76 



CAVALIER S SWORD FOUND AT EGGINTON. 



In the spaces between the medallions the features of four other 

 faces are very roughly indicated. 



The grip is covered with double-stranded brass wire. A 

 fragment of copper wire near the pommel was considered by 

 the late Major Corfield to be the remnant of an older covering. 

 It was" also his opinion that the blade had been re-hilted. 



The approximate date of the blade may be taken to be 

 from 1580-1590, and the probable date of the hilt 1642. The 



R. L. Farmer, del. 



The Egginton Sword. Detail of the cup to the hilt. 



date of the sword in its present form is, therefore, contem- 

 porary with the commencement of the Civil War in 1642. In 

 March, 1644, there was an engagement on Egginton Heath 

 in which the Royalists were defeated by the Parliamentarians 

 under Sir John Gell — or, according to some, Major Mollanus 

 — so that it would seem more than probable that this was the 

 occasion when the sword was secreted. Possibly some officer, 



