248 



HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING, 



is 45 inches; width, 3! inches; breadth at toe, |ths 

 of an inch ; and at heel, i inch. The plate is thin ; at the 

 toe, where it is strongest, it is scarcely ^th inch. The 

 iron is of excellent quality ; and the calkin, which is 

 formed by doubling over the end of the branch, projects 

 about 4:th inch above the ground surface of the shoe (fig. 

 84). The nail-holes, three of which are yet intact, have 

 been three on each side, and 

 of the usual form, A small 

 lump of rust indicates the 

 remains of a nail-head filling 

 up the middle hole of one 

 branch. The border of the 

 shoe, particularly the ex- 

 ternal one, is markedly un- 

 dulating, owing to the large 

 size of the cavity made to contain a portion of the nail- 

 head. This cavity is fths of an inch long, and |ths 

 wide; and the hole for the reception of the nail-shank 

 is nearly circular, and has a diameter of ith inch : cer- 

 tainly the nails must have been very thick for the small 

 hoofs shoes of this kind would fit. The weight of this 

 excellent specimen is 3 ounces 7 drachms; so that the 

 entire shoe may be calculated to have weighed about 5 

 ounces. There are no retaining clips, and the ground 

 and hoof surfaces are flat and rough, as if carelessly and 

 scantily hammered. Springhead, where this antique 

 scrap was found, stands near the Roman Watling Street ; 

 and from the soil in its vicinity, which is chalky, great 

 numbers of coins — many fibukr, some fictilia, etc. — ■ 

 belonging to various periods in the early history of our 



fig. 84 



