Fig. 372.—Cloonmore. 1/1 — Fig. 373.—Stoke Ferry. 1/1
An English form, which is, I believe, as yet unique, is shown in Fig. 373. It was found, with several broken swords and spear-heads, at Stoke Ferry, Norfolk. It is ornamented with a neat fluting, produced apparently by means of punches. The rivet-holes are at the sides, instead of being, as usual, on the face.
A curious socketed object in bronze, found near Piltown,[1153] in the barony of Iverk, Co. Kilkenny, has been regarded as the haft of a dagger. It is rectangular in section and expanding at the base which is closed. But from its analogy with some of the scabbard ends lately described it seems possible that it formed part of a sheath. The objection to this view is that the breadth of the socket is much greater than usual with these chapes. The zigzag and other ornamentation upon it is described as having been engraved with a fine point after the object was cast. The lower face is not ornamented.
The form is not unlike that of the end of the scabbard of some modern African leaf-shaped swords of iron, as to which Mr. Syer Cuming[1154] has remarked, that while the point of the blade is as sharp as a needle, the base of its receptacle measures nearly 3 inches across. It is possible that the object engraved as Fig. 286 may be intended for the end of a scabbard, and not for that of a hilt, but this can only be determined by future discoveries.
Fig. 374.—Keelogue Ford, Ireland. ½ — Fig. 375.—Mildenhall. ½
Another Irish form is shown in Fig. 374, the original of which was found at Keelogue Ford, in the Shannon, and is in the Royal Irish Academy. In this instance the chape has assumed a kind of boat-like form with pointed ends. As Sir W. Wilde[1155] has observed, the indentations at the top mark the overlapping of the wooden portion of the scabbard, which was fastened to the bronze by two slender rivets, so that the ends projected about an inch on each side.
Fig. 375 shows an English scabbard tip of the same class, though differing in details, which was found in the neighbourhood of Mildenhall, Suffolk, and is in the collection of Mr. Simeon Fenton, of that town, to whom I am indebted for permission to engrave it. The surface of this chape is beautifully finished, and the raised rib round the semicircular notch is delicately engrailed or “milled.” There is a single minute hole for a pin or rivet on one face only. As will be seen, this English example closely resembles that from Ireland shown in the previous figure.
Such projections as those on the chapes of this form would appear to be inconvenient; but in another variety the projecting ends shoot out into regular spikes, the ends of which are tipped by a small button. In some cases the length from point to point is not less than 8 inches. There are several in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy. Sir W. Wilde considered that the bronze sword was suspended high up on the thigh and not allowed to trail on the ground, so that these projections would be less in the way of the wearer than might at first sight appear. The lengthening of these points may have been the result of a kind of prehistoric dandyism, analogous to that which led to the lengthening of the points of boots and shoes in England at the beginning of the fifteenth century.[1156] Specimens of these still exist in which the points extend 6 inches beyond the foot, and it has been asserted that they had to be chained to the knees of the wearers to give them a chance of walking with freedom.