany. They are much rarer in France, partly, no doubt, in consequence of the less abundance of suitable material. They also occur in Russia[736]and in Italy.[737]

A small specimen of the same form but rather more square at the butt than Fig. 131, made of dark serpentine, and only35⁄8inches long, was found at Tanagra, in Bœotia, and was formerly in the collection of Dr. G. Finlay,[738]of Athens.

Some of the forms last described, having square butt-ends, might, perhaps, with greater propriety, have been included in the fourth class into which I have proposed to divide these instruments, viz., axe-hammers, sharpened at one end and more or less hammer-like at the other, and with the shaft-hole usually about the centre.

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