Fig. 406.—Isleham Fen. ½
I have another spear-head of the same type (18 inches), probably from the Thames, almost as well cast, but rather heavier in proportion to its size. There are traces of wood in the socket, as is also the case in another of the same form (14½ inches) dredged from the Thames at Battersea,[1259] and now in the Bateman Collection. The wood has been thought to be ash. Another similar, but originally about 20 inches long, was found in the Thames near Runnymede;[1260] and another in the collection of General A. Pitt Rivers, F.R.S., 17 inches long, was found at Hampton Court.
Another (13¾ inches) from the Thames at Thames Ditton is in the British Museum.
One (15¼ inches) from Bottisham Lode, Cambridge, is in the British Museum; as is another (14¼ inches) from the New River Works, Pentonville. I have seen others from Coveney Fen (16¾ inches, Mr. Fisher), and from Woolpit, near Bury St. Edmunds (8⅞ inches). The blade of one (11⅜ inches) without the socket was found at Stanwick, Yorkshire, and is now in the British Museum.
One (13½ inches) was found with three rapier-shaped blades near Maentwrog, Merionethshire, and is in the same collection.[1261]
Another, broken, in the Museum at Taunton, is said to have been found in the Roman villa at Wadsford, Combe St. Nicholas, near Chard. Its original length must have been about 18 inches.
In the specimen from Stibbard, Norfolk,[1262] shown in Fig. 407, the ribs upon the blade are less distinct, and the loops are widened out so as to show a lozenge form when the edge of the blade is seen. This spear-head was found with nine others and about seventy palstaves about 1806, and is in the state in which it left the mould, having never been finished by hammering and grinding, though the core has been extracted. I have seen a specimen in the collection of Mr. J. Holmes, found at Morley, near Leeds, in which the hammering process had been applied to a part only of the blade, which had evidently broken in the operation. The partly finished base and the unfinished point were found together.
An Irish example of this form has been engraved by Vallancey.[1263]
This type is rare in France, but a specimen is in the Museum at Carcassonne (Aude), and another in that at St. Germain.
In some spear-heads of nearly the same form there is a raised bead running down the midrib as in Fig. 408. This beautifully finished weapon was bought in Dublin, but I cannot say in what part of Ireland it was found.