Byways in British Archaeology

by Walter Johnson

Fig. 84. Round horseshoe, lower convex surface, from Ford, Northumberland. Greatest breadth 6½ inches.

Fig. 85. Round horseshoe, upper concave surface. Scale of inches shown.

The purpose of the convexity of the round shoe is to break the shock as the horse’s foot strikes the ground. The efficacy of this shoe is specially noticeable with “foundered” horses—those which have inflamed feet. An animal, thus suffering, tends to tread more on the heel than the toe, and the convexity allows a better grip to be obtained. Indeed, the ordinary form of shoe is sometimes slightly bent for the same reason. The Northumberland practice, with regard to “soles” and round shoes, while now based on expert veterinary principles, seems to represent a primitive plan. It is noteworthy that the round form of shoe is especially prized as a bringer of luck. Obviously, it is the material of the shoe—witch-hated iron—which is there considered important; all folk-memory respecting the virtues of the crescentic shape has perished. Youatt describes a shoe, under the name of the “bar-shoe,” which appears roughly to correspond to the Northumberland type[1149]. The observant person will occasionally see a London dray horse wearing a somewhat similar kind of shoe, the difference being in the hinder portion, which is either straight or slightly re-entering. This peculiar mode of shoeing, in all cases, seems to be due to the advice of the veterinary surgeon. It will be well, for anyone who wishes to pursue the subject, to read the opinions of the authorities already given (pp. [423] n., [424] n.).

A slight digression may here be made to consider a kindred topic. Iron objects of peculiar shape, commonly called hippo-sandals, have been discovered in various places, notably by Pitt-Rivers, in the Romano-British settlements in Cranborne Chase. Some authorities have thought that the hippo-sandal represents a kind of horseshoe, but Pitt-Rivers agrees with Fleming in scouting this theory. The shape, he considers, would be inconvenient for this purpose. Moreover, horseshoes, and—so it is believed—ox-shoes, are represented among the relics of the settlements, so that another type of shoe, he argues, would scarcely be found at the same spot. This objection is, as Mr C. Roach Smith has hinted, not conclusive against the use of hippo-sandals for special occasions. The suggestion was made by Pitt-Rivers that the hippo-sandals were intended for shoeing the poles of sledges, and he figures a form of that vehicle in which the shaft skids along the ground. In a footnote, however, he betrays some uncertainty, and admits that specimens of hippo-sandals which are displayed in the Museum at Mayence must have been fitted to the feet of horses, probably as splints when the hoofs had been accidently broken. The hippo-sandals, in those cases, would doubtless be attached by cords or straps which passed through the iron rings. Mr Roach Smith, writing in 1859, stated that iron pattens, fastened to the hoof by means of leather straps, were still used in Holland. This fact supplies, doubtless, the key to the puzzle. The hippo-sandal shown in the illustration ([Fig. 86]) was discovered, along with many other relics, at the Roman villa at Darenth, in Kent, and was first figured by Mr George Payne, in Archaeologia Cantiana. About half a dozen specimens are on view in the Guildhall Museum[1150]. In connection with this subject it may be noted that Youatt, in his book on The Horse, describes and illustrates a light kind of open-work sandal for horses with delicate hoofs, made of strap-work and iron clips.

Fig. 86. Hippo-sandal, found on the site of a Roman villa, at Darenth, Kent, and now in the Rochester Museum.

A slight retrospect of the shoeing question will be made when we deal with oxen, but we must now return to the British horsemen of the Early Iron Age. At that period, so engrossing was the craft of the chariot-warrior, that care was often taken to provide the dead chieftain with the means of renewing his pastime elsewhere. Thus it was not unusual to inter a horse, or chariot, or both of these, in the burial mound. Keysler quotes numerous instances of the custom, chiefly with respect to the ancient Scythian and Scandinavian peoples[1151]. Records also implicate Tartars, Franks, Wends, and Finns as agents in like ceremonies. A well-known passage in Virgil seems to show that the practice obtained in classical times. Aeneas, on his descent into the lower regions, views with wonder the empty chariots of the chiefs, and the horses feeding at large on the plain. The heroes retained their old fondness for chariots and shining steeds[1152], and these necessaries had evidently been deposited in the earth at the time of the funeral.

The English records of chariot-burial are fairly numerous. The Rev. E. W. Stillingfleet (c. A.D. 1816), and Canon W. Greenwell (A.D. 1876), excavated several round barrows at a farm called Arras, near Market Weighton, in Yorkshire, and discovered therein remains of horses, chariots, and harness. Associated with these mute memorials, there was found, in one instance, a boar’s tusk, which had been invested with some ceremonial value, since it was perforated with a square hole, and was mounted in a brazen case. Interments of this class belong usually to the Late-Celtic period. A small urn, of unspecified age, dug up near Eastbourne in 1778, contained about a dozen horse’s teeth. Mr J. Romilly Allen compiled a considerable list of instances of chariot-burial. Many others are given in the Guide to the Early Iron Age (British Museum), as well as in the writings of Messrs L. Jewitt and J. R. Mortimer. So recently as 1906, a chariot-burial was discovered at Hunmanby, in Yorkshire, and was described by Canon Green well in Archaeologia[1153]. The “trappings” found in connection with the other remains comprised bridle-bits, buckles, head-ornaments, and similar articles.