An Irish example, 2⅜ inches long, and comparatively broad in proportion to its length, has been regarded as an arrow-head. It was found at Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.[1245] It has probably been broken and repointed. An example much like Fig. 395 is engraved by Wilde as his Fig. 379.
In some cases there is a ridge running along the whole or a great part of the midrib on the blade so as to make the section near the point almost cruciform. An example of this kind from the neighbourhood of Cambridge is shown in Fig. 396. In this case the side loops are unusually near the mouth of the socket, the cavity of which extends about half-way along the blade. Canon Greenwell has an example of this type (6½ inches), from Langton, Lincolnshire, with a longer socket, and the loops about half-way along it.
| Fig. 395. Lakenheath. ½ | Fig. 396. Near Cambridge. ½ | Fig. 397. North of Ireland. ½ |
This ribbing along the midrib is of frequent occurrence on Irish spear-heads, and was probably intended to strengthen as well as to decorate the blade. The projecting ribs on the flat part of the blade were also probably added for the same purpose. Fig. 397 shows a spear-head with these ridges, found in the North of Ireland.
Fig. 398.—Ireland. ½ — Fig. 399.—Thames. ½ — Fig. 400.—Ireland. ½
The blade is carried down as a slight projection along the socket until it meets the side loops, the outer faces of which are expanded into lozenges.