The double curvature of the sides may be noticed in the narrow chisel-like celt shown in Fig. 55. The blade in this instance tapers both ways from a line just below the wings, but without there being any actual stop-ridge; a third slope is produced by the lower part of the blade having been drawn down by hammering to form the edge. The original was found at Culham, near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and is in my own collection.
Fig. 55.—Culham. ½
I have another specimen, 4½ inches long, and half as wide again as the Culham chisel, which was found near Dorchester, Oxon. The blade at the lower end of the wings is an inch wide, but in the straight part between that point and the edge only a little more than ¾ inch wide.
Although these instruments are so narrow that they may be regarded as chisels rather than axes, yet from their general character so closely resembling that of Fig. 53, I have thought it best to insert them here.
A Scotch example will be subsequently cited.
Another form of winged celt without stop-ridge is shown in Fig. 56. In this the blade is flat, and the wings, which form triangular projections, stand at right angles to it. Had they been hammered over to form semicircular receptacles on each side of the blade the instrument would have been more properly described as a palstave. It was found with others near Reeth, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, and is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., where are also other specimens of this type from Linden, Northumberland (5¼ inches); Brompton, N.R., Yorkshire (5¼ inches); and Wolsingham, Durham (5⅜ inches).
Fig. 56.—Reeth. ½ ————— Fig. 57.—Dorchester. ½
Fig. 57 shows a winged celt with a broad low stop-ridge. The part of the blade above this is about ⅛ inch thinner than the part below, so that though transitional in character it belongs to one of the classes to which I would wish to restrict the term palstave. This specimen was found near Dorchester, Oxfordshire, and is in my own collection.