Notes. 115 



Eronze Implements found in barrows at Amesbury, 



1770. 1 am indebted to Mr. O. G. S. Crawford, F.S.A., for the 

 following notice of the contents of two barrows at Amesbury, which 

 are apparently quite unknown to writers on Wiltshire antiquities. Mr. 

 Crawford writes on June 29th, 1913 : "I am sending you the enclosed 

 tracings, which may be of interest to you. I found the originals from 

 which they are copied in Cough's copy of Horsley's " Brit. Romana," 

 now in the Bodleian. They are drawn upon a piece of note paper 

 (presumably by Cough), which is tacked into the volume. The reference 

 No. is Qough Gen. Top., 128. They are said to have been found in 

 1770. I have not ever come across any mention of them and fancy the 

 find must be hitherto unknown." 



The drawings, which are apparently of the full size of the objects, 

 show a fine bronze dagger, which has apparently had two large rivets, 

 one of which has been broken away, whilst the other is shown in the 

 drawing. The blade is more or less leaf -shaped and has parallel en- 

 graved lines, and is apparently of the type of the finer, thicker, and 

 stronger daggers of which several are in the Stourhead Collection from 

 the barrows in the neighbourhood. It is 8|in. in length, and if one 

 corner of the handle end had not been broken away, it would be about 

 2|in. broad at that point. Accompanying this blade is a long straight 

 pin with a curious head, which may be meant for a cratch head such 

 as those of two or three others in the Stourhead Collection, somewhat 

 bent out of shape, or possibly, part of a ring head. Its total length 

 is 5|in. It is called " Brass pin." As to the dagger blade it is noted 

 " the rivet but half an inch," and below the two drawings is written : 

 "This and the pin with ashes in the large barrow." 



The other drawing is apparently less carefully done. It shows a 

 roughly straight-sided pointed bronze blade 4 Jin. long, by lfin. broad 

 at the butt end, with two rivets. No markings are shown on the blade 

 beyond the mark of the handle across the butt end, and the blade is 

 presumably plain and flat. Underneath is written : " Found in the 

 lesser of the two barrows in that part of Old Ambresbury called 

 Vespasian's Camp." 



This seems clearly to imply that both the above-mentioned barrows 

 were within Vespasian's Camp. Hoare, in his map of the barrows 

 round Stonehenge shows none within the camp. He shows two close 

 together (Nos. 126, 127), which he did not open, just N.E, of the 

 northern point of the camp, but it does not seem likely that these can 

 be the barrows in question. 



Mr. Crawford's discovery is an interesting one, and the tracings, which 

 he has so kindly sent, have been placed for preservation and reference 

 amongst the Society's drawings and prints. 



Mr. Crawford also calls attention to a bronze implement not recorded 

 in the List of Wiltshire Bronzes ( W.A.M., xxxvii,, 117 — 158), a " winged 

 Celt " found on Sidbury Hill. Proa. Soc. Ant. Lond., 2nd Ser., IX., 227. 



E. H. CODDARD. 



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