Wakeman's handbook of Irish antiquities

by W. F. Wakeman

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Butt mounting of Crannog Spear-shaft. From the Grainger Collection.

Crannog Spears.​—​Very few spear-heads of bronze have been found in Irish lake-dwellings, while arms of that class, javelins and arrow-heads, composed of iron, are very numerous. As may be judged from examples found at Lisnacroghera, the spear-shaft was usually about 8 feet in length; but one complete specimen, now in the Grainger collection, Belfast, has, so far as we are aware, been preserved: it is of ash. Objects of antique bronze, similar in form to that of a modern door-handle, may be seen in most of the important collections of Irish antiquities. Up to a recent period they were a puzzle to archæologists. That they were mountings for the butts of spear-shafts is now certain. Indeed, at Lisnacroghera a couple were found still retaining within them portions of the handle-ends. The mode in which they had been attached to the shaft is thus described by Canon Greenwell, who had secured at least five specimens from that crannog: ‘The end of the shaft is split, and into the split is inserted a wedge of wood, so that, when driven home, the wedge expanded the end of the shaft, and kept it firm in the butt.’ Iron spear-heads are often very elegant in form; and in some instances their sockets are ornamented with chevron and other tasteful patterns. They were secured to the handle by bronze ferules, or by rivets of the same metal, or of iron, which sometimes projected beyond the sides of the shaft, as we see depicted in the drawings in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. The ferules occasionally exhibit depressions, or scorings, which would seem to have been intended for the reception of enamel. In no instance have the side loops, so common in bronze examples, been found on spear-heads of iron.

Arrow-heads of copper or bronze are rare; the metals were too valuable to be used in any general sense in such weapons. Javelin-heads, generally differing from the spears in size only, have been found in our principal crannogs; but no trace of a bow, so far as we are aware, has been recognized amongst the numerous relics formed of wood which usually accompany the metallic remains. Many of the smaller heads in the National Museum were probably used as bolts for cross-bow purposes.

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Bronze Shield from Lough Gur.

Shields.​—​There can be little doubt that the lake-dwellers in Ireland​—​such of them at least as were able to bear arms​—​were in the possession of shields, some of which were formed of bronze. Not far from Lough Gur​—​a sheet of water with crannogs​—​in the County Limerick, a very fine shield composed of bronze was accidentally brought to light. This occurred during drainage operations some fifty years ago, when a large number of bronze arms and implements were discovered. This is known as the ‘Lenihan’ shield; it is circular in plan, the diameter being 28 inches, and slightly convex; the centre rises about 1¼ inches above the rim; and the umbo, which is 6 inches wide at the base, rises in conical form 1¾ inches above the shield. ‘The hollow of the umbo internally is crossed by a stout handle, firmly riveted to the shield, of sheet bronze bent into a round. The metal of the shield is formed at the edge into a round hollow rim by being most skilfully turned inwards into a roll ¼ inch wide; between it and the umbo are six beaten-up circular ribs, and six rows of small studs. In the circle next the rim there are seventy-three studs, and in that next the umbo twenty-two. The bronze, which is of a fine golden colour, is about the thickness of a worn shilling next the rim, and of a sixpence near the centre.’ The metal is much too thin to have been of any service by itself, so that it probably was the outer and ornamental covering of a ‘tough bull-hide.’ Plates of this kind, examples of which have been found in Great Britain, seem to belong to the close of the Bronze Age. Sculptured upon one of the crosses at Kells, Co. Meath, are armoured figures with round shields, showing that these defences were used in the early Christian period at least.

Many pieces of hammered sheet-iron, which appear to have belonged to shields, have from time to time been found in crannogs. It is probable, however, that shields were, as a general rule, formed of wicker-work, or wood, covered with a piece of animal hide. It was not until man, as Sir John Evans points out, had made considerable advance in the use of bronze that he could have prepared plates, like that of the Lough Gur type, wherewith to cover a shield.