A sword of the same form (23¾ inches), but with a plain blade and only five small rivet-holes, was found in the Medway at Chatham Reach, and is now in the same collection. The hilt seems to have been burnt on.
A sword of this form (25¼ inches), with raised ridges parallel to the edges, has a rounded end to the hilt-plate and holes for six very small pins or rivets at the base and for one large one. The hilt-plate has been much hammered. It was found in the Thames. A second (24¾ inches), almost identical in every respect, has retained five of its pins.
There are two swords in the Norwich Museum, each of them with seven rivet-holes, both 21½ inches long, but the one found at Woolpit, Suffolk, and the other at Windsor. One of the swords found at Fulbourn,[1036] Cambridge, had its rivets arranged as in Fig. 344. The blade is somewhat fluted between the central ridge and has smaller ridges running parallel to the edges. Another (23¾ inches), found in Glamorganshire,[1037] is of the same character. Another like this was found in the bed of the Lark,[1038] at Icklingham, Suffolk.
I have two swords (about 23 inches) with seven rivet-holes, which were found with spear-heads, a halberd, and other objects at Stoke Ferry, Norfolk. They are unfortunately broken. One of them appears to have been a defective casting, and to have wanted a portion of its hilt-plate. This has been subsequently supplied by a second hilt-plate having been cast over the broken end of the original plate, a hole in which has been stopped with a rivet, which has been partly covered over by the metal of the second casting. This is not an unique instance of mending by burning on additional metal. I have a small leaf-shaped sword (17⅜ inches), for which I am indebted to the Earl of Enniskillen, found near Thornhill, Killina, Co. Cavan, which has in old times had a new hilt-plate cast on the original blade in this manner.
Other swords with seven rivet-holes arranged as in Fig. 344 have been found near Alton Castle,[1039] Staffordshire, and at Billinghay,[1040] Lincoln.
A sword with six rivet-holes (23 inches) was found near Cranbourne,[1041] Dorset. Another of the same length was dug up at Stifford,[1042] near Gray’s Thurrock, Essex. Another (20½ inches) was found in the Severn[1043] at Buildwas, Salop. The rivet-holes are two in the middle and two in each wing.
A leaf-shaped sword, the hilt broken off, but the blade still 22½ inches long, was found with a bronze spear-head, a palstave, and a long pin, in the Thames,[1044] near the mouth of the Wandle. It is now in the British Museum.
A sword with the hilt-plate like that of Fig. 344 has been found in Rhenish Hesse.[1045]
Fig. 345.—Wetheringsett. ¼