A larger celt of the same general character, found with a hoard of bronze objects in Reach Fen, Burwell Fen, Cambridge, is shown in Fig. 116. This may also be regarded as a characteristic specimen of the socketed celts usually found in England, though the second moulding is often absent, and there is a considerable range in size and in the proportion of the width to the length. No doubt much of this range is due to some instruments having been more shortened by use and wear than others. The edge of a bronze tool must have been constantly liable to become blunted, jagged, or bent, and when thus injured was doubtless, to some extent, restored to its original shape by being hammered out, and then re-ground and sharpened. The repetition of this process would, in the course of time, materially diminish the length of the blade, until eventually it would be worn out, or the solid part be broken away from the socketed portion.
Celts of this general character, plain with the exception of a single or double beading at the top, occur of various sizes, and have been found in considerable numbers. In my own collection are specimens (3 inches) from Westwick Row, near Gorhambury, Herts, found with lumps of rough metal; from Burwell Fen, Cambridge (3¼ inches), found also with metal, a spear-head like Fig. 381 and a hollow ring; from Bottisham, Cambridge (3 inches), and other places.
In the Reach Fen hoard already mentioned were some other celts of this type. They were associated with gouges, chisels, knives, hammers, and other articles, and also with two socketed celts, one like Fig. 133, and two like Fig. 124, as well as with two of the type shown in Fig. 117, with a small bead at some little distance below the principal moulding round the mouth. One of them has a slightly projecting rib running down each corner of the blade, a peculiarity I have noticed in other specimens. The socket is round rather than square.
I have other examples of this type from a hoard of about sixty celts found on the Manor Farm, Wymington, Bedfordshire (3¾ inches); from Burwell Fen, Cambridge (4 inches); and from the hoard found at Carlton Rode, Norfolk (4 inches). This last has the slightly projecting beads down the angles.
Socketed celts partaking of the character of the three types last described, and from 2 inches to 4 inches in length, are of common occurrence in England. Some with both the single and double mouldings were found in company with others having vertical beads on the face like Fig. 124, and a part of a bronze blade at West Halton,[400] Lincolnshire. I have seen others both with the single and double moulding which were found with some of the ribbed and octagonal varieties, a socketed knife, parts of a sword and of a gouge, and lumps of metal, at Martlesham, Suffolk. These are in the possession of Captain Brooke, of Ufford Hall, near Woodbridge. Another, apparently with the double moulding, was found with others (some of a different type), seven spear-heads, and portions of a sword, near Bilton,[401] Yorkshire. These are now in the Bateman Collection. Another with the single moulding was found near Windsor.[402] Others with the double moulding, to the number of forty, were found with twenty swords and sixteen spear-heads of different patterns, about the year 1726, near Alnwick Castle,[403] Northumberland. Some also occurred in the deposit of nearly a hundred celts which was found with a quantity of cinders and lumps of rough metal on Earsley Common,[404] about 12 miles N.W. of York, in the year 1735. A socketed celt with the single moulding was found with spear-heads, part of a dagger, and some small whetstones, near Little Wenlock,[405] Shropshire. Four socketed celts of this class with the double moulding were found, with a socketed gouge and about 30 pounds weight of copper in lumps, at Sittingbourne,[406] Kent, in 1828. They are, I believe, now in the Dover Museum. One (4¾ inches), obtained at Honiton,[407] Devonshire, has a treble moulding at the top, that in the middle being larger than the other two. The socket is square.
A plain socketed celt, 2¼ inches long, was found in digging gravel near Cæsar’s Camp,[408] Coombe Wood, Surrey. It is now in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries. In the collection of Messrs. Mortimer, at Fimber, is a celt with the double moulding (3 inches long), found at Frodingham, near Driffield, which has four small ribs, one in the centre of each side running down the socket. Another, with the double moulding (4 inches), and with a nearly round mouth to the socket, was found at Tun Hill, near Devizes, and is in the Blackmore Museum, where is also one found near Bath (3¾ inches) with the mouldings more uniform in size.
A socketed celt without any moulding at the top, which is hollowed and slopes away from the side on which is the loop, is said to have been found in a tumulus near the King Barrow on Stowborough Heath,[409] near Wareham, Dorset.
Socketed celts of this character occur throughout the whole of France, but are most abundant in the northern parts. They are of rare occurrence in Germany.
The same form is found among the Lake habitations of Switzerland. Dr. Gross has specimens from Auvernier and Mœrigen,[410] which closely resemble English examples.
