On the Continent stone moulds for ordinary palstaves have been found in some numbers, especially in the Lake habitations. In the museum at Geneva are several from the Station of Eaux Vives. The wings as originally cast were vertical to the blades, so that they might be withdrawn from the mould, and they were subsequently hammered over to form the side pockets, as in Fig. 85.
Moulds for looped palstaves have been found in the Lac du Bourget, Savoy.[1678] One of them is in my own collection. A broken mould for a palstave was found at Billy (Loir et Cher).[1679]
Others have been found in Hungary.[1680]
A few stone moulds for casting socketed celts have been found in England. The half of one, apparently for celts without loops, was found near Milton, Dorsetshire,[1681] and is now in the Dorchester Museum. It has several holes on the face of the slab, as if for the reception of dowels, on which the other half of the mould would fit.
In another instance a set of moulds has been formed of three slabs of stone, and would produce two varieties of socketed celts, one half of the mould of each being engraved on the two faces of the central slab. It is only this central piece which has been preserved. It was, I believe, found at Bulford Water, near Salisbury, and not at Chidbury Hill, near Everley, as stated in the “Barrow Diggers.”[1682] On one face is the mould for a single-looped socketed celt about 4½ inches long, of oblong section, with three vertical ribs on the face; on the other is that for a double-looped celt of the same character, but about 5¼ inches long, also with three vertical ribs. This mould is formed of some variety of greenstone, and is now in the collection of the Rev. E. Duke, of Lake House, near Salisbury.
Stone moulds for socketed celts, with vertical ribs upon them, have been found in the Lacustrine Station of Eaux Vives, near Geneva. There are often moulds on each face of the stones.
Others in sandstone for socketed celts have been found in Hungary.[1683]
Several moulds for such instruments have been discovered in Sweden.[1684] One with diagonal air-passages, like those in Fig. 521, is in the Copenhagen Museum.
Stone moulds for socketed celts have also been found in Scotland. Two pair from the parish of Rosskeen, Ross-shire,[1685] have been figured by Professor Daniel Wilson. They are for looped celts rather wide and straight at the edge, about 5 inches long and of hexagonal section. The castings from the one are plain upon the faces; in those from the other there are three annulets connected by raised ribs, much the same as on one face of the celt from Wigtonshire (Fig. 166). These moulds had the two halves dowelled together when in use. On one there appears to be a second mould for a small flat bar.
In Ireland stone moulds for socketed celts are rare, and they appear to have been for the most part cast in sand or loam. There is, however, in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy,[1686] the half of a mould of this kind made of mica slate, and much worn by age and exposure, apparently intended for a ribbed socketed celt. It has dowel-holes on the face of the slab.