192 



On a Bronze Spear-head found on Bowsden Moor, North- 



umherland. 



In November, 1882, when a drainer was cutting a drain on 

 Bowsden Moor, the property of Sir John Marjoribanlis, Bart., of 

 Lees, the spade, at a depth of 30 inches 

 below the surface, struck on a bronze spear- 

 head, which except a fracture from the 

 spade, was extracted entire and proved 

 to be a very fine example of the vari- 

 ety of that ancient weapon, with lunate 

 or crescent-shaped openings, one on each 

 side of the midrib containing the socket. 

 The spear-head is a little more than 17 

 inches long. The butt-end is 1| inches 

 across ; the breadth diminishes to 1| about 

 the setting on of the blade ; at 6 inches in 

 length below the oval forming the lunate 

 openings, it is 3 inches across : (this oval is 

 2 inches across and three inches long) ; about 

 10 inches it is 2^ inches across ; and then 

 gradually tapers to an obtuse apex. A little \ 

 above 2 inches from the socket there is a 

 small rivet-hole, with a corresponding one 

 opposite for the fixing on of the staff. The 

 socket appears to be hollow from the butt- 

 end to the apex. The openings in the blade 

 are regarded either as " ornamental, or else 

 as intended to diminish the weight of the 

 weapon." The midrib on each side, and 

 the margins of the openings are ridged. 



Sir John Marjoribanks, to whom the Club 

 owes the knowledge of this discovery, sent Bowsden Moor I. 

 the spear-head for exhibition at one of the Club's meetings ; and 

 also a full-sized drawing. For an electro of their wood-cut (not 

 yet published) of this interesting spear-head, the Club is under 

 obligation to the Council of the Society of Antiquaries of Scot- 

 land. It is ^ the size of the original. It strongly resembles a 

 specimen 19| inches long, found at Winmarleigh near Garstang, 

 Lancashire, figured in Dr. Evans's "Ancient Bronze Implements 

 of Great Britain," p. 335, No. 419. 



