Plate VII.
Hafted Bronze Rapier Sword, showing both sides. Full size.
In April, 1864, a sword-blade of bronze, with the haft still attached, was found adjoining a lake containing a small artificial island, in the townland of Galbally, county Tyrone. The extreme length of blade, 25 in.; breadth at tang, 1¾ in.; weight, 13¾ ounces. The handle (both sides of which are represented in the accompanying plate) is of bone, probably cetacean; its length, 3½ inches; weight 1 ounce; thickness, ⅝ of an inch. The smallness of the handle is very remarkable, taking into consideration the popular idea of the great stature and strength of Erin’s ancient inhabitants.[87] A well-preserved iron sword, with bronze mountings to the handle, was found in the crannog of Lisnacroghera. The blade tapers gradually to a point from about midway down its length, with a central ridge. The bronze mountings of the sword-handle are four in number. “Of these, one is at the pommel, another hoods as it were the butt of the blade, two others are intermediate, and very probably do not now occupy their original position, one of them certainly being movable. It is, therefore, impossible to judge of the space which had been left for reception of the swordsman’s hand. It may be observed that the edges of all these fittings had been serrated or milled, but no other attempt at decoration appears upon them. The blade measures in length 14¾ in., the handle 5 in.”[88]
Plate VIII.
Iron Weapons and Manacle from Lagore.
Fig. 17. Iron Sword from Lisnacroghera, about ⅖ real size.