290 Notes on Ancient Relics at Norham. 



the ears 3 inches, its greatest thickness 1^ inches. Fig. 1 iu 

 Plate X F". is a half-sized drawing of this curious implement. 

 It may have been used as a weapon or a tool either in the 

 hand or fastened to the end of a wooden or bone haft ; the 

 neck would be useful in keeping in its place the ligature 

 that might fasten it, and it would especially enable the hand 

 to hold it with more firmness as a cleaving instrument. The 

 nearest forms to this, are some stone implements found in 

 excavations near Alexandria,* and others of a similar shape 

 found in Kentucky, North America ;t but in all these the 

 hollow^ or neck is a distinct groove, which had been intended 

 for fastening the weapon to a handle of some kind. 



Iron Sword. 

 This sword, of an ancient type, was found in 1861 sticking 

 out of the bank of the Tweed near Norham Boat House, 

 about a mile above the village of Norham, after a flood which 

 had washed away a portion of the soil. The blade is 2 feet 

 5i inches long, and 3 inches wide at its broadest part, 

 sharpened on both sides and tapering very gradually to a 

 point, which, however, is broken off; the handle is three 

 and three-fifth inches long, and the space for the hand three 

 and one-fifth inches between the guard and the cross bar at 

 the end of the handle. Both the guard and the cross bar 

 are of a crescentic shape — Fig. 2, Plate X V. The age of 

 this sword has not yet been well determined ; it is supposed 

 by some to be earlier than Norman, and it probably is not of 

 later date than the thirteenth century. 



Leaden Rings, 



Several leaden rings have at difierent times been found in 

 the valley of the Tweed ; a few are ornamented; but most of 

 them are plain, and these rings have chiefly been dug up in 

 the garden of Norham Castle, a portion of which had formed 

 the outer moat ; a few also have been found made of shale 

 and hard sandstone. The ornamented relics are of a lenti- 

 cular shape, but those that are plain are short cylinders per- 

 forated ; usually they are 1^ inches in diameter. Illustra- 

 tions are given in Plate X.V.I of the ornamented specimens 

 — Fig. 3 was found within Norham Castle ; Fig. 4 at Morris 

 Hall Dene, which is in close proximity to the castle ; Fig. 6 

 at Horncliffe, about three miles from the castle ; Fig. 6 was 



* Prcc. Arch. Inst,, I. p. 178. \ In Mr. Tate's Museum, Alnwick. 



