A HISTORY OF SURREY 



At first the metal would doubtless be very scarce, but when native 

 metallic ores were found and worked it would be a natural desire to 

 produce in metal the heavy celts which had hitherto been the common 

 form of large weapon in use. For this purpose it was natural to use an 

 actual stone celt to serve as the model for a mould for the bronze cast- 

 ing ; and as some knowledge of casting was already possessed, it would 

 be a comparatively easy task to produce metal celts of this kind. The 

 remains of the bronze age comprise celts of metal which have evidently 

 been cast in this way from stone originals, and they have been con- 

 sidered to represent. the earliest form in which metal celts were made. 1 

 The objection to such a theory is that they would require a large amount 

 of metal at a time when it was scarce, and one feels inclined rather to 

 regard them as indications of a period when bronze was procurable in 

 some quantity. 



Prehistoric objects formed of bronze are sometimes found singly 

 on the surface of the ground or slightly below the surface, but more 

 usually they occur in the form of hoards comprising many different 

 implements, worn or unworn, and cakes or portions of cakes of copper. 



Hoards of bronze are among the most suggestive and important as 

 they are also the most characteristic of the remains of the bronze age. 

 They may be conveniently divided into three groups. First, there are 

 the collections of broken, damaged and worn-out implements, formed 

 perhaps by an individual for the purpose of barter with a worker in 

 bronze. The second group, comprising worn-out implements and cakes 

 of copper, represents the stock of a worker in bronze. The third group 

 consists of new and unworn tools. From the fact that these implements 

 sometimes have not been freed from the irregularities and excrescences 

 arising from the operation of casting it is obvious that the hoards of this 

 kind represent the stock of a worker in bronze. The occurrence of 

 bronze hoards of these three classes is of considerable importance as 

 showing, first, that the metal was of great value, and when an imple- 

 ment was damaged or worn out it was saved in order to be melted down 

 again ; secondly, it shows that the founding of articles of bronze was the 

 special trade of certain individuals ; and, lastly, it indicates that no suffi- 

 ciently strong building existed in which the metal could be safely stored, 

 and that as a consequence the possessor was compelled to hide it in a 

 secret place underground. 



The various discoveries of bronze age antiquities in Surrey com- 

 prise the following hoards : 



Albury, Farley Heath. A hoard of bronze objects, comprising two 

 spearheads, two palstaves, and part of a copper cake was discovered here, 

 and presented in 1853 by Mr. Henry Drummond to the British Museum, 

 where it is now deposited. 



Beddington. This hoard was found in Beddington Park about the 

 year 1870, and comprised a gouge, two broken spearheads, half of a 

 celt-mould, six celts, and three lumps of bronze or copper. 



1 Wilde, Catalogue of the Museum of the Roy. Irish Acad. p. 3 66 ; Evans, Ancient Bronze Implements, p. 40. 



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