A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



A fifth celt, also in the museum at Warrington, is shown on Plate IV. 

 No. 6. It is an excellent example of celt elaborately decorated with chev- 

 ron ornament, the ends of the ribs upon its surface terminating in nodules 

 towards the edge.^ It was found at Winwick near Warrington.^ It is 4J in. 

 in length, if in. across the mouth, and 2 J in. from tip to tip of the edge. It 

 is certainly the best specimen in the county. 



Miscellaneous finds of celts have been made in various places. At 

 Wegber near Carnforth, for example, several bronze celts are reported to 

 have been found with other implements about 17 ft, below the surface, in a 

 fissure in a limestone quarry. Also at Marton in the Fylde, it is said, was 

 found near ' Robbins Row ... a Celtic axe, lying in the peat about a yard 

 from the surface, with a handle of more than a yard in length, nearly the 

 thickness of a man's wrist. At the side there was a loop.' ' A looped celt 

 or palstave seems to be indicated ; and doubtless many others have escaped 

 record. 



4. Weapons 



The county provides a fair series of offensive weapons in bronze, 

 with some of exceptional quality. Some of the accounts of discoveries 

 are meagre and lead to much difficulty in identification. In making 

 a selection for illustration the deposit from Winmar- 

 leigh again becomes conspicuous, providing in the great 

 spear-head described last in this section one of the most 

 remarkable objects of bronze in the countrv. 



(a) Knives. — Of knives there are two doubtful re- 

 cords, both found in association with decorated pottery 

 in burial mounds of the Bronze Age. The best defined 

 is that from Haulgh, where what seems to have been a 

 bronze knife 4§ in. long and ifin. broad is recorded as 

 found in a tumulus about a quarter of a mile south-east 

 from Bolton parish church. The implement is provided 

 with three rivet holes for hafting, which is characteristic, 

 but the point is bent back and the illustration of it 

 leaves its real nature somewhat uncertain.* 



At Darwen was found a piece of bronze of similar 

 outline in very similar association. The object, however, 

 IS very much decayed and twisted, and its real character 

 is uncertain. Its length is 6i in., with a greatest width 

 of 2i in. 



^ (b) Daggers. — The bronze implement shown in an- 



nexed figure No. 21 is of exceptional interest. It was 

 found in 1845 about 2 J ft. from the surface of the 

 ground in a field about half-way between the towns of 

 Burnley and Colne.' It is apparently a dagger with 

 .-Bronze Dagger f narrow tang, in which is a rivet-hole. The tang 

 EAR CoLNE. 1:2. is smooth and the rivet-hole seems to have been 



1 See also Bronze Imp. p. 123, fig. 136. 

 ' Thomber, Blackpool, 18, 328. 

 ' Information of W. Farrer, Esq. 



* jlrch. J cum. xv. 236. 



* Hist. Soc. Lane, and Ches. iv. 132. 



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