88 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



:i An Account oi- Kapiers and Kaelv Swokds of the Bronze Age. 



Bronze rapiers have often been found in Ireland ; there are aliout fortv in 

 the Royal Irish Academy's collection. Some of these are very lon^. The lower 

 portion of one specimen, which measures at present lo|- inches, is stated by 

 Wilde to appear to have belonged to a rapier nearly 40 inches in length. It 

 has two thick rivets at ilie Imse of the blade, and the mark of the handle can 

 be clearly discerned. -(Plate VII, lig. 1.) The well-known rapier from Lissane, 

 Co. Derry, measures 30J inches long, and is the longest complete example 

 \\hich has been found in the British Islands. The average length of the 

 rapiers is much shorter; many of them approach in their outline tlie 

 Mycenaean thrusting-swords, from which they are derived. 



The rapier which I am about to describe is probably the most perfect 

 and best preserved example that has yet been found. It surpasses in the 

 fineness of its ornamentation any I have seen, and approaches in the 

 excellence of its casting to tlie work of the most skilful founders. It 

 measures 16f inches in length, l-i inches across at the base and 1 j inches 

 at the centre. The mid-rib commences nearly an inch from the base of 

 the blade and is carried right up to the point ; somewhat flatter at the base, 

 it rises on each side to the height of ^ inch. The photograph (Plate ^'11, 

 fig. 6) and the drawing (Plate VI 11, fig. 4) will show its ornamentation and 

 the beauty of the raised lines better than a detailed description. The point 

 and edges of the blade are as perfect and sharp as when they left the hands 

 of the founder. By means of the intersection of the mid-rib, the point on 

 both sides has been fashioned to a marvellous degree of fineness and sharp- 

 ness. The two bronze rivets at the base of the blade measure about | inch 

 in length, and are over j inch in thickness. 



This splendid weapon is a fine example of the excellence and skill attained 

 to by the craftsmen of the Bronze Age, and gives a high idea of the civilization 

 in Ireland at that period. It was obtained by Mr. Thomas Plunkett, M.K.I. A., 

 from the finder, and was discovered in Upper Lough Erne at a depth of 

 17 feet under water, close to the old castle at Crom. We can therefore say 

 it was found near Enniskillen. 



I mentioned above that the longest rapier ever discovered in the British 

 Islands was the celebrated specimen found before 1867 at Lissane, Co. Derry. 

 It has been the good fortune of the Academy to acquire recently this splendid 

 object. (Plate IX, fig 5.) The history of the rapier is shortly as follows : — 

 It was discovered in a bog at Lissane, Co. Derry, ()n the property of Sir 

 Thomas Staples, Bart. At his death it passed into the possession of his 



