Another spear-head of this type from the Thames[1175] (13½ inches) is in the British Museum, as are others (13 inches and 10 inches long).
A remarkably fine bronze spear-head, found in Lough Gur, Co. Limerick, with the lower part of the socket ornamented with gold, is of much the same form as Fig. 378, and is shown on the scale of one-fourth in Fig. 379. The ornamented part is shown on the scale of one-half in Fig. 380. It is in the collection of General A. Pitt Rivers, F.R.S., who has thus described the socket.[1176] Around it, “at top and bottom, are two ferrules of very thin gold, each ⅜ inch in width. Each ferrule is ornamented with three bands scored with from four to seven transverse lines, and separated from each other by two bands scored with incised longitudinal lines. The two ferrules are separated by a band about 3/16 inch in width, in which longitudinal lines of gold have been let into grooves in the bronze, leaving an intervening line between each of the gold lines.” Most of these gold strips have, however, now disappeared. The shaft of this spear is of bog oak 4 feet 8½ inches long, but though its authenticity has been accepted by many good judges, I must confess that I do not regard it as the original. Some other spear-heads ornamented with engraved lines, but not with inlaid gold, will be mentioned further on. I may incidentally recall the fact that the gold ring or ferrule around the spear-head of Hector is more than once mentioned by Homer.[1177]
πάροιθε δὲ λάμπετο δουρὸς
Αἰχμὴ χαλκείν περὶ δὲ χρύσεος ϑέε πόρκης.
Another fine specimen of a spear-head with a long oval leaf-shaped blade in Canon Greenwell’s Collection is shown in Fig. 381. It was found with several others varying in length from 6⅝ inches to 11¼ inches, and numerous other articles of bronze and bone, in the Heathery Burn Cave,[1178] Durham. As will be seen, the blade is continued as a slight narrow projection along the socket as far as the rivet-hole. The edges are somewhat fluted.
Fig. 382. Nettleham. ¼
A spear-head of nearly the same form (10½ inches) was found in a peat moss near the Camp Graves,[1179] Bewcastle, Cumberland. Another was found in a hoard at Bilton, Yorkshire.[1180]
A very fine example (about 15 inches), as well as a smaller one of the same type (about 8 inches), and one with lunate openings in the blade (Fig. 418), were found with two swords (see Fig. 351) near Whittingham,[1181] Northumberland.
I have others (9 inches to 11 inches) found with broken swords at Stoke Ferry, Norfolk, and from the Reach Fen hoard. The same form occurs in Ireland. I have a fine specimen (8⅝ inches) from Athlone. Another (13¼ inches) is engraved by Wilde as his Fig. 362. A very narrow spear-head, 14¾ inches long, and only 1⅜ inch wide, said to have been found in a barrow near Headford, Co. Galway, is in the British Museum.