A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



SWORD AND SCABBARD FOUND AT 

 AMERDEN. 



in or about the year iSgi. 1 The sword, 

 which is almost entirely of iron, is firmly 

 fixed into its bronze sheath by an accumu- 

 lation of rust. This sheath, upon which a 

 good deal of decoration has been bestowed, 

 is 2 feet 9! inches long, and if inches, 

 varying to if inches towards the point, in 

 breadth. At the point is a kind of elon- 

 gated heart-shaped compartment answering 

 to the shape of a leather scabbard. Near 

 the middle of the lower half of the sheath 

 is a rather pretty little applied ornament 

 resembling in shape a reversed letter S. 

 The chief efforts at decoration, however, 

 have been expended upon the upper end, 

 which has a kind of rounded angular, or 

 ball-shaped termination reminding one very 

 forcibly of the sword sheaths of La Tene. 

 Fitting closely into this end of the scab- 

 bard is the bronze guard of the sword per- 

 forated for the tang of the sword. The 

 rounded triangular space and a square panel 

 below it are rilled with ornament, the form 

 and character of which are not easily de- 

 scribed, but will be best seen from the 

 accompanying illustrations. 



A good example of the survival of 

 bronze after the introduction of iron is 

 furnished by a fine bronze torque, five 

 inches in diameter, found in a bed of solid 

 clay at a depth of five feet below the surface 

 of the ground, and by the side of a rivulet 

 not a mile from the town of Winslow. 

 The torque was exhibited at a meeting of 

 the Society of Antiquaries of London, 2 1 

 November 1793, at which time it was in 

 the possession of Mr. Grove, of Whit- 

 church. It was figured in Archceologia* 

 where it is described as a ' fibula of copper.' 

 The ends were dilated and turned back so 

 as to form a species of hooks or fastenings, 

 giving a general appearance which enables 

 one to place it without doubt within the 

 late Celtic period. 



1 A very brief account of the discovery of this important 

 object was printed in the Eighth Annual Report of the Maiden- 

 head and Taplow Field Club (1892), p. 47. 



2 Vol. xi. p. 429, and Plate xix. fig. 3. 



186 



