Accounts of the discovery of this and other weapons at Arreton Down, near Newport, in the Isle of Wight, were communicated to the Society of Antiquaries in the years 1735 and 1737, and the latter has been printed by Mr. A. W. Franks, F.R.S.[960] At least sixteen articles were found in a marl-pit, and they are said to have been arranged in a regular order. Of these, nine were of this tanged type, but varying in details.
Fig. 324.—Arreton Down. ½
Fig. 325.—Stratford-le-Bow. ½
One (Fig. 328) was provided with a socket; two were dagger blades, already mentioned (one of which is given in Fig. 306), and four were flanged celts, like Fig. 8, but varying in size. Six specimens from this hoard are now in the British Museum. Mr. Franks, in the paper already mentioned, regards these tanged weapons as spear-heads, and is I think right in so doing; the blades, however, present such close analogies with the daggers from the Wiltshire barrows, and the socketed variety (Fig. 328) is so dagger-like in character, that it is hard to speak with any degree of confidence upon this point.
In 1855 Mr. Franks observed that the type was quite new to him, but since that time several other specimens have been found besides those from Arreton Down. One of these, discovered in the River Lea at Stratford-le-Bow, Essex, is now in the British Museum, and is shown in Fig. 325. As will be seen, it has a rounded midrib, with several parallel grooves on each side of it engraved or punched on the blade.
Some of the weapons from[961] Arreton Down are of nearly the same description, but the midrib is more ridged, and is ornamented with rows of engraved or punched dots. One has a double crescent-shaped line of dots punched in at the base of the blade.
I have a blade (10 inches) of the same form and character, but without any engraved dots upon it, from Burwell Fen, Cambridge. The parallel flutings on the blade appear to have been produced in the casting, and not by engraving or punching. The hole in the tang was also made in the casting, being irregular in form. It is nowhere less than ¼ inch in diameter. Another weapon (7⅛ inches) of the same character, but apparently without any fluting, was found near Newbury,[962] Berks.
Fig. 326.—Matlock. ½