A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



with splintered and fractured flints, it requires a practised eye to discern 

 among them those which have been more or less chipped into shape by 

 the hand of man. Within the parish of Abbot's Langley 1 alone I have 

 found six or eight roughly chipped flint hatchets, some of them of 

 symmetrical form. A rough celt found by Mr. Percy Manning, F.S.A., 

 at Bedmond in this parish, has been presented by him to the County 

 Museum. Mr. Worthington Smith has in like manner found specimens 

 at Kensworth 2 and Wheathampstead. One has also been found near 

 Ware, 3 and I have a thin flattish example 5^ inches long, found by Mr. 

 W. Whitaker, F.R.S., at Merkyate Street in 1863. Mr. Marlborough 

 Pryor has collected celts of this character and other forms of Neolithic 

 date at and near Weston. 



Celts ground at the edge only. There is at present but one specimen 

 of this kind to record. 4 This was found in 1871 by myself in a field of 

 my own in the angle formed by the Hyde Lane and the London and 

 North-Western Railway, in the parish of Abbot's Langley. The edge 

 has been intentionally blunted, so that it may have served as a weapon 

 rather than as a tool. 



Polished Celts. A fine example of this character, 7^ inches long, 

 found at Panshanger, was exhibited to the Archaeological Institute in 

 1863, and has been figured in the Archaeological Journal!" It is of 

 light-coloured flint carefully ground over the whole of its surface, and 

 with the sides slightly flattened by grinding. The central part of a flint 

 celt of the same kind found on King's Langley Common by Mr. Percy 

 Manning, F.S.A., has been given by hkn to the County Museum. A 

 narrower and thicker celt, 6f inches long, also of flint, was found at 

 Albury 6 near Bishop's Stortford. Mr. A. E. Gibbs has a flint hatchet, 

 4^- inches long and 2% inches wide, ground all over, and found at Ashwell. 

 I have a highly finished hatchet made of a black basaltic rock and polished 

 all over, which was found at Duckland, 7 between Hitchin and Pirton. 

 It is \\ inches long and about 2. inches wide. The sides are partially 

 flattened. 



I have a small flint chisel or pick, or possibly an arrowflaker, found 

 near Baldock 8 by Mr. W. Whitaker, F.R.S. Mr. A. E. Gibbs has a 

 flint chisel, 4! inches long, found at Digswell Hill. 



Perforated Axes, Hammers, etc. As a rule the implements of this 

 character belong to the close of the Neolithic or the beginning of the 

 Bronze period. A perforated adze or hoe, formed of a dark grey grit, 

 found at Welbury, 9 near Offley, is in the collection of Mr. W. Ransom, 

 F.S.A., of Hitchin, and has been figured. It is about 5 inches long and 

 2f inches broad. A small perforated hammer-head made from a quartzite 



1 Ancient Stone Implements, 2nd ed. pp. 70, 77 ; Trans. Herts Nat. Hist. Sec., viii. 

 pi. xi. I. a Man the Prim. Savage, p. 307. 



3 Ancient Stone Implements, 2nd ed. p. 70. 4 Op. cit. p. 87. 



5 Vol. xx. p. 193 ; Ancient Stone Implements, 2nd ed. p. IOI. 



6 Ancient Stone Implements, 2nd ed. p. IOO. 



1 Op. cit. p. 114. * Op. cit. p. 177. 



9 Trans. Herts Nat. Hist. Sac., viii. p. 175. 



230 



