Fig. 2 represents a flat celt found in a barrow in the parish of Butterwick, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, by the Rev. Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., F.S.A.[153] It lay at the hips of the body of a young man, at whose right hand the knife-dagger (Fig. 279) and the bronze drill or pricker (Fig. 225) were found, accompanied by a flint knife formed from a broad external flake.

In front of the chest were six buttons, five of jet and one of sandstone, two of which are figured in my “Ancient Stone Implements.”[154] The handle of the celt or axe-head could be plainly traced by means of a dark line of decayed wood, and to all appearance the weapon had been worn slung from the waist. “The blade is of the simplest form, modelled on the pattern of the stone axe, and may, it is probable, be regarded as the earliest type of bronze axe antecedently to the appearance of either flanges or socket. It is 4 inches long, 2? inches wide at the cutting edge, and 1? inches at the smaller end. It had evidently been fixed into a solid handle to a depth of 2 inches.”

A very similar discovery to that at Butterwick was made by the late Mr. Thomas Bateman in a barrow upon Parwich Moor, Derbyshire,[155] called Shuttlestone, opened by him in June, 1848. In this case a man of fine proportions and in the prime of life had been interred, surrounded by fern-leaves and enveloped in a hide with the hair inwards. Close to the head were a small flat bead of jet and a circular flint (probably a “scraper”). In contact with the left arm lay a bronze dagger, much like Fig. 279, with two rivets for the attachment of the handle, which had been of horn. About the middle of the left thigh was a bronze celt of the plainest axe-shaped type. The cutting edge was turned towards the upper part of the person, and the instrument itself had been inserted into a wooden shaft for about 2 inches at the narrow end. The celt and dagger are engraved in the ArchÆological Association Journal,[156] and the former in the ArchÆologia.[157] It is about 5½ inches long, and in form much like Fig. 19.

In a small barrow named Borther Low,[158] about two miles south of Middleton by Youlgrave, Mr. William Bateman discovered a skeleton with the remains of a plain coarse urn on the left side, a flint arrow-head much burnt, a pair of canine teeth of either a fox, or a dog of the same size, and a diminutive bronze celt. In the catalogue of the Bateman Museum[159] this is described as “of the most primitive type, closely resembling the stone celts in form,” and 2 inches only in length. It is there stated to have been found with a flint spear, but this seems to be a mistake for an arrow-head.[160]

Dr. Samuel Pegge,[161] in his letter to Mr. Lort already cited, mentions that “Mr. Adam Wolsey the younger, of Matlock in Derbyshire, has a celt found near the same place a.d. 1787, at Blakelow in the parish of Ashover, with a spear-head of flint, a military weapon also.” Not improbably this was an axe-head of the same class.

A celt of much the same character as Fig. 2, but in outline more nearly resembling Fig. 19, 4? inches long and 2? broad at the cutting edge, was found in company with two diadems or lunettes of gold such as the Irish antiquaries call “Minds,” at Harlyn, in the parish of Merryn, near Padstow, Cornwall, and is engraved in the ArchÆological Journal.[162] The objects were found at a depth of about six feet from the surface, and with them was another bronze article, which was unfortunately thrown away. This was described by the man at work on the spot as “like a bit of a buckle.” The discovery was quite accidental, and no notice seems to have been taken as to whether there were any traces of an interment at the spot, though the earth in contact with the articles is described as having been “of an artificial character.”

It is a celt of this kind which is engraved by Plot[163] as found near St. Bertram’s Well, Ilam, Staffordshire. He describes it as “somewhat like, only larger than, a lath-hammer at the edge end, but not so on the other,” and regards it as a Roman sacrificial axe.

One (4? inches) was found on Bevere Island, Worcestershire.[164]

Others of the same kind have been found near Duxford, Cambs,[165] near Grappenhall, Cheshire;[166] the Beacon Hill, Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire;[167] and, near Battlefield, Shrewsbury,[168] in company with a palstave without loop, some sickle-like objects, and other articles. One, 9 inches long and 5 inches broad at the cutting edge, found in the ruins of Gleaston Castle, Lower Furness, Lancashire, is engraved in the ArchÆologia.[169]

The celts found on Baddow Hall Common,[170] near Danbury, Essex, one of which was 6 inches long and 3½ inches broad at the edge, seem to have been of this character.

I have seen specimens of the same type from Taxley Fen, Huntingdonshire (4¾ inches long), in the collection of Mr. S. Sharp, F.S.A.; and from Raisthorp, near Fimber, Yorkshire, in that of Messrs. Mortimer.

In Canon Greenwell’s collection are three (about 4¾ inches) found at Newbiggin, Northumberland, and others (about 5½ inches) from Alnwick and Wallsend. A specimen in the same collection (5¼ inches), found at Knapton, Yorkshire (E. R.), has a slight ridge along the centre of the sides, which, as well as the angles between the faces and the sides, is indented with a series of slight hammer marks at regular intervals.

Mr. Wallace of Distington, Whitehaven, has one (6½ inches) from Hango Hill, Castleton, Isle of Man.

I have myself celts of the same class from the Cambridge Fens (4? inches); Sherburn Carr, Yorkshire (5? inches), found with another nearly similar; Swansea (4¼ inches, much decayed); and near Pont Caradog, Brithder, Glamorganshire (6¼ inches), found with three others, and given to me by Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., in whose collection the others are preserved.

A few of these flat plain celts have been found in France. Some from the departments of Doubs and Jura are engraved by Chantre.[171] One from Normandy,[172] figured by the AbbÉ Cochet, seems to show some trace of a transverse ridge. One from the Seine is engraved in the “Dictionnaire ArchÉologique de la Gaule.” Another was found in FinistÈre.[173] Others are in the Museum at Narbonne[174] and elsewhere. The form is also found in Spain, both in bronze and what is apparently copper. I have specimens from the Ciudad Real district.

The plain flat form like Fig. 2 is also occasionally found in Germany. One from Ackenbach, near Homberg, is figured by Schreiber.[175]

With nearly straight sides like Fig. 27, the form is not uncommon in Hungary. Some of these are very thin.

Others of nearly the same form, but thicker, have been found on the other side of the Atlantic in Mexico, and many of the copper celts of North America are also of the plain flat type with an oblong section. This circumstance to my mind rather proves that the form is the simplest, and therefore that most naturally adopted for hatchets, than that there was of necessity any intercourse between the countries in which it has prevailed.

The late Mr. Thomas Bateman in 1845 found what he described as “a fine bronze celt of novel form” and “of elegant outline” near the head of a contracted skeleton in a barrow called Moot Low,[179] about half-way between Alsop Moor and Dovedale, Derbyshire. “It was placed in a line with the body, with its edge upwards.” By the kindness of Mr. Llewellynn Jewitt, F.S.A.,[180] I am enabled to give a figure of this instrument in Fig. 3. As will be seen, it has slight flanges along the sides, and the upper part is ornamented with short vertical lines punched in.

That shown in Fig. 4 was found in Yorkshire, and is now in the British Museum. The patina upon it has been somewhat injured, but the ornamentation upon the faces is in places very well preserved. It consists of numerous parallel lines, each made up of short diagonal indentations in the metal, and together forming the pattern which will be better understood from the figure than from any description. The sides are ornamented by having two low pyramidal bosses drawn out upon them, leaving a long concave hexagonal space in the middle between them. This celt has already been figured, but on a much smaller scale, in the “HorÆ Ferales.”[181]

This style of ornamentation on the sides is more common on Irish than on English or Scottish celts. One, however, 5½ inches long, of the doubly tapering form with lunate edge, having the central portion of the blade ornamented with a series of lines in a chevron pattern, and having the sides worked into three facets of a pointed oval form, was found at Whittington,[182] Gloucestershire, and was presented by Mr. W. L. Lawrence, F.S.A., to the Society of Antiquaries. The ornamentation is much like that on Fig. 7, but between the ornamented portion of the blade and the edge there is a curved hollow facet, the ridge below which runs nearly parallel with the edge.

The celt shown in Fig. 5 might perhaps be more properly placed among the flanged celts, as, without having well-developed flanges along the sides, there is a projecting ridge running along either margin of the faces, in consequence of the sides having been somewhat chamfered, or having had their angles beaten down by hammering. It was found on Preston Down, near Weymouth, Dorsetshire; but I do not know under what circumstances. It has become thickly coated with a dark sage-green patina, which has in places been unfortunately knocked off. The beautiful original ornamentation of the celt has been admirably preserved by the patina. The greater part of the surface has been figured with a sort of grained pattern like morocco leather, probably by means of a punch in form like a narrow blunt chisel. The faces of the blade are not flat, but taper in both directions from a ridge rather more than half-way up the blade. Along the lower side of this somewhat curved ridge, and again about an inch above the cutting edge, a belt of chevrons has been punched in, having the appearance of a plaited band. Below the lower band the surface has been left smooth and unornamented, so that grinding the edge would not in any way injure the pattern. The upper part of the blade has at the present time exactly the appearance of dark green morocco with “blind-tooling” upon it. No doubt many blades which were originally ornamented after the same fashion as this specimen have now, through oxidation or the accidental destruction of the patina, lost all traces of their original decoration. On this, where the patina has been destroyed, nothing can be seen of the graining.

I have a flat celt from Mildenhall, Suffolk (6 inches), in form like Fig. 6, the greater part of the surface of which has been grained in a similar manner, though the graining is now almost obliterated.

In the collection of the Duke of Northumberland[183] is a large celt which appears to be of the flat kind, with the side edges “slightly recurved,” and with the surface “elaborately worked with chevrony lines and ornaments which may have been partly produced by hammering.” It was found in Northumberland.

Another belonging to James Kendrick, Esq., M.D., found at Risdon,[184] near Warrington, is described as being “ornamented with punched lines in a very unusual manner.” Another, of which a bad representation from one of Dr. Stukeley’s drawings is given in the ArchÆologia, is said to have been found in the long barrow at Stonehenge.[185] One 4½ inches long, the faces ornamented with a number of longitudinal cuts, was found near Sidmouth.[186]

In some instances the faces of the celts have been wrought into a series of slightly hollowed facets. One such from Read, Lancashire, is in the British Museum, and is engraved as Fig. 6. The central space between the two series of ridges and also the margins of the faces are ornamented with shallow chevrons punched in. The sides have been hammered into three facets, and this has produced slight flanges at the margins of the faces. These facets are ornamented with diagonal lines. This celt was found with two others, apparently of the same kind, and is described and engraved in Whitaker’s “History of the Original Parish of Whalley.”[187] The author says that these instruments were from 9 to 12 inches long, and had a broad and narrow end, but had neither loops, grooves, nor any other contrivance by which they could be fixed in a shaft, or indeed applied to any known use. That in the British Museum was obtained by the late Mr. Charles Towneley. The two others were formerly in the collections of the Rev. Dr. Milles, P.S.A., and of Dr. Whitaker.

In the celt shown in Fig. 7 the flanges are very slight, and are in all probability merely due to the hammering necessary to produce the kind of cable pattern or spiral fluting which is seen in the side view. The faces taper in each direction from a transverse ridge, and the blade for some distance below this is ornamented with an incuse chevron pattern. The blade towards the edge and above the ridge is left plain. This specimen was found in Suffolk, but I do not know the exact locality. It is in my own collection.

Among nineteen bronze celts discovered about the year 1845 on the property of Mr. Samuel Ware, F.S.A., at Postlingford Hall,[188] near Clare, Suffolk, were several of this class, two of which (6½ and 5½ inches), now in the British Museum, are figured in the ArchÆologia. One of them is ornamented with a chevron pattern, covering the part of the blade usually decorated, and having vertical lines running through the centres of the chevrons, and through the junction of their bases. The other is ornamented with a series of curved parallel lines running across the blade, as on Fig. 16. They have a slight projection or ridge at the thickest part of the blade, as have also two that are not ornamented, which likewise were presented by Mr. Ware to the British Museum.

Another celt of this kind (4? inches) was found with a bronze spear-head having loops at the lower part of the blade in the Kilcot Wood,[189] near Newent, Gloucestershire. The faces are ornamented with parallel rows of short diagonal lines, bounded at the lower end by a double series of dots, and a transverse row of diagonal lines.

In the remarkable hoard of bronze instruments discovered on Arreton Down, in the Isle of Wight, about the year 1735, were, besides the spear-heads and dagger blades, of which mention will be made in subsequent chapters, four of these flanged celts. Of these one (6? inches) was ornamented both on the face and sides, but is at present only known from a drawing in an album belonging to the Society of Antiquaries.

The others were plain, and of one of them a woodcut is given in the ArchÆologia,[190] which by the permission of the Council of the Society of Antiquaries is here reproduced as Fig. 8. It is 8 inches in length, and is one of the largest of its class in the British Museum. As will be seen, the blade itself is of the doubly tapering kind. The others are 4½ and 4¾ inches long. They are said to have been found arranged in regular order,[191] and, as Mr. Franks has suggested, may possibly have been the store deposited by some ancient founder, which he was unable to reclaim from its hiding-place.

In Figs. 9 and 10[192] are shown two more of these doubly tapering flanged celts, which were found in the parish of Plymstock,[193] Devonshire, about a mile east of Preston. They lay beneath a flat stone at a depth of about two feet below the surface, together with fourteen other celts, three daggers, one of which is given as Fig. 301, a spear-head or dagger, shown in Fig. 327, and a narrow chisel (Fig. 190). All the sixteen celts are of the same general type, but vary in length from 3¾ inches to 6¾ inches. The extent of the flanges or wings also varies, and in some they project considerably, and are brought with great precision to a sharp edge. At the narrow or butt end, the late Mr. Albert Way, who described the hoard, noticed a peculiar slight groove extending only as far as the commencement of the lateral flanges. The character of the groove is shown in the portion of the side view given with each figure. Mr. Way and Mr. Franks thought that the narrow end of the celt, when produced from the mould, had been slightly bifid, and that the little cleft had been closed by the hammer. My own impression is that these marks are merely the result of “drawing down” the narrow ends with the hammer after their sides had been somewhat “upset” or expanded by hammering out the side flanges.

The sides of some of these celts have been hammered so as to present three longitudinal facets; others have the sides simply rounded. One of the most interesting features of this discovery is its analogy with that already mentioned as having been made at Arreton Down. The greater number of the objects found at Plymstock were given by the Duke of Bedford to the British Museum, and the remainder to the Exeter Museum.

Four or five celts with slight side flanges were found in the Wiltshire barrows by Sir E. Colt Hoare. The largest of these (6¼ inches long and 2½ inches broad) was found in 1808, in a tumulus known as the Bush Barrow, near Normanton.[194] The following are the particulars of this discovery:—On the floor of the barrow was the skeleton of a tall man lying from south to north. Near his shoulders lay the celt, which owes its great preservation to having been inserted in a handle of wood. About eighteen inches south of the head were several bronze rivets, intermixed with wood and thin pieces of bronze, which were regarded as the remains of a shield. Near the right arm were a large dagger of bronze and a spear-head of the same metal, fully 13 inches long. The handle of this dagger, marvellously inlaid with pins of gold, will be described in a subsequent chapter. On the breast of the skeleton was a large lozenge-shaped plate of gold, ornamented with zigzag and other patterns, and near it were some other gold ornaments, some bone rings, and an oval perforated stone mace, the representation of which I have reproduced in my “Ancient Stone Implements.”

We have here an instance of bronze weapons occurring associated with those of stone and with gold ornaments. Sir R. Colt Hoare has recorded some other cases. In a bell-shaped barrow near Wilsford,[195] at the feet of the skeleton of a tall man, he found a massive hammer of a dark-coloured stone, some objects of bone, a whetstone with a groove in the centre, and a bronze celt with small lateral flanges 3¼ inches long. These were accompanied by a very curious object of twisted bronze, apparently a ring about 4½ inches in diameter, having a tang pierced with four rivet holes for fixing in a handle. In the ring itself, opposite the tang, is a long oval hole, through which passes one of three circular links forming a short chain.

In a barrow on Overton Hill,[196] Sir R. Colt Hoare found a contracted skeleton buried either in the trunk of a tree or on a plank of wood. Near the head were a small celt of this kind, an awl with a handle (Fig. 227), and a small dagger, or, as he terms it, a “lance-head.”

The occurrence of celts of this character is not limited to interments by inhumation. In another barrow of the Wilsford group Sir R. C. Hoare found, in a cist 2 feet deep, a pile of burnt bones, an ivory (?) pin, a rude ring of bone, and a small bronze celt, also with side flanges, and only 2? inches long.

Among other specimens of this form of celt may be cited one found on Plumpton Plain,[197] near Lewes, Sussex, now in the British Museum; one (4 inches) found near Dover in 1856; and one (6½ inches) from Wye Down, Kent, both in the Mayer collection at Liverpool. Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., has one (3½ inches) from March, Cambridgeshire.

Flanged celts much like Fig. 9 have been found in France. Some from Haute-SaÔne,[198] RhÔne, and CompiÈgne[199] (Oise) have been figured. I have specimens from Evreux (Eure), Amiens (Somme), and Lyons. The type also occurs in Italy[200] in some abundance; it is found more rarely in Germany.[201] Examples from Denmark are figured by Schreiber,[202] Segested,[203] and Madsen.[204] The form also occurs in Sweden.[205]

A peculiar form of flanged celt is shown in Fig. 11. The flanges extend as usual nearly to the edge, but at the upper part of the blade are set down so as to project still farther over the faces, though at a lower level. The original was found in the Thames,[206] and is the property of Mr. T. Layton, F.S.A.

A small example, ornamented with a fluted pattern on the sides and with the blade slightly tapering in each direction from a central ridge, is shown in Fig. 12. The original was found in Norfolk, and is in the collection of Mr. R. Fitch, F.S.A.

Another, decorated with a fluted chevron pattern on the sides, and with indented herring-bone and chevron patterns on the faces, is given in Fig. 13. This example was found in Dorsetshire, and is now in the British Museum. In the same collection is a beautiful celt with side flanges found near Brough, Westmoreland (6¾ inches), which has the portion of the blade below the thickest part ornamented with a lozengy matted pattern much like that on Fig. 51, but with the alternate lozenges plain and hatched. The hatching on some of the lozenges is from left to right, on others the reverse.

A flanged celt of unusual type, the sides curiously wrought and engraved or punched, and the faces exhibiting a pattern of chevrony lines, is shown in Fig. 14. It was found near Lewes,[207] Sussex, and is the property of Sir H. Shiffner, Bart.

An example of nearly the same kind is shown in Fig. 15, from a celt found in the Fens near Ely, and now in the museum of Mr. Marshall Fisher, of that city. Both faces are ornamented below the thickest part with broad indented lines, vertical and transverse, as will be best seen in the figure. The sides are hammered into three facets, each having a series of diagonal grooves wrought in them. The two left-hand facets on each side have the grooves running upwards from left to right; on the third facet they run downwards, but at a much less inclination. The punch with which the grooves and ornaments were produced has also been employed along the inner angle of the flanges.

A pretty little celt, ornamented with transverse ridges in the lower part, is shown in Fig. 16. The original was found at Barrow, Suffolk.

The Rev. Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., possesses one (4? inches) found at Horncastle, Lincolnshire, the faces of which are decorated in a nearly similar manner; but the sides show a cable pattern, and there is a slight central ridge on the faces.

A much larger specimen (6¼ inches), found near the Menai Bridge,[208] Anglesea, has also cabled sides, but the grooves on the faces are straighter and wider apart.

A Danish celt, ornamented in a similar manner, is engraved by Madsen.[209]

The celt shown in Fig. 17 is of somewhat the same character, but the transverse lines are closer and not continuous. They have evidently been produced by means of a small blunt punch, with the aid of a hammer. The original was found at Liss,[210] near Petersfield, Hants, and is now in the British Museum.

Flanged celts decorated on the faces are of rare occurrence in France. One of narrow proportions, and ornamented with lozenges and zigzags, was found at Mareuil-sur-Ourcq[211] (Oise).

In Fig. 19 is shown a remarkably well-preserved specimen in my own collection, which is said to have been found near Drumlanrig, Dumfriesshire. The sides present two longitudinal facets at a low angle to each other. In hammering these the margin of the faces has been somewhat raised; they are otherwise smooth and devoid of ornament. Other specimens have three facets on the sides.

Instruments of much the same character have been found near Biggar[214] (6? inches), Culter[215] (5¼ inches), both in Lanarkshire; on the farm of Colleonard,[216] near Banff (found with three which were ornamented); at Sluie on the Findhorn,[217] Morayshire (two, 6 inches); near Abernethy,[218] Perthshire (4 inches across face); near Ardgour House,[219] Invernessshire (5¾ inches); the Hill of Fortrie of Balnoon,[220] Inverkeithney, Banffshire (5¾ inches long); Ravelston,[221] near Edinburgh (7 inches); Cobbinshaw, Midcalder, Edinburgh (4¾ inches), in my own collection. One found in the Moss of Cree,[222] near Wigton in Galloway, has been mentioned by Wilson, and is engraved in the Ayr and Wigton Collections.[223] Others from Inch and Leswalt, Wigtonshire, have also been figured.[224]

In the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh are other flat celts, some of them with slight flanges at the edge, from Eildon, Roxburghshire; Inchnadamff, Sutherlandshire; Dunino, Fifeshire; Vogrie and Ratho, Midlothian; Kintore and Tarland, Aberdeenshire; and other places.

Some celts of this form, but with slight side flanges, have been found in the South of France.[226]

A celt of this class, also in the Museum at Edinburgh, is probably the largest ever found in the United Kingdom. It is 13? inches in length, 9 inches in its greatest breadth, but only 1? inch at the narrow end. Its thickness is about ? inch in the middle of the blade, and its weight is 5 lbs. 7 ozs. It is shown on a scale of rather more than one-fourth in Fig. 20, for the use of the woodcut of which I am indebted to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. It was found in digging a drain on the farm of Lawhead,[227] on the south side of the Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh.

Some of the Scottish celts, both flat and doubly tapering, are ornamented on the faces. One with four raised longitudinal ribs, and two with a series of short incised or punched lines upon their faces, were among those found on the farm of Colleonard,[228] Banff; another has shallow flutings on the blade; another, E22, in the Catalogue of the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh, is also ornamented with incised lines. One of those from Sluie,[229] Morayshire, is cited by Wilson.

The tastefully ornamented celt shown in Fig. 21 was found near Nairn, and is now in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, to the Council of which I am indebted for the use of the cut. The wreathed lines appear to have been produced by a chisel-like punch. The ornamentation of both faces is almost exactly similar.

I have two flat celts, both said to have been found near Falkland, Fifeshire, one of which (6¾ inches) has had grooves about half an inch apart worked in the faces parallel to the sides, so as to form very pointed chevrons down the centre of the blade. The other (5 inches long) has had broad shallow dents about ½ inch long and ? inch apart made in its faces, so as to form a herring-bone pattern.

The doubly tapering celt shown in Fig. 22 is also said to have been found near Falkland. Below the ridge the face has been ornamented with parallel belts of short, narrow indentations arranged longitudinally for about half the length of the lower face, but nearer the edge transversely. The sides are worked into three longitudinal facets.

Of Scottish flanged celts resembling Fig. 9, the following may be mentioned. One found in Peeblesshire[230] (5? inches long, with a circular depression on one face); one from Longman,[231] Macduff, Banffshire (3¾ inches long).

Another of the same class, having a round hole at the upper part of the blade, is said to have been found in Scotland, and is engraved by Gordon.[232]

A celt with but slightly raised flanges and peculiar ornamentation is shown in Fig. 23. It was found at Greenlees,[233] near Spottiswoode, Berwickshire, and is in the collection of Lady John Scott. There is a faintly marked stop-ridge, above which the blade has been ornamented by thickly set parallel hammer or punch marks. The sides are fluted in a cable pattern. Parallel to the cutting edge are three slight fluted hollows, and on the blade above are segments of concentric hollows of the same kind, forming what heralds would term “flanches” on the blade. Whether in this ornament we are to see a representation of the “flanches” of the winged palstave like Fig. 85, such as is so common on socketed celts, or whether it is of independent origin, I will not attempt to determine.

A flanged celt with a slight stop-ridge, having the sides ornamented with a cable pattern and the faces with rows of triangles alternately hatched and plain, is shown in Fig. 24. The original was found near Perth,[234] and is in the collection of the Rev. James Beck, F.S.A. A celt with five hatched bands surmounted by triangles, and with the sides cable moulded, though found in Denmark,[235] much resembles this Scottish specimen and some of those from Ireland. Another with similar sides, but with the lower part of the faces ornamented with narrow vertical grooves, was found at Applegarth,[236] Dumfriesshire, and is now in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh. It is represented in Fig. 25.

Another decorated celt of the same character, though with different ornamentation, is shown in Fig. 26. The curved hands on the faces are formed of lines with dots between, and the sides have a kind of fern-leaf pattern upon them, like that on the winged celt from Trillick, Fig. 98. The original was found at Dams, Balbirnie,[237] Fifeshire.

In Fig. 27 is shown a small example of a celt apparently of pure copper, which was found at Ballinamallard, Co. Fermanagh, and was kindly added to my collection by the Earl of Enniskillen. I have another, more like Fig. 28, from Ballybawn, Co. Cork, presented to me by Mr. Robert Day, F.S.A.

A small celt of this character, from King’s County, now in the British Museum, is only 2? inches in length. Fig. 28 shows a very common form of Irish celt, in this instance made of bronze. The instruments of this type are in general nearly flat, and without any marked central ridge, such as is to be observed more frequently on the longer and narrower form, of which a remarkably small specimen from the collection of Mr. R. Day, F.S.A., is shown in Fig. 29.

In this case it will be seen that the blade tapers both ways from a low central ridge. Others of these flat celts are in outline more like Fig. 20. One such, in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, is 12¼ inches long by 8½ inches broad, and weighs nearly 5 lbs. One in the British Museum, which, unfortunately, is somewhat imperfect, must have been of nearly the same size. The usual length of the celts like Fig. 28 is from 4 to 6 inches. One from Greenmount, Castle Bellingham, Co. Louth, is engraved in the ArchÆological Journal.[239]

Occasionally the flat surface is ornamented. An example of this kind (7½ inches) is given in Fig. 30, from a specimen found in the county of Tipperary,[240] and now in the British Museum. The surface has the patterns punched in, and the angles between the faces and the sides are slightly serrated. Some few Irish celts are slightly fluted on the face, like the English specimen, Fig. 6.

Another ornamented celt of this class, from my own collection, is shown in Fig. 31. On this the roughly worked pattern has been produced by means of a long blunt punch, or possibly by the pane or narrow end of a hammer; but it is far more probable that the former tool was used than the latter. The two faces are nearly alike, and the sides have been hammered so as to produce a central ridge along them.

A large and highly ornamented flat celt in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., is shown in Fig. 32. The ornamentation on each face is the same, and the sides have been hammered so as to produce a succession of flat lozenges upon them. It was found near Connor, Co. Antrim, with two others of nearly the same size, one of which was scraped by the finder. The other is ornamented with a cross-hatched border along the margins, and three narrow bands across the blade, one cross-hatched, one of triangles alternately hatched and plain, and one with vertical lines. Parallel with the cutting edge, which, however, has been broken off in old times, is a curved band of alternate triangles, like that across the centre of the blade. Much of the surface is grained by vertical indentations, and the sides are ornamented like those of Fig. 4.

In the celts tapering in both directions from a slight transverse ridge, the sides have often been “upset” by hammering, so as to produce a thickening of the blade at the margins almost amounting to a flange. Not unfrequently a pattern is produced upon the sides, as in Fig. 33, where it will be seen that the median ridge along the sides is interrupted at intervals by a series of flat lozenges. The faces of this instrument below the ridge have been neatly hammered, so as to produce a kind of grained surface not unlike that of French morocco leather. This specimen, which is unusually large, was found near Clontarf, Co. Dublin. The same kind of decoration occurs on the sides of many specimens in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy.[241]

The decoration of the faces often extends over the upper part of the blade, though, when hafted, much of this was probably hidden. In Fig. 34, borrowed from Wilde (Fig. 248), this peculiarity is well exhibited. The sides have the long lozenges upon them, like those on the celt last described.

The beautiful specimen shown in Fig. 35 was presented to me by Mr. Robert Day, F.S.A. The sides have in this case a kind of cable pattern worked upon them. The ornamentation of the faces is remarkable as having so many curved lines brought into it. The lower part of the blade has two shallow flutings upon it, approximately parallel to the edge.

In the case of a celt of much the same form and size (7¼ inches), which belonged to the late Rev. Thomas Hugo, F.S.A., and was at one time thought to have been found in the Thames,[242] it is the upper part of the blade that is decorated, and not the lower, which is left smooth.

There is no central ridge, but the upper part has a coarse lozenge pattern hammered upon it, the centres of the lozenges being roughly hatched with transverse lines. Possibly this roughening may have assisted to keep the blade fast in the handle, though in producing it some artistic feeling was brought to bear. There is little doubt of this instrument being of Irish origin.

Other celts, like Fig. 36, have the upper part of the blade plain and the lower ornamented. This specimen was found at Trim, Co. Meath, and is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S. It will be observed that even the cabled fluting of the sides ceases opposite the transverse ridge.

In Figs. 37 and 38 are shown two more of these slightly flanged ornamented celts. The first is in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, and has already been figured by Wilde (Fig. 298). The lower part of the blade is fluted transversely with chevron patterns punched in along the curved ridges. In the second, which was presented to me by Dr. Aquilla Smith, M.R.I.A., there is a fairly well defined though but slightly projecting curved stop-ridge, and the blade is decorated by boldly punched lines, forming a pattern which a herald might describe as “per saltire argent and azure.” The cable fluting on the sides is beautifully regular. The Rev. G. W. Brackenridge, of Clevedon, possesses a longer specimen (5? inches), found at Tullygowan, near Gracehill, Co. Antrim, the faces of which are ornamented with a nearly similar design. Canon Greenwell has another example found at Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim.

One of these is shown in Fig. 44, the upper part of the blade of which is, as will be seen, so narrow, and the instrument itself so small and light, that it is a question whether it should not be regarded as a chisel or paring-tool rather than as a hatchet. The blade tapers both ways, and the incipient flange is more fully developed above the ridge than below. The original was found at Armoy, Co. Antrim. It is much broader at the cutting edge than the blade from Culham, Fig. 55, to which it is somewhat allied.

Another Irish form of celt, or possibly chisel, tapers in both directions from a central transverse ridge, near which there are lateral projections on the blade, as if to prevent its being driven into the handle. An example of this kind, from the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, is given in Fig. 45. There are nine or ten in that collection, and they vary in length from about 3¾ to 8 inches. Others are in the British Museum, one of which is more distinctly tanged than the figure, and the stops are formed by the gradual widening out of the blade, which again contracts with a similar curve, and once more widens out at the edge. This type is also known in France. Other varieties of this form are described in Chapter VII.

A doubly tapering blade in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, shown in Fig. 46, has a slight stop-ridge on the face, and also expands at the sides, though not to the same extent as the plain specimens just mentioned. It is ornamented with straight and curved bands formed of chevron patterns.

A double-edged instrument, also in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, has a stop-ridge on one of the faces only, as shown in Fig. 47.

An instrument of the same form, but with stops at the sides instead of on the face, 4? inches long, ? inch broad at the edges, and about ¼ inch thick, was found at Farley Heath, Surrey, and is now in the British Museum.

A Danish instrument of the same kind is figured by Worsaae.[245]

Flat celts of iron with lateral stops have been found in the cemetery at Hallstatt, Austria, as well as winged palstaves and socketed celts of the same metal.

Some of the thin votive hatchets found at Dodona[246] are of the same form, and are significant of such blades having been in actual use in Greece.