On the Prick Spur 33 



very similar to the others, with a four-sided point attached 

 directly to the heel-plate. Thus in a hundred years the general 

 characteristics of the spurs on these effigies changed not 

 at all. 



The illustrations shown on Plates 13 and 14 are taken from 

 spurs in the City of London Museum. In these there is no 

 crest, by which is meant an enlargement of, or structure placed 

 upon, the upper part of the heel-plate in the centre, just above 

 the part from which the neck springs, a feature which was 

 highly elabotated in spurs of a later period. The sides are 

 invariably depressed, and curve under the ankle-bone, generally 

 in one long gradual curve. The sides are rather slender, 

 rounded on the outside and flattened on the inside. In each 

 of these four specimens the plate at the ends of the sides to 

 which the straps were fastened is on the inside of the arm. 

 Each has a straight neck, rather more than an inch in length, 

 and directed downwards. One of the spurs has a neck oval in 

 section, in another the neck is quadrilateral, the other two 

 are round. 



They have all four-sided pyramidal-shaped points about an 

 inch in length. These spurs all date from about the middle 

 of the thirteenth century. The second figure on Plate 14 

 shows a difference in the curve of the sides. Here we have an 

 early instance of a peculiar curve which became common 

 enough in the fourteenth century. The curve does not com- 

 mence immediately at the heel, as in the former illustrations, 

 but the heel-plate passes round the back of the foot horizon- 

 tally and then dips down suddenly with a sharp curve to get 



