In some specimens the ornamentation consists of a greater or less number of parallel ribs below the stop-ridge, as in that from Nettleham,[331] Lincolnshire, shown in Fig. 83. With this were found two others and a fourth without loop, two peculiar socketed celts, two spear-heads, and a ferrule, which will be subsequently mentioned. They are now in the British Museum.
A nearly similar discovery was made in 1860 near Nottingham,[332] where a palstave was found similarly ornamented, but also having three ribs on the diaphragm above the stop-ridge. It was accompanied by sixteen socketed celts, four spear-heads, a tanged knife, fragments of swords, a ferrule, &c.
In Mr. Brackstone’s collection was a palstave of the same type, found near Ulleskelf,[333] Yorkshire, in 1849, with two socketed celts, one of them of the peculiar type shown in Fig. 158.
Fig. 83.—Nettleham. ½ ————— Fig. 84.—Cambridge. ½
I have a palstave found near Dorchester, Oxfordshire, of the same kind as Fig. 83, with three ribs below the stop-ridge. There are also side flanges at that part of the blade of the same length and character as the ribs in the middle of the blade, so as virtually to make five ribs.
Canon Greenwell has specimens of this type (6⅛ inches) from Llandysilio, Denbighshire, and (6 inches) from Ubbeston, Suffolk. One (6¼ inches) from Keswick, Cumberland, in the same collection has the ribs 1¾ inches long. Another (6⅜ inches) was found at Vronheulog,[334] Merionethshire.
I have a very fine and perfect specimen (6¾ inches) from the Cambridge Fens, on which the three ribs stand out in high relief and converge so as to form a triangle below the stop-ridge something like that on Fig. 78.
A palstave, having a series of ribs upon the diaphragm as well as below the stop-ridge, is shown in Fig. 84. In this instance the upper series of ribs extends nearly to the top of the instrument. It was probably thought that they assisted in making the haft firm to the blade. This specimen, which has been much cleaned, is in the British Museum, and as it formed part of the late Mr. Lichfield’s collection it was probably found in the neighbourhood of Cambridge.