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III 



EARLY IRON SWORD FOUND IN IRELAND. 

 By GEORGE COEEEY. 



Read Februaky 12. Ordered for Publication February 15. 

 Published February 24, 1906. 



Amongst the objects of iron found during the Shannon Navigation 

 Works, 1843-48, and presented by the Shannon Com- 

 missioners to the Academy, an iron sword (figure 1) is 

 of much interest. It is of the Halstatt class, and is, I 

 believe, the only iron example of that class which has been 

 found in Ireland. A label attached to the sword states 

 that it was " taken up in the buckets of the ' C ' dredger " 

 out of the bed of the Shannon above the new bridge of 

 Athlone, August, 1847. It is incomplete, and has lost 

 much of its substance from rust, especially along the 

 edges. The form, however, can be distinguished. It is 

 made on the pattern of the leaf-shaped bronze sword. 

 The width of the blade increases towards the point, and 

 the handle-plate was of the flat form of the bronze swords. 

 This latter feature is certain, and is the most definite m 

 the specimen. The edge of the handle-plate is intact for 

 a short length at the right side ; and the remains of a 

 rivet-hole can be seen on the expanded portion at the hilt. 

 The curve in the blade does not appear to be intentional, 

 but to be due to a bend it has received about one-third 

 up ; the line of the ridge is straight to and beyond the 

 bend. This ridge along the centre of the blade is not 

 a very usual feature ; but it occurs occasionally on the 

 bronze swords, and on an iron Halstatt sword found in 

 Poitou, figured by the Abbe H. Rreuil (Revue Archeolo- 

 gique, 1903, ii., p. 57). 



This latter sword was found at Mignaloux-Beauvoir, 

 near Poitiers, in 1836, but had remained unnoticed in the 

 Museum at Poitiers until the paper mentioned. It measures 

 in its present state 45 cm. The Irish fragment is 18^ 

 inches long (47 cm.); so the two swords were much of 

 the same length. 



A fairly large number of the bronze swords of the 

 Halstatt type have been found in Ireland. There are 

 twenty in the collection, and six of the winged chaps or 

 scabbard ends of that period. 



Fig. I.— Iron 

 sword found in 

 the Shannon. 



