Another, with the rivet-hole in the same plane as the blade, was found near Campbelton, Argyleshire, and has been engraved as a spear-head by Professor Daniel Wilson.[735] The discovery of a blade having its original handle, as subsequently mentioned, proves, however, that some of these are rightly regarded as knives, though another form (Fig. 328) has more the appearance of being a spear-head. The curved knife with a socket, figured by the same author,[736] can hardly, I think, be Scottish.
Fig. 244.—Kells. ½
In Ireland the socketed form of knife is more abundant than in either England or Scotland. No less than thirty-three such knives[737] are recorded by Sir W. Wilde, as preserved in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, of five of which he gives figures. Many specimens also exist in private collections.
That shown in Fig. 244 is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., and was found at Kells, Co. Meath. As will be observed, the blade is at the base somewhat wider than the socket. The indented lines upon it appear to have been produced in the casting, and not added by any subsequent process. A knife of the same kind, found in the Bog of Aughrane, near Athleague, Co. Galway, is still attached to the original handle, which, like many of those of the flint knives found in the Swiss Lake-dwellings, is formed of yew. It has been several times figured.[738]
I have a specimen of the same character, but in outline more like Fig. 240, 6 inches long, from the North of Ireland.
A knife of this kind, found in a hoard at St. Genouph, is in the Tours Museum.
In some instances the junction between the blade and the socket is made to resemble that between the hilt and blade of some of the bronze swords and daggers, such as Figs. 291 and 349.
The example shown in Fig. 245 is in my own collection. I do not, however, know in what part of Ireland it was found. The rivet-hole is at the side, and not on the face, in which, however, there is a slight flaw, which assumes the appearance of a hole in the figure. In Canon Greenwell’s collection is a nearly similar specimen (10¾ inches), found at Balteragh, Co. Derry, with two rivet-holes at the side and the socket somewhat ornamented by parallel grooves at the mouth and at the junction with the blade.