DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS.—RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES. Among all uncivilised, if not indeed among all civilised nations, arms of offence take a far higher rank than mere tools and implements; and on the first introduction of the use of metal into any country, there is great antecedent probability that the primary service to which it was applied was for the manufacture of weapons. So far as there are means of judging, a small knife or knife-dagger appears to have been among the earliest objects to which bronze was applied in Britain. Possibly, like the Highland dirk, the early form may have served for both peaceful and warlike purposes; but there are other and apparently later forms made for piercing rather than for cutting, and which are unmistakably weapons. The distinction which can be drawn between knives, such as some of those described in the last chapter, and the daggers to be described in this, is no doubt to a great extent arbitrary, and mainly dependent upon size. In the same way the distinction between a large dagger and a small sword, such as some of those to be described in the next chapter, is one for which no hard and fast rule can be laid down. Nor in treating of daggers can any trustworthy chronological arrangement be adopted, though it is probable, as already observed, that the thin flat blades are earliest in date. The late Dr. Thurnam, in the paper already frequently cited, has pointed out that of bronze blades without sockets there are two distinct types. These are the tanged, which he regards as perhaps the more modern, and those provided with rivet-holes in the base of the blade, which seem to be the most ancient. I purpose mainly to follow this classification; and, inasmuch as the tanged blades are most closely connected with the smaller examples of the same character, described in the last chapter, I take them first in order, though possibly they are not the earliest in date. Fig. 277.—Roundway. ½ But for its size, the blade shown in Fig. 277 might have been regarded as a knife for ordinary use. The original was found in a barrow at Roundway, A smaller blade Another, from Sutton Courtney, Berks (6¼ inches by 1? inches), is in the British Museum. Another (5½ inches) was found by Mr. Fenton in a barrow at Mere Down, Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., has what appears to be a tanged dagger (6 inches) from Sherburn Wold, Yorkshire. A blade of this character (10 inches) was found by M. Cazalis de Fondouce in the cave of Bounias, Smaller tanged blades, of which it is hard to say whether they are knives or daggers, are not uncommon in France. Two are engraved in the “MatÉriaux.” Another form, which appears to be a dagger rather than a knife, has the tang nearly as wide as the blade, and towards its base there is a single rivet-hole. A dagger of this kind was found with a contracted interment in a barrow near Driffield, Yorkshire, and an engraving of it Another, rather narrower in the tang and about 4¼ inches long, was found, with a stone axe-hammer, and bones, in an urn within a barrow at Winwick, A dagger of nearly the same form but having two rivet-holes was found by the late Rev. R. Kirwan in a barrow at Upton Pyne, Fig. 278.—Driffield. ½ One, only 3¼ inches long, and much like Fig. 278 in form, was found in an urn with burnt bones in Moot Low, Another was found with burnt bones in a barrow at Lady Low, What Sir R. C. Hoare terms a lance-head (3 inches), found with amber beads in the Golden Barrow, A knife, 1 inch wide, which had been fastened to its haft of ox-horn by a single rivet, was found by Canon Greenwell in a barrow at Rudstone, Yorkshire. Daggers, or possibly spear-heads, with a broad tang, as well as the moulds in which they were cast, were discovered by Dr. Schliemann on the presumed site of Troy. The more ordinary form of instrument is that of which the blade was secured to the handle by two or more rivets at its broad base. These may be subdivided into knife-daggers with thin flat blades, and daggers which as a rule have a thick midrib and more or less ornamentation on the surface of the blade. The former variety is now generally accepted as being the more ancient of the two, and may probably have served as a cutting instrument for all purposes, and not have been intended for a weapon. Fig. 279, representing a knife-dagger from a barrow at Butterwick, Fig. 279.—Butterwick. ½ A blade of nearly the same form as Fig. 279, but with only two rivet holes, found in a barrow at Blewbury, At End Low, near Hartington, there was a rudely formed “spear-head” of flint beside the knife-dagger, and at Thorncliff, In some cases, though there were holes in the blade, there were no rivets A remarkably small blade, only 1¾ inches long, with two rivet-holes, was found in a tumulus in Dorsetshire. Another (2½ inches) of the same character was found with burnt bones, a needle of wood, and a broken flint pebble, in an urn at Tomen-y-Mur, Of knife-daggers with three rivet-holes found in our southern counties, may be mentioned one (5½ inches) found with a drinking cup and a perforated stone axe, accompanying an unburnt interment, in a barrow at East Kennett, What appear to have been blades of the same kind were found with burnt bones in the barrows near Priddy, An unfinished blade without rivet-holes was also found, with castings of palstaves and flanged celts, at Rhosnesney, From Derbyshire may be cited that from Carder Low, Fig. 280.—Helperthorpe. ½ From Yorkshire Mr. Bateman describes one (4½ inches) with a crescent-shaped mark showing the form of the handle, found with an extended skeleton at Cawthorn. The mention of this pommel suggests that it is time to consider the manner in which these blades were hafted, as to which the discoveries of Sir Richard Colt Hoare in the Wiltshire barrows, and of Canon Greenwell in those of Yorkshire, leave no doubt. The hafts appear in nearly all cases to have consisted of ox-horn, bone, or wood, sometimes in a single piece with a notch for receiving the blade, and sometimes formed of a pair of similar pieces riveted together, one on each side of the blade. The lower end of the haft was often inserted in a hollow pommel usually of bone. Fig. 281.—Helperthorpe. ½ The nature of the arrangement of the haft when formed of two pieces will be readily understood on reference to Fig. 280, in which the presumed outline of the original ox-horn haft is shown by dotted lines, and the rivets by which the two plates of horn were bound together are in the position they originally occupied along the centre of the haft. The outline of the upper part of this handle, where it was secured by two rivets to the blade, is still visible, and is shown by darker shading. The pommel at the lower end was attached by pins of horn or of wood, and not by metal rivets. A separate view and section of the pommel is shown in Fig. 281. The original was found by Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., with a contracted interment in a barrow at Helperthorpe, Bone pommels of the same kind have been frequently met with in barrows, but their purpose was not known to some of the earlier explorers. One from a barrow on Brassington Moor In a barrow subsequently opened by Mr. Ruddock near Pickering, Two others in solid bone from barrows at Garton Another pommel of an ornamental character was found with burnt bones in an urn at Wilmslow, Cheshire, and is engraved in the Journal of the British ArchÆological Association, A very remarkable and beautiful hilt of a sword or dagger, formed of amber of a rich red colour and inlaid with pins of gold, was found in a barrow on Hammeldon Down, A small object of amber, apparently the pommel of a diminutive dagger, was found in a barrow at Winterbourn Stoke, Amber was used for inlaying some of the ivory hilts of iron swords at Hallstatt. The bronze object shown full size in Fig. 285 may not improbably be the pommel of the hilt of a dagger or sword. The hole through the base is irregular in form, and may be accidental. It was found in the hoard at Reach Fen, Cambridge, in which were also the tip of a scabbard and some fragments of swords, as well as two large double-edged knives. A somewhat similar object is in the MusÉe de l’Oratoire, at Nantes. Another, found at GrÉsine, What appears to be the hilt of either a sword or dagger was found in a hoard of bronze objects at Allhallows, To return, however, to undoubted examples. The most remarkable of all dagger handles discovered in the British Isles are those obtained by Sir R. Colt Hoare from the barrows of Wiltshire. One of these, from a barrow at Brigmilston, Another dagger, of somewhat the same character, was found at Leicester, and is preserved in the museum of that town. For the sketch from which Fig. 288 is engraved I am indebted to Mr. C. Read. In this instance the pommel consists of two pieces of bone riveted on either side of a bronze plate, which, however, does not appear to have been continuous with the blade. From the length of the rivets remaining in the blade, the handle appears to have been somewhat thicker in the middle than at the sides. In the British Museum is a dagger from a barrow at Standlow, Derbyshire, with a bone pommel of nearly the same character as that from Leicester. Perhaps the most highly ornamented dagger handle ever discovered is At the shoulders was a flanged bronze celt, like Fig. 9. Near the right arm was the dagger and “a spear-head” of bronze. These were accompanied by a nearly square plate of thin gold, with a projecting flat tongue or hook, which was thought to have decorated the sheath of the dagger. Over the breast lay another lozenge-shaped plate of gold, 7 inches by 6 inches, the edges lapped over a piece of wood. On the right side of the skeleton was a stone hammer, Fig. 290.—Roke Down. ½ So very minute, indeed, were these pins, that our labourers had thrown out thousands of them with their shovels and scattered them in every direction before, by the necessary aid of a magnifying glass, we could discover what they were, but fortunately enough remained attached to the wood to enable us to develop the pattern.” Some of the pins are shown in the figure below the hilt. As Dr. Thurnam has pointed out, the ornamentation on a thin piece of metal (said to have been gilt), which apparently decorated the hilt of a bronze dagger, found in a barrow in Dorsetshire, I am unable to guarantee the accuracy of the representation of a large dagger with its handle given in Fig. 290, the original having unfortunately been destroyed in a fire. I have, however, copied it from Dr. Thurnam’s Mr. Solly Hilts made of bronze, though of frequent occurrence in Scandinavia, the South of France, and Italy, are rarely discovered in England or Scotland. That said to have been found at Bere Hill, near Andover, cast in one piece with the blade and with a raised rim round the margin, and studs like rivet-heads in the middle, has been kindly submitted to me by Mr. Samuel Shaw, its owner, and I believe it to be of Eastern and probably Chinese origin. Near Little Wenlock, A beautiful Egyptian Others of nearly the same character are in the British Museum. The end of the hilt is often hollowed, like that of Fig. 277, and the attachment to the blade is by means of three rivets. In Ireland a few daggers have been found with bronze hilts still attached. In the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy is a fine example, which has frequently been published, and which I have here reproduced as Fig. 291, from the engraving given by Wilde, A portion of a blade with a bronze hilt still attached was found near Belleek, Co. Fermanagh, and has been engraved in the Proceedings of the Royal Historical and ArchÆological Association of Ireland. Another Irish form of hafted dagger has also been frequently published. Fig. 294.—Woodyates. ½ Another There is a good example of this type of dagger in the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury. A small dagger (7? inches), found near Ballinamore, Some handles of bronze knives found in Scandinavia and Switzerland I must now return, from this digression as to the hafting of daggers, to the thin blades or knife-daggers of which I was speaking. Of those with four rivets but few can be cited. One of unusually large size is shown in Fig. 294. The original was found by Sir R. C. Hoare in a barrow at Woodyates. A blade of this form is engraved in the “Barrow Diggers,” A nearly similar blade from Oefeli In Fig. 295 is shown a blade with, five rivets, from an interment at Homington, One of more pointed form, and with a more V-shaped notch in the hilt, was found with an unburnt body in a cairn at North Charlton, Northumberland, and is in the Greenwell Collection in the British Museum. The portion is broken off in which were the rivets. Occasionally the surface of these thin blades is ornamented by engraved or punched patterns. The decoration usually consists of converging bands of parallel lines. The example given as Fig. 296 was found in a barrow at Idmiston, near Salisbury, and is now preserved in the Blackmore Museum. In one found in Dow Low, In a barrow near Maiden Castle, One from another barrow in Dorsetshire A small blade found in an urn at Wilmslow, A dagger from a tumulus at Hewelinghen (Pas de Calais), and now in the museum at Boulogne, is of this character. It has double lines to the chevron and four rivet-holes. Another was found with an interment at Rame A dagger much like Fig. 296, but with a double row of rivets, has been found at Moerigen, A dagger with a pointed blade having two parallel grooves just within each edge was found with other dagger blades, flat celts, flint arrow-heads, &c., in the tumulus of KerhuÉ-Bras, FinistÈre. A beautifully patinated dagger (7¼ inches) from the Seine at Paris, now in my own collection, has six rivet-holes at the base, as in Fig. 296, and is of nearly the same shape, though rather more sharply pointed. One of the rivets which remains is ? inch long. The blade has upon it a small low rib on either side running parallel with the edge. On the inner side of the rib there is a groove, on the outer side the blade is flat. The edge itself is fluted. I have a small thin blade (4? inches), like Fig. 298, found in the Palatinate, which has four rivet-holes at the base. There is a band of five parallel lines running along each edge, and in the centre of the blade a chevron with the sides slightly curved inwards formed of two similar bands. The lines seem to have been punched in. The mark left by the hilt is like that on Fig. 296. What appear to be knife-daggers, some of them with notches at the side for the reception of rivets, have been found with interments in Spain, and have been described by Don Gongora y Martinez Knife-daggers of much the same character as the English have occasionally been found in Scotland. That shown in Fig. 298 was found in a stone cist in a cairn at Cleigh, Another (4¼ inches) was found in a cairn at Linlathen, Fig. 299.—Collessie. 1/1 Three others, from Drumlanrick, In Ireland the thin flat blades are of rare occurrence. Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., has one from Co. Antrim (4¾ inches) with three rivet-holes, and with a V-shaped notch in the mark of the handle. There is a form of blade which appears to be intermediate between the flat knife-daggers and those to which the name of dagger may more Fig. 300.—Musdin. ½ — Fig. 301.—Plymstock. ? — Fig. 302.—Winterbourne Stoke. ½ A dagger of this class, but more pointed and with two parallel lines engraved on each side of the midrib, was found by Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., in one of the barrows called the Three Tremblers, A more pointed blade, with the central rib much less pronounced, and Another, with a small, well-defined central midrib and two rivets, was found by Canon Greenwell in a barrow at Aldbourn, Wilts. It accompanied a burnt body. Some of the Italian dagger blades are provided with similar midribs. Of the English weapons just described some closely resemble in character the much larger blades of which I shall subsequently have to speak, and which not improbably were those of some form of halberd or battle-axe. A much longer and narrower form, in which the central rib is partly the result of two long lateral grooves along the sides of the blade, is shown in Fig. 301. This was found with two others at Plymstock, I have a much smaller blade, of somewhat the same character (4? inches), but imperfect at the base, found in a barrow near Cirencester; and one smaller still (4¼ inches), from a small barrow near Ablington, Cirencester, Gloucestershire. This latter appears to have had two rivet-holes. A beautiful example of the form of dagger of which Sir Richard C. Hoare found numerous examples in the Wiltshire barrows is shown in Fig. 302. It lay with burnt bones in a wooden cist in a barrow near Winterbourn Stoke. Two other blades (8½ and 8 inches), less highly ornamented, and one of them straighter at the edges, were found with a skeleton buried in the hollowed trunk of an elm-tree in the King Barrow, Dr. Thurnam The fact that many of these blades bore traces of having had a sheath is in favour of their being daggers rather than spear-heads, though it must not be forgotten that Homer ?? d? ??a s??????? pat????? ?sp?sat? ????? Though Sir Richard Colt Hoare at first regarded all these blades as spear-heads, he observes, about two-thirds of the way through his first volume, Other blades of much the same character, found at Everley and Lake, Wilts, and West Cranmore, Somerset, are figured by Dr. Thurnam. Others have been found in a barrow at Ablington, A fine blade of this character (9¼ inches long), with three rivets, was found near Leeds. The midrib ends in a square base. It is not unlike the blade of a halberd. A hafted blade of the same kind, That shown in Fig. 303 (which is copied from Dr. Thurnam’s Fig. 303.—Camerton. ½ — Fig. 304.—Cambridge. ½ A bronze dagger (5½ inches) of the Wiltshire type was found in the well-known barrow at Hove, In a blade of this class (7 inches), found with burnt bones and chippings of flint in a barrow at Teddington, Another (9 inches) formed part of the Arreton Down A bronze dagger (6¾ inches) with three rivets, of which the blade has much suffered from decomposition, was found with a lump of iron pyrites within an urn in a barrow at Angrowse Mullion, I have a dagger (9 inches) much like Fig. 302, only somewhat more taper, found in the Seine at Paris. It has had three rivet-holes, and on the blade are two bands of four lines parallel with the edge. The strengthening of the blade is sometimes effected by forming it with three or more projecting ribs instead of a single midrib. In Fig. 304 is shown a dagger blade in my own collection, found not far A somewhat larger blade (8? inches), from Little Cressingham, A dagger with a central rounded midrib, and apparently two lateral ribs like those on Fig. 304, was found in a barrow near Torrington, A very small dagger or knife, with apparently a well-marked central rib, found near Magherafelt, One of the daggers from the great find at Arreton Down, Possibly some of these weapons may have been halberd blades, such as those hereafter described. Another form of dagger widens out considerably at the base, so as to give the edges an ogival outline, and this form passes into what have been termed rapier-like blades. As is the case with the leaf-shaped blades, which will presently be described, some of these latter are so long that it is hard to say whether they ought to be classed as swords or as daggers. The example engraved as Fig. 307 is from Scotland, and not England, the original being in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh. It was found in 1828 upon the farm of Kilrie, near Kinghorn, Fifeshire. The blade, as is usually the case, shows a central ridge upon it, but is also ornamented with parallel lines engraved on either side, which is a feature of far less common occurrence. A plain blade of the same character (7½ inches), but narrower in its proportions, was found at Bracklesham, I have another (7? inches), showing four facets on the blade, from I have seen others from the Cambridge Fens. Another (13½ inches) with four rivets, and more nearly approaching the rapier form, was found in the Thames at Ditton, Fig. 305.—Magherafelt. ½ — Fig. 306.—Arreton Down. ½ — Fig. 307.—Kinghorn. ½ One (9¾ inches) with two rivets, and the base forming half a hexagon, was found at New Bilton, In some the blade is ornamented by ribs cast in relief and by engraving. A good example of the kind from the collection of Mr. Robert Day, F.S.A., is shown in Fig. 308. It was found in the old castle of Colloony, A blade (7 inches) also ornamented at the base with a vandyke pattern was found at Pitkaithly, Perthshire, and is now in the museum at Edinburgh. Many blades of daggers from Germany are ornamented. One of the most beautiful that I have seen is that in the museum at Laibach, Carniola. Another (11½ inches), with the hilt complete, and the blade and pommel-plate beautifully ornamented, was found near Vienna. In the museum of the Royal Irish Academy
An ornamented blade of more elongated form (16½ inches) is engraved on the scale of one-fourth in Fig. 310. It was found at Kilrea, Co. Sligo, and is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S. There is a vandyke pattern near the base, which is not shown in the cut. I have a plain blade (14 inches) with merely a central ridge, and with two rivet-holes, which is also from Ireland, and of much the same form. In a small English blade (5 inches) of the same character there are no rivet-holes at the base. A blade from the Thames A blade of the same form (10 inches), but with only two rivet-holes at the base, was found at the foot of “the Castle Tump,” Newchurch, Rapier-shaped blades from 8½ inches to 12½ inches long, found at Auchtermuchty, Fife; at Fairholm, Dumfriesshire; and near Ardoch, Perthshire, are preserved in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh. Fig. 312 represents a small blade of this character dredged up from the Kennet and Avon Canal, between Theale and Thatcham, Berks, and A number of blades of this character, but without these small notches, have been found in the Cambridgeshire Fens. Mr. Fisher, of Ely, has four, varying in length from 8 inches to 9 inches, about 2 inches wide at the base and 1 inch in the middle of the blade. They all have two rivet-holes, in some of which are rivets ? inch long. Two blades found at South Kyme, The base of these blades appears sometimes to be disproportionately broad with regard to the blades themselves. An example from Coveney, near Downham Hithe, Cambridgeshire, is in the collection of Mr. Fisher, of Ely, and is shown in Fig. 313. This widening was no doubt intended to aid in steadying the blade in its hilt. I have a dagger of the same form (8 inches), but with a more tapering blade, found in Waterbeach Fen, Cambridge. Another (11½ inches), from Harlech, Merionethshire, is even narrower in the blade than the Coveney example, but it has lost its edges by corrosion. Some blades, from 12½ inches to 15½ inches long, and rapier-like in character, from Maentwrog in the same county, are engraved in the ArchÆologia, One 14¾ inches long, and of much the same outline, but flat in the centre instead of ridged, was found at Fisherton, Canon Greenwell has two rapier-like blades from the Thames, 17½ inches and 15? inches long, from Sandford. With the latter was found a leaf-shaped blade (19 inches) with two rivet-holes in the base. Such blades are almost long enough to be regarded as swords. A weapon of this form (16? inches), with the blade reduced in thickness towards the edges, and with two large rivets, one of them still in situ, was found in the Thames, and is now in the British Museum. Another in the same collection (12? inches), from the Thames at Kingston, is much narrower at the base. A blade of this character from Blair Drummond Moss was exhibited in the museum at Edinburgh, and is preserved at Blair Drummond House. The type occurs in France. One found at Auxonne, Another, rather shorter and broader, with two rivets and two notches in the sides of the base, was found in the bay of PenhouËt Fig. 313.—Coveney. ½ — Fig. 314.—Thames. ½ I have examples from the Seine at Paris, and also from the neighbourhood of Amiens. In some cases the rivet-holes cut through the margin of the metal as in Fig. 304. Blades appear sometimes to have been cast with deep rounded notches in the base to receive the rivets instead of having holes drilled or cast in them. That shown in Fig. 314 is of this character, and was found in the Thames at London. It was given to me by Mr. C. Roach Smith, F.S.A. Others of the same character have also been found in the Thames. One of these (16? inches), of nearly the same type but more rounded at the lower part of the wings, is in the British Museum. Canon Greenwell has a blade of this type (8¾ inches), found near Methwold, Norfolk. A specimen of this form (11 inches) from Edington Burtle, Somerset, is in the Museum at Taunton. A blade from Inchigecla, Some of the rapier-shaped blades, and especially those of larger size, such as seem intermediate between swords and daggers, are ornamented A broader blade of the same character (12¾ inches), with two very large rivets, was found in the Thames at Kingston, and is now in the British Museum. A narrower blade (12 inches) with the rivet-holes cutting through the base, was found at CÆsar’s Camp, Farnham, Surrey, and is in the same collection. A long blade of this character from the Thames (21 inches long and 2? inches wide at the base), with central ridge and slight flutings at the edges, may more properly be regarded as a sword. It is in the British Museum. Six blades, all of the rapier character, but varying in details, and from 12 inches to 22 inches in length, were found at Talaton, Devonshire. A blade of the same character from Ireland is given by Vallancey. A rapier-shaped blade (21 inches) with two rivet-holes was found, with socketed celts and a palstave, at Mawgan, Blades of this character are also found in France. Two from the departments of Aisne and Somme, A rapier blade from the ChaussÉe Brunehault, and now in the Boulogne Museum, is almost like a trefoil in outline at the hilt end. A still longer blade of this character, which perhaps ought with greater propriety to have been classed among swords, is shown in Fig. 316 on the scale of one-fourth. It has unfortunately lost its point, but is still 17¾ inches long. It would appear to have been originally about 20½ inches long, as shown in the figure. The blade in this case has three projecting ribs between which and again towards the edges it is fluted. It was found in the River Ouse, near Thetford. The imperfect rivet-holes at the base appear to have been cast in the blade, and the means of steadying it in its hilt must have been but inadequate. Such weapons, however, can only have been intended for stabbing, and not for striking. Another blade of similar form, but with perfect rivet-holes, was found in the fine earthwork of Badbury, Dorsetshire, and is in the collection of Mr. Durden, of Blandford. It is 23½ inches long and 2-9/16 inches wide at the base above the rivet-holes. Blades of this kind are occasionally found in Ireland. In the British Fig. 315.—Chatteris. ¼ — Fig. 316.—Thetford. ¼ — Fig. 317.—Londonderry. ¼ Fig. 318. Lissane. 1/5 Nearly all the rapier-shaped blades which have still to be noticed may be regarded as probably those of swords rather than of daggers. That shown in Fig. 317 is in my own collection, and was found near Londonderry. The method of attachment to the hilt by two rivets fitting into notches at the sides of the base of the blade is the same as in some of the shorter weapons already mentioned. Another (19 inches), found at Killeshandra, A blade (14 inches) found in the Loire, and now in the Nantes Museum, has side notches of nearly the same character as those in Fig. 317. The finest example of the rapier kind ever found in Ireland is that shown in Fig. 318, which by the kindness of the Royal Irish Academy I here reproduce from Sir W. Wilde’s Catalogue. It is no less than 30¼ inches long, and is only ? inch in width at the centre of the blade, which has a strong midrib. It was found in a bog at Lissane, Co. Derry. I have a blade, found at Noailles, near Beauvais, Oise, France, identical in form and character, but only 23¼ inches long. Were it not that the rivets are wanting, Fig. 318 might have been taken from the French instead of the Irish specimen. Another narrow blade, with a heavy rounded midrib (22? inches long and 1¾ inch broad at the base), was found in a bog at Galbally, Co. Tyrone, and had at the time of its discovery the original hilt attached. There also appear to have been some remains of a scabbard, but this is uncertain. The hilt has been engraved in the Proceedings of the Royal Historical and ArchÆological Society of Ireland, Mr. Wakeman, of Enniskillen, in his interesting account of the discovery, describes the material of which the hilt is formed as bone, or rather whalebone. Both blade and haft are, however, now in my own collection, and I think there can be no doubt that the material of the hilt is in reality a dark-coloured ox-horn. On some Danish blades I have seen the fibrous texture of this substance still shown by the oxide or salt of the metal, forming as it were a cast of its surface, which has outlasted the horn against which it was originally formed. There are no traces of the rivets in the Galbally hilt, so that probably pins of hard wood served to secure it to the blade. Some Scandinavian daggers have been found with their handles of horn still attached. One from a barrow in HasslÖf, The bronze hilts for the long rapier-like blades are rare, but not unknown. One of these blades, found in the Co. Tipperary, The hilt of a sword in the museum at Tours is joined to the blade in much the same fashion, but has a mere indentation instead of the central semicircular notch. The body of the hilt is engraved with bands of triangles and circles. Fig. 320.—Tipperary. ½ A rapier-shaped blade, with a bronze hilt of nearly the same form, but with six rivets, is in the museum at Narbonne. Some Egyptian bronze daggers have the hilts formed in the same style. In another form, the blade of which is more leaf-shaped, like the ordinary bronze sword, the means of attachment to the haft are merely slight notches at the sides. That shown in Fig. 321 is only 11 inches long, but the edge has been removed for about 1½ inch from the base, showing the portion which presumably was inserted in the hilt. The original was found near Ely, and is in the collection of Mr. M. Fisher, of that town. I have a small specimen of the same kind (6¾ inches) from Fordham, Cambs. A more leaf-shaped blade (14 inches), with rivet notches at the side of the base, was found, with leaf-shaped spear-heads, at Worth, A blade more like Fig. 321 (15¼ inches long and 1 inch broad) was found in the Mardyke, near Grays Thurrock, A long-tanged form, of which it is sometimes difficult to say whether it is a sword, a knife, or a dagger, is of not unfrequent occurrence in Ireland. That shown in Fig. 322 is in my own collection. I have another found near Armagh (8½ inches), which is rather broader in its proportions. It has a diagonal row of circular indentations across each side of the blade just above the shoulders. Not improbably these and other specimens originally existed in a somewhat different form, but having been injured at their base were refitted with a tang for attachment to the haft instead of being secured by rivets at the sides like those last mentioned. Some Danish daggers are provided with merely a slight tang like that of a modern chisel. Fig. 321.—Ely. ½ — Fig. 322.—North of Ireland.½ — Fig. 323.—Raphoe. ¼ Another form of blade is more of the nature of a bayonet than of a rapier, yet this would appear to be the proper place in which to notice it. The section of the blade is nearly square, and the faces are ornamented with parallel engraved lines. It ends in a tang with a single hole through it, and with it was found a ferrule of bronze for receiving the end of the handle. In the Royal Irish Academy Museum is another blade of the same character, 33 inches long and nearly square in section, but having the faces fluted. With it was a ferrule, 3¾ inches long, having four ribs at the base, with hollows between. It has one rivet-hole through it. This specimen was found in a bog near Glenarm, Co. Antrim. From the ferrules and general form of the blades it is probable that they were lance or pike heads rather than of the nature of swords or daggers. The “javelin with loop” found in Monaghan, and engraved in the ArchÆological Journal It may possibly be the case that some of the other blades described in this chapter have served as the points of spear-like weapons, though, from the hilts being discovered with so many of them, there can be no doubt that the majority must be regarded as having been the blades of daggers or rapiers. Among modern weapons we have, however, some which, like the sword-bayonet, are intended to serve a double purpose; and though there can be little doubt as to the true character of the knife-daggers, it is hardly safe to assert that all the dagger-like blades were without exception mounted with short hilts as poniards, and that none were provided with straight shafts as pikes, or placed transversely on a handle to serve as halberds or battle-axes. The weapons described in this chapter probably range over the whole of the Bronze Period of Britain. The knife-daggers, which have almost exclusively been found in barrows, often associated with other weapons formed of stone, may be regarded as among the earliest of our bronze antiquities; while the rapier-shaped blades, though of rare occurrence in hoards, appear to belong to a period when socketed celts were already in use. Of the dagger-like blades, in whatever manner they were mounted, a considerable number belong to an early period. The analogies of the different forms with those found upon the Continent have already from time to time been noted in the preceding pages. |